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by Mrs. Kay Raseroka Librarian, University of Botswana ---------------------------------------------
Acknowledgments I wish to thank the following:
The Secretariat of the Association of African Universities for the opportunity
of presenting this discussion document to colleagues.
University of Botswana Management for the permission to accept the assignment. Colleagues who have helped in the preparation of the paper; Mrs Olga Naane for her technical expertise and patience Mrs Buhle Mbambo for her criticisms on the draft
H. K. Raseroka
University libraries derive their mission from that of the parent organisation, the university. Thus the historical development of university libraries has been influenced by the contexts in which the parent organisations operate. The vision, mission and strategies which are selected by universities as a guide for meeting the core functions of teaching, learning, research and providing community service form the foundation on which the role of the university library is based. Perceptions held by university's stakeholders on the role of the library as a contributor to these core functions, influence the environment within which the university library crafts its own mission and role. The commonly accepted perception is that "university education process values self-motivated discovery on the part of students and faculty and assumes that libraries and librarians play an important and sometimes essential role in education" (Wolpert, 1998). The issue is to what extent do African universities and university libraries, in particular, subscribe to and how they support these values. Historical role of the African university library Historically the African university derives its mission from its western
origins (Ajayi et al 1996) as well as from national aspirations and need
for rapid human resource development. The latter provided the engine to
drive national development and replace the colonial public service, after
independence (ibid p.96). Consequently the mission of the university in
Africa in the early days of independence has been very clearly defined
and generously supported financially and morally by the major stakeholder,
the government. The viability and survival of the newly independent states
was perceived as dependent on university educated human resources, who
were able to represent national aspiration at international fora as well
as interpret international norms for local applications.
The role of the university library in Africa has been modeled on the examples offered by the developed countries model of "academic libraries as a cost-effective information service and provider of knowledge products to a resident community of scholars" (Wolpert 1998). The early years of university library development focused on the establishment of the academic library that aspires to compete favorably with those of the western world, in keeping with the aspirations of the parent organisation of providing good university education within the continent. The components of the academic library consists of:
i) inputs staffing, budgeting, collections and accommodation.The first three areas are interdependent. The foundation for all services to stakeholders, referred to here as outputs, cannot be developed without prior implementation of activities under inputs and processes. Although ideally these three levels of activity should have been developed simultaneously, in an interrelated manner, this was not possible. Qualified human resources with varied skills needed to balance these three areas were scarce. Priorities therefore were to develop highly visible collections needed on demand as academic support in the preparation of teaching materials for students and for use by faculty in their research projects. This activity was the all consuming role on which the African university library's success was assessed by stakeholders. Hence the demands for infra structural development eclipsed the role of providing information service to stakeholders. The university library role in enhancing the quality of teaching and supporting research was simply understood as providing access to the world's thought through acquisition of books, and journals, broadly based on requirements made by faculty. The last two areas of continuous training of users and providing services based on needs analysis and feedback from stakeholders, was eclipsed. The result has been total neglect of customers' needs. The majority
of these are students who are not only overwhelmed by the social transitions
but also by the blistering pace of teaching and intellectual demands of
university education. Without any support from library and information
professionals in the exploitation of 'vast' library collections for library
support, students' confusion is exacerbated. Necessity for survival encouraged
them to adopt coping strategies which have proved successful for senior
fellow students and resort to learning modes which have brought success
in the past: learning by rote and using the library as a study room, with
minimum consultation of librarians. The impact of this neglect of customer
needs has been minimal development of reference service, absence of user
training programmes and minimum requests for information not held by the
local university library.
Acquisitions rate of library materials has been the most vaunted role
of university libraries because of its perceived centrality to and foundation
for the role of university libraries. The ease with which quantitative
growth can be assessed, without consideration of the age of collections
i.e. obsolescence, has also contributed to the overvaluing of the custodian
role of the university library, based on levels of acquisitions and local
university research outputs which established good Africana collections..
