COLLABORATION - Workshop – Challenges of networking library

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CHALLENGES AND COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN AFRICA Dr. Elisha R. T. Chiware Director: CPUT Libraries Cape Peninsula University of Technology Cape Town, South Africa

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Presentation Outline • The Higher Education Landscape

in Africa • Value of Academic Libraries in Africa • Challenges in Service Delivery • Collaborative Ventures • Conclusion

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Higher Education in Africa • HE in Africa – is playing a critical role in Human

Resources development for the Civil Service and Development of Education System • Challenges • Access – rising but still behind in global terms • Gender equality – the girl child is still marginalized • Relevance – to development priorities and social change

• Quality – teaching staff, low skilled researchers • Management – poor resources focus • Funding – inadequate investment from funders • Research - poor and not being applied to social and economic

change

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Value of Libraries in Higher Education in Africa • A growing global disconnect between libraries and

academics(RIN and RLUK, 2011) • Growing call for libraries to articulate their value and align with institutional goals (Value of Academic Libraries Initiative – ACRL, 2010) • Value of academic libraries in the Developing World – SAGE, 2013

by demonstrating the value and impact of academic libraries to university leadership (A joint ACU/INASP

• Enabling academic excellence in African universities

publication for African vice chancellors, rectors and university leaders)

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Libraries in Higher Education in Africa • Challenges • Funding - a rise in investment (in the last decade) – but not adequate • (academic research – a source of information and knowledge - for

social, economic and political well being of countries) • Information Access • While resources – are now widely available – the main problem remains

with access – technical • Acceptance by users – faculty and students • Technology challenge • Broadband connectivity • Reach to areas beyond major cities

• Training • Brain Drain

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Libraries in Higher Education in Africa • Challenges • Advocacy and Administration • Position of library in the institution • Appreciated value

• Political and economic stability / instability • Varied external funding sources and agendas • Rapid growth of student population • Challenge on library facilities

• Library physical infrastructures • Buildings • Electricity • Climate control

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Providing Solutions through Collaboration • Principles • Types of collaboration • Future areas of collaboration

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Principles of collaboration • Benefit for all the participants • Well defined relationships • Common, new goals • Have the commitment of the organizations leaders

• Several projects with long term effort and results • Comprehensive planning, including: - development of joint strategies and - measures of success i.e. benefits to the user • Mutual risk • Shared resources or jointly contracted • Distributed benefits – more is accomplished jointly than could be

individually Murray Shepherd, University of Waterloo, Canada http://www.iatul.org/doclibrary/public/conf_proceedings/2004/murray20sheperd.pdf

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Country specific collaboration • University Library Directors Councils • Coordinated national forums • Consortium • Resource sharing and joint development projects • Combined Donor sponsored initiatives • In various areas • Library Association Chapters • Focused on academic library development • National conferences, workshops and seminars • Open Access initiatives

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Collaboration initiatives among African academic libraries • IFLA - Africa Section • African Library Summit

• Carnegie Leadership Academy • Leadership development

• DRUSSA • Libraries Support Research Uptake initiatives

• Open Access – Digitization initiatives • Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD) – ACU • (18 countries)

• Information Literacy Standards • Statistics Databases

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Areas of future collaboration • National electronic licences • Learn from Brazil • Research data management – a coordinated response to the

emerging area of e-Research • Likely provide African researchers with opportunities to share and

collaborate on common research areas • Open access - Increase African content on the web • Make a whole wealth of research outputs from govts, NGOs, universities more visible • Share technical expertise across boarders • Provide African technical experts in the Diaspora the opportunity to plough back home • Provide focused opportunities for growth and development of

new professionals in global LIS trends

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Conclusion • Continuous demonstration of library value –

through advocacy and alignment with university goals • Sustaining current collaborative initiatives • Learn from more developed emerging economies e.g. in BRICS • Provide opportunities for broader global networking

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Acknowledgements • To USFC for giving IATUL an opportunity to interact with

Library Directors in Latin America • To USFC Library Staff for organizing the workshop and ensuring that we have all information prior to travel • To my colleagues (Mark Snyders at CPUT Libraries) for assisting me with putting this presentation together • And all those in attendance today

• Estamos ansiosos para a família

IATUL!!

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Obrigado!!

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