University education is dependent on availability of published materials
which support curricula. It has been estimated by various authors (Ifidon,
1990 Nwafor 1989) that 95% of most university library acquisitions in Africa
is purchased from abroad, through foreign currency. The poor state of national
economies, fluctuation of and limited access to foreign exchange to universities
and their libraries (Coombe, 1991) has resulted in the erosion of both
the acquisition budgets, and the potential role of university libraries
as a support of teaching and research through current thought obtainable
abroad. Thus, not only have library materials not been replenished, but
those that are available are worn. Consequently university libraries are
unable to dynamically contribute to the core business of the parent institution
through the provision of current thought obtained through journals and
books. As a result there has been, over the last two decades a gradual
erosion of the traditional stakeholders' positive perceptions based on
the collections - oriented role of the university libraries. Further, African
universities have tended to develop a culture of relying on donations of
library materials, regardless of the appropriateness of content to needs
of the recipients or curricula. This emerging role has obligations which
need to be analysed.
EMERGING ROLE OF THE AFRICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY i) Development of comprehensive local collections
The African university library is a de facto national reference library, by virtue of its collections, and the financial investment made through public funds. This emerging role needs to be analysed and costed in terms of service demands. The experience gained in the management of collections and reaction to user demands has resulted in a gradual emergence of the broadening of the role of the university library. The university library in Africa generally has legal deposit status and is therefore expected to collect and preserve all materials published in a country. Locally produced information and knowledge, however, is rarely published in book form. Scholarly papers based on research are produced in the form of grey literature for conference presentation or in support of consultancies. The role of the university library in the bibliographic control of such materials, however, has been neglected basically because of difficulties in keeping track of these non published, sometimes ephemeral products of research. General lack of appreciation of the worth of grey literature and the absence of established national information and bibliographic systems have also contributed to the neglect. The university library, recognizing its mandate as custodian of copyright for dissertations, responsibilities acquired legal deposit law and through its professional leadership, is developing a role to collect, organise and make accessible grey literature and papers produced by its academics, researchers and students. However, grey literature collections are yet to be collected comprehensively and indexed or abstracted. Lor (1994). It has been suggested by Raseroka (1984), Lor (1994) that the systematic
development of grey literature collections is not only a viable way of
providing relevant current local thought, which does not make demands on
limited foreign currency, but it also contributes to the support of the
core business of the university library. The major role of the university
library should be to provide a centre of all locally created information
whether generated through consultancies, student research projects or academic
research or government generated data such as statistics, and other government
documents. This will form the nucleus of materials for value addition in
the form of abstracts, indexes, bibliographies and databases on electronic
formats. These collections form the basis for interlibrary lending with
other libraries and contribute to the availability of Africana materials
in the global information arena. Digitization of local materials offered
by information communication technologies (ICT) provide a window through
which universities might address issues related to copyright of locally
published outputs. It is also an opportunity for African universities to
influence the design of emerging protocols to take into consideration copyright
concerns peculiar to Africa.
ii) Instructional service based partnership
The role of the university library in teaching, learning and education
is influenced by the university's culture, value and stakeholders' perceptions
of the library as an essential pedagogic tool in support of the university
enterprise. In turn, this determines the types of library services developed
in support of the teaching and educational process. Currently, however,
there is general absence of teaching methods which encourage and reward
independent learning based on students' critical analysis and incorporation
of various sources of information to classroom notes and prescribed texts.
General reliance by students on lecturers' teaching notes, caused by various
problems linked to poor libraries and lack of access to textbooks, has
tended to be the norm and sometimes these are used by generations of students
without consideration of the currency of content. The acceptance and 'normalization'
of this style of teaching by universities results in the subliminal devaluing
of the commonly accepted university culture which demands independent research,
critical analysis and use of current information as part of learning.
An essential requirement for the acceptability of production and use
of notes in support of learning, is continuous updating and integration
of notes with current information, and their use as an introduction to
subject fields. Experience has demonstrated that there are possibilities
that if such notes are well produced, they might be publishable as textbooks,
subject to rigorous review, as is the norm regular academic publishing
programmes.
The McFarlane Report (JISC '1994) considers teaching functions as consisting
of orienting, motivating, presenting, clarifying, elaborating and confirming.
All these styles used for instructional services by faculty influence the
role which the library has to play in providing support to student learning.
However, without library and information professional's (LIP's) appreciation
of the complexity of interaction involved in these methods, the role of
the academic library as an academic support will be superficial at best.
It has been generally observed that due to the poor conditions of library
collections in African universities, students learning is generally based
on the reproduction of lecturers' dictated notes. Most students therefore
perceive the library as a quiet study space to facilitate the commitment
of notes to memory and self tests. It has been recognised however, that
where faculty expect and reward independent research on topics, students
will respond by extensive use of the library, commensurate with their perception
of requirements for successful completion of assignments or achievement
of passing grades. (Mbambo & Roselle 1996)
LIP's partnership with faculty should originate from the university
mission, well articulated information values, expectation on the teaching
function, and the role of the library as a contributor to student learning
and as an academic support. Without the required endorsement by university
structures of the university's expectations of this role of the African
university library and, without appreciation of the complexity of learning
modes and challenges facing faculty, LIP will neither have the avenue for
establishing a frame-work for collaboration with faculty in fulfillment
of a common objective nor required insights into teaching methodologies
used in the classroom. The challenge is for the establishment of university
wide consultative framework which builds on the traditional university
education values of self directed learning and discovery, and interprets
it through stated expectations and performance indicators for all academic
services.
iii) Service to students
In addition to the above there are several factors which impinge on the provision of basic library information services to students. These may be related to the external factors such as private accommodation, distance from the university and transportation etc. For this discussion, however, the focus will be on learning related factors such as the following: - schooling background training in use and exploitation of libraries as information resources - access to prescribed textbooks and their incorporation into day to day learning - faculty expectations regarding student contribution to their own learning
whether in or outside the classroom/laboratory settings.
It is generally accepted that school libraries in African countries
are poorly developed. Where textbooks are prescribed for schools, they
are inaccessible due to various factors ranging from economic constraints
to the under-developed distribution infrastructure (Buchan et al 1991).
These two factors have a detrimental effect on the development of independent
learning skills for students which is an essential skill for success in
education, generally, and for the university education process in particular.
Due to a phenomenal increase of student numbers in African universities
and the inability of governments to maintain subsidized university education,
access or ownership of prescribed textbooks by students has become a luxury.
(Coombe 1991). Consequently entrants to university require more than basic
orientation to the way information is organised, accessed and used.
According to Fjallbrant (1990) university libraries in developing countries,
including Africa, provided library orientation for new users as training
of students in the efficient use of collections and services. There is
a need, however, for a programme of continuing library instruction which
is linked to student course work and assignments, which will provide the
basis for gradual development of expertise in systematic information search,
organisation and use as part of discovery and creation of knowledge. University
culture needs to include teaching on the conception and value of information
in learning and daily living; its use as it affects lecturers and students
as a support to the core business of the university and as a critical contributor
to the quality of the university's product, and life long learning.
Constraints
facing university libraries
From the discussion on the role of the university library above, constraints indicated for libraries are as follows: 1. Budgetary process and academic support
Research activities of faculty are rooted in the creation of knowledge
and the research process values. Personal interests inform and advance
contribution to knowledge, teaching and course design. In predominantly
undergraduate universities, research activity is so specialized and delinked
from teaching that for a library to provide individual research support
within available budgets is very difficult. Yet without library materials
to support such influential stakeholders the credibility of the library
is eroded (Rosenberg 1997).
Involvement of LIP in the planning process for new courses is generally
relegated by the academic curriculum review and planning process to the
last possible stage, after senate approval, and close to the commencement
date of planned programmes. Thus lecturers and students are disadvantaged
by the absence of appropriate academic support materials, at the time of
need. Resource allocators, such as budget administrators, do not appreciate
the rationale on which reading material must be purchased yearly. The idea
of rapid rate of obsolescence of information and, thereafter, the need
for its replacement with current editions appears to be difficult to grasp.
This influences attitudes towards library budgets: they are generally perceived
as the first source of bulk funds from which budget cuts are effected with
little or no consideration of the effect of such actions on academic programmes.
From the above discussion, it is not surprising, therefore, that library stakeholders, receiving no direct personal benefit from library collections, devalue the library's contribution to their academic progress and achievement. Given the political nature of budgeting and competition for scarce resources, budgetary allocations to library support are then rarely perceived as an essential shared institutional infrastructure, warranting constant support. Perceptions that libraries must compete for budgetary allocations at the same platform as departments is erroneous. The library is a shared resource and as such each faculty needs to allocate a percentage of its budget for library development based on the courses offered, research undertakings and expected academic support. A minimum of 10% of the total university budget must be allocated to library services, but excluding personnel remuneration and related costs. In turn libraries must be accountable for the finances and the services they provide. Library services should also be regularly evaluated by stakeholders and to ensure that they meet user information needs, and expectations 2. Human resource development, and reskilling
Library constraints are closely linked to inadequate or outdated skills
held by available LIP staff. Universities in general assume that once LIP
staff have been provided with basic professional training, they are equipped
for life. The dynamic information environment, however, demands continual
renewal of skills and reinterpretation of operations. Yet library staff
participation in continuing education programmes is not perceived as deserving
of inclusion in university staff development plans. The impact of this
stagnation on LIP personnel is the reinforcement of technical-process bound
approach linked to a custodial focus, and failure to make the required
paradigm shift which focuses instead, on stakeholders' needs and service
with the latter forming the foundation. Customer service, which is emerging
as the raison d'etre of the academic library, requires LIP's attitudinal
change and development of good communication and training skills. Above
all, LIP must also empower themselves to understand the nature of the academic
core business and work with academics as part of a team support of student
learning. Further, the varied expertise required by the emerging role of
academic libraries at the operational level, demands that research and
development be embraced as the norm and mastery of IT skills be used as
a tool in support of the academic core business.
The university, therefore, needs to address holistically human resource
requirements for the library and information personnel. LIP are expected
to meet challenges by providing a lead in the exploitation of opportunities
offered by global electronic information and train stakeholders in harnessing
invaluable information for the survival of African societies in the information
millennium. Given these emerging roles, LIP qualification should establish
equity with teaching personnel in the library and information field. Service
through teaching and application of theory to practice should be interrelated,
in keeping with other service professions such as medicine. Practitioners
as well as teachers should contribute as partners to research activity
and advance both theory and practice for the benefit of library and information
professional services.
A systematic approach to these issues demands the following from the
university management.
- definition of the university's expectation of the library's contribution to the university core business.3. Buildings and information communication infrastructures Library buildings provide the single most used facility on any campus.
Yet analysis/predictions of growth of student numbers and courses do not
indicate expected impacts on library facilities and resources during the
planning stages. Libraries tend to be reduced to store room of books with
minimum reader seat allowances before plans for either alternative storage
of materials are approved or extension of buildings constructed, even where
financing is a matter of prioritization rather than its shortage.
Libraries have been proactive in recognising the need for efficient
technical processing of information. Hence they have solicited library
specific software e.g. CDS/ISIS and negotiated donor funding for CD ROM
database pilot projects. The relevance and effectiveness of the products
of these projects in teaching and research has been acknowledged, but their
cost lines has contributed to difficulties in obtaining university commitments
to sustained financing. Similarly libraries have acquired personal computers
and other necessary software packages independently of parent organisations
in support of such pilot project. A prerequisite for effectiveness of this
infrastructure, however, is regular maintenance and upgrading of both hardware
and software, in addition to skilled personnel who can exploit IT capabilities
fully for information access.
The acceptance of the significance of information technology as an information
carrier and learning support tool requires institutional IT policies within
which the library and information infrastructural needs, principles and
policies on IT usage, maintenance and sustainability are crafted holistically,
based on the university's mission. Governments' commitment to provide sustained
financial support becomes relatively more crucial than currently, in view
of the high costs inherent in the maintenance of information technology
hardware and software.
The overall impact and consequences of failure to sustain established
ICT infrastructures at appropriate levels of currency and operation on
the core business of the university needs, to be fully appreciated by university
managers and policy makers in government to ensure that minimum acceptable
financial support is sustained.
The future
of African university libraries
i. Information Communication Technologies (ICT) as library infrastructure
The convergence of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) as a
basis for provision of information in the educational arena and to society
in general, has created a need for universities to access and exploit ICTs
in support of their core business. The accessibility and use of networking
technology such as the Word Web (www), e-mail and real time for video conferencing
communication tools used concurrently, allow distance learning, integration
and exploration of information sources in different libraries, other web-based
sources and human interaction. University libraries must craft a role in
this challenging arena.
Access to the Internet by Sub-Saharan Africa is increasing steadily,
from 14 countries in 1995 to almost all of Africa except two countries
in 1996 (Jegede 1995). This is an indicator of the degree of availability
of the African information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure
which is the backbone of the Internet. Universities, in turn have invested
in the ICT, if use of the electronic mail is an indicator for the rate
of connectivity to the Internet. The future of university libraries is
closely linked to the ability of universities to harness and sustain connectivity
to available ICT infrastructures as a base for providing effective and
efficient access to information by students and university personnel, at
the cheapest equitable rates.
According to the survey of African libraries (Rosenberg, 1997) IT exploitation
by university libraries for information organisation and access has become
prevalent. The automation of the university library through the use of
the UNESCO Micro CDS/ISIS or purchased library software and the advent
of the Internet and other information communication technologies (ICT)
provides a golden opportunity for provision of value added services to
parent organisations. Indexing, abstracting and publication of locally
produced researches and their digitization to facilitate faster IT based
access to meet researchers' and student learning needs. Digitization of
local materials provides a window of opportunity is an extension of the
technical process which will facilitate African university library contribution
to the communication of locally produced researches globally.
Information held in CD-ROM databases has become common, because of the
relative ease of access to, and availability of personal computers. The
problem however, is one of sustainability of such data, since once a new
edition is released, the CD-ROM database in hand, ceases to be accessible.
Thus, in spite of its convenience, the cost of purchasing CD-ROM databases
should be weighed against the long term accessibility of the hard copy
databases, if recurrent financing of CD-ROM databases is not guaranteed.
A shift from the local acquisition and usage of information currently carried
on CD-ROM databases to accessing it directly, through the World Wide Web
is already posing challenges which African university libraries must grapple
with from a number of fronts such as the quality of Internet access, and
connectivity periods as well as development of effective exploitation skills.
CD-ROM databases as currently known are beginning to be used for archiving
purposes. (Luijendijk, 1999)
It is imperative for LIP to develop expertise in and establish programmes
of knowledge management in support of customer needs. The LIP has to be
a coordinator of the various information sources available within the local
university context as well as globally through the World Wide Web (www)
of the Internet. In addition LIP must have the technical capability and
sufficient subject knowledge to add value to a customer needs-matched package
of information by providing links to relevant management information, technical
or research reports or to other Internet sites. Thus LIP must be able to
"deliver a package of information that will provide the basis for sound
business decisions, whether it be highly processed transaction data or
neatly collated reports of business (or curriculum) intelligence leavened
with know-how and the information organised to suit" Field (1998). Delivery
of such information packages will necessarily have to be on individual
customer desk-tops through Intranet for efficiency. These roles not only
ensure that stakeholders are familiar with the dynamic information environment
locally and internationally, but also that the university library maintains
its central role as a cost effective, academic support service providing
equitable access to the best sources of information necessary to the various
stakeholders.
ii. Electronic Publishing
The rapid escalation of subscription costs for hand copy journals (an
essential research support facility) has caused a paradigm shift from paper
based holdings of journal titles to electronic access subscription based.
Current development in the facilitation of access has been invaded by aggregators.
(Luijendijk, 1999). These are companies like OCLC, UMI, H.W. Wilson etc.
who have obtained rights to abstract journal articles and avail rights
for retrieval of full texts of articles in set of journals titles, electronically
at a price. Subscriptions are to a stable of journal titles, not individual
titles. The result is that affordability of access to sets of journals
in select fields is possible only through coalitions among libraries who
form consortia. Through the latter costs and access to aggregated journal
titles are shared. Collective decision making through representative library
boards is the most equitable way to ensure sound choices with broad acceptance
by stakeholders. It will also facilitate broad appreciation of financial
investments required by the paradigm shift in scholarly communications
as it affects the core business of the university.
Attendant to the rapid increase in the amount of information is the
complexity of access and the variety of carriers accessible through the
library. There is a need for the library to facilitate customer familiarity
with IT as a tool for accessing information. Thus the role of the library
has been extended beyond user education, to organisation and access to
locally available information to training users in harnessing electronic
databases accessible through virtual libraries. The integration of ICT
in the learning environment has exposed the necessity for the development
of holistic skills for exploitation of information technology and the electronic
environment. It is absolutely essential that the future university library
innovatively harnesses ICT as a tool for organisation of local information
and making it accessible not only in the local areas networks but also
remotely. Pilot projects are already being undertaken on availability of
Masters theses among African universities in digital formats, through university
libraries. Other libraries are digitizing locally copyrighted materials,
such as examination questions and locally created course materials for
availability in Intranet works.
Access to globally available information presents challenges to the
role of university library in information management in support of identified
research activities and needs of customers. Instructional services offered
by the library include basic computer literacy which is a prerequisite
for acquisition of information exploitation skills. User education has
thus been extended from knowledge on the organisation of materials on various
media to their integration as part of the library's role in research support
services, epitomised by the teaching of information literacy skills.
iii) Information literacy skills
LIP have a responsibility to provide training of customers at various
levels of skill development to empower students and staff for self-sufficiency
in accessing and exploitation of electronic resources, integration of various
information sources in the production of knowledge and communication of
the products electronically.
The definition of information literacy has been articulated through the identification of abilities which are attained at the end of skill building activities as follows: "information literacy is the ability to locate, evaluate, manage and
use information from a range of sources for problem solving, decision making
and research (Bruce and Candy 1995)".
The recognition of and admission by African governments of the importance
of information for development Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI),
places a responsibility on universities as the major source for human resource
development to help graduates to develop abilities and skills to harness
and use information resources efficiently and effectively. The role of
the university library in facilitating the development of information literacy
skills arises out of LIP staff abilities and as front runners in manipulation
and exploitation of ICTs.
iv. Teaching and Research support role
Faculty, researchers and postgraduate students depend on the library
for awareness of developments and progress in their research fields and
for the identification of potential areas of research. It is the library's
role to establish systems for awareness raising such as research profiles
and proactive selective dissemination information services which support
these research activities. The viability of such services depends on communication
channels established between the LIP and faculty/researcher/graduate students
about their information needs. It is the library's role to establish interactive
needs assessment and evaluation mechanisms from the customer's point of
view. This ensures a proactive stance in the provision of relevant services.
The need for the analysis of curricula in relation to the required academic
support material ranging from textbooks to the current published materials
or suitable Internet sites on given topics arises out of the exponential
growth of information. This is an emerging service role of the university
library based on the LIPs coordination and knowledge management roles.
Its development however is dependent on a proactive stance by LIP as well
as establishment of university systems which facilitate meaningful participation
in the process of curriculum analysis, and review. Development of curricula
are committee based, originate from teaching departments as content of
degree programmes and are created around the knowledge, strengths and interests
of faculty and finally gain academic approval through senate (Wolpert Ibid).
The library's parallel role at curriculum analysis stage is to search,
identify and make known to faculty available and accessible academic support
materials relevant to a given curriculum.
Existing university committee structures thus need to be developed to
approach preparation for student learning in a holistic way, rather than
focusing on classroom teaching as is common practice currently.
The African university's vision, mission and practice of higher education determines its perception of the role of the university library and the financial support it provides for the services. The state of African university libraries, at the end of the twentieth century, is indicative of failure, by university structures in general, to appreciate the centrality of library services and programmes as a pedagogic tool. The impact of this eclipse, has been poor and outdated academic support resources and a loss of stakeholder confidence in the capability of the library to the contribute meaningfully to core business of the university. Independent information search, usage, analysis and integration to produce new knowledge is however, central to university culture, values and learning. The complexity of global information sources, the rapid change of information and impact of ICT's on its access has magnified the need for information coordination by well qualified and skilled library and information personnel for the benefit of the African university's customers. The cost effective way to facilitate the development of a learning culture which is consistent with university values, as stated above, is through a well financed and managed library facility which, not only organises information, but also trains the university's customers in information access and use, in support of and in partnership with the teaching process. Following are recommendations which will assist in the development of
the role of the library as a central pedagogic tool for the successful
achievement of the university's goal.
I. Library Users
It is recommended that:
i. Training of students on the conceptualisation of information and
its role in the culture and values of university learning be mandatory,
in recognition of the deficits of this aspect in most African school systems.
iii. Students be sensitised to respect, appropriately use and safeguard
library materials.
II. University Management Structures
It is recommended that university management structures acknowledge
and support the centrality of the Library as a pedagogic tool, and ensure
that sustainability of the university library programmes and services become
one of the university's priorities.
It is further recommended that:
i. University strategic planning processes specifically review current
roles of the university library and holistically define new roles, given
the dynamism of the information and knowledge environment which libraries
must harness as an academic support service.
ii. A minimum of 10% of the total university budget be regularly allocated
for library operations (support services including electronic materials),
excluding staff salaries.
iii. Partnerships between the faculty staff and academic librarians
be negotiated and instituted for the benefit of student learning and effective
facilitation of a culture of information literate society in universities.
III. Information and Communication Technologies Infrastructure sustainability
1. Noting that African governments are committed to the development
of the African Information Society through their endorsement of the African
Information Society Initiative (AISI) of the Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA) it is recommended that:
i. university sponsored advocacy groups be established and charged with
sensitisation of governments on the needs for and requirements of a sustainable
ICT infrastructure for universities, in support of their role in national
human resource development.
2. Recognising the developments of the information communication technologies
(ICT) and their role in the university's core business, it is recommended
that:
i. University wide ICT policies be established and encompass library
and information services specific ICT policies and strategies for sustained
ICT use for learner and teaching support.
ii. Well equipped and maintained information and communication technology
training infrastructure and programmes be established by university library
in collaboration with appropriate university structures.
iii. Continuing education programmes for human resource development
to facilitate reskilling which meets the dynamic information environment
be established for university library staff with the support of university
management.
IV. Library management issues
Recognising that the university library is central to the core business
of the university it is recommended that:
i. Library boards be established as a university wide decision making
body with faculty and student representation and be responsible for resource
allocation policy and the development of a sustainable learning/research
support base infrastructure.
ii. It is further recommended that the library board level be chaired
by the Vice Chancellor or at no lower level than the Pro/ Deputy Vice Chancellor.
iii. The role of the academic library as a pedagogic tool in support
of the University's core business be continually reinforced to both lecturers
and students, through appropriate induction, training and marketing programmes
organised by the library and through integration of information search
and use with classroom teaching.
V. University librarians
i. Recommend that library managers develop the following skills: - strategic planning and performance measure driven actions to meet mission and objectives of universityii. University Libraries develop cost sharing programmes to encourage access rather than development of comprehensive local holdings. VI. Finally it is recommended that: i. teaching and practising library and information professionals strengthen
joint professional programmes, based on the principle of complementarity
and agreed minimum contact periods in teaching and/or practice, as a contribution
to the development of dynamic information services.
ii. Library practitioners establish a culture of research as part of
their responsibilities.
iii. Library practitioners actively apply ICT developments for the establishment and promotion of local databases in hard and electronic copy 1. Wolpert, Ann (1998) Services to Remote Users: Marketing the library's role Library Trends Vol. 47 No. 1 Summer 1998 p.34; 2. Ajayi, J. F. Ade et.al (1996). The African Experience with Higher Education London: James Currey p. 67. 3. Ibid. p.96 & 113. 4. Wolpert, (1998) op.cit. p.23 5. Ifidon, S. E. (1990) Collection Development in African University Libraries - challenges and Frustrations. Bloomington (Indiana) African Studies Program p.19 - 21. 6. Nwafor, B. U. (1989) Funding Third World Libraries in Nothing to read? The crises of document provision in the Third World Proceedings of the seventh conference of the International and Comparative Librarianship Group (ICLG) of the Library Association, London: ICLG (LAS 1990 p.9 - 12) 7. Coombe Trevor, (1991) a consultation on Higher Education in Africa: a Report to the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. P.4 and 52. 8. Lor, P. J. (1994) Bibliographic Control of Material produced in Southern Africa: Some Insights gained from a survey of access to journals and conference proceedings in Proceedings of the Expert Seminar on Bibliographic Control in South Africa Pretoria: State Library, 1994. 9. Raseroka, H. K. (1986) relevant Library Services in Developing countries IFLA Journal Vol. 12(2) p.288 - 291. 10. JISC (1994) Joint Information Systems Committee: Exploiting Information Systems in Higher Education: an issues paper. P.24 - 25. 11. Mbambo & Roselle, A. (1996) Integrating information literacy skills instruction into the curriculum, comparison of two approaches. Paper read at Loex of the West, Seattle, USA. 12. Buchan, Amanda et.al. (1991) Summary Report: African Book Sector Studies New York: The World Bank: Africa Technical Department, Education and Training Division. 13. Coombe, Trevor (1991) op.cit. 14. Fjallbrant, Nancy (1990) UNESCO Survey of Library Orientation and Instruction Programmes. Paris UNESCO 1990 p. 3 - 4 and 40. 15. Raseroka, H. K. (1989) Library Instruction at the University of Botswana Perspectives and Issues. The Bookmark (NY STATE LIBRARY) Vol. 46(1) Fall 1987. 16. Rosenberg, D. (1997) University Libraries in Africa: a review of their current state and future potential. Vol. One London: International African Institute. 17. Jegede, O.J. (1995) "From talking Drums to electronic networking: Africa's snail mobile through cyberspace" FID News Bulletin 45 (7-8) p.218 - 244 18. Rosenberg, D. (1997) op.cit. 19. Field, Mark (1998) Special Libraries - Knowledge Management. The Library Association Record Vol. 100 (2) February 1998, p71. 20. Bruce, Christine and Candy, Phil (1995) Developing Information Literate Graduates: prompts for good practice. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology. (unpublished paper 21. AISI: African Information Society Initiative. 22. Luijendijle, Wim (1999) Interconnectivity and the Hybrid Library, EBSCO Seminar, South Africa, May 1999 |
