11th southern african online information meeting (saoim), 5-8 june 2012 capacity building in library...

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting 11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012(SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012


Capacity Building in Library Services: Influencing Innovation and Competitiveness

Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director,

ITOCA – Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa



Agenda

• ITOCA overview

• Capacity building: Shared vision

• Capacity Building Challenges: ICT and e-resources

• Research4Life/TEEAL programmes Training-of-Trainer programme (2005-2011)

• Lessons learnt



ITOCA Overview

• Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa

• NGO, registered in RSA & Zim, est. 1999

• Formerly TEEAL Africa Office

• Capacity building organization aimed at enhancing information and communications technology (ICT) skills for mainly African librarians, info specialists, scientists, researchers and students in SSA region

• Runs several capacity building programmes

• –CEPD; Reseach4Life and TEEAL programmes



Capacity Building: Shared vision

• Need for increased production, access and use of research output in Africa

• ICTs, in particular, E-resources play an important role in research and academic disciplines

• Increased costs of staff development /training • Cascading model (ToT approach)

• F2F effective but expensive

• Online training tools/approaches working but of limited use

• Benefits of partnerships across the continent• Local/regional/international

• Maximise ROI and reduce duplication



Case for Advocacy: Role of libraries and e-resources

• Library services play an important role at research and academic institutions.

• Building information skills at these institutions is critical if research is to improve.

• Libraries need ICT infrastructure and relevant staff skills if this is going to be a reality in the SSA region.

• E-resources: “Build and they will come approach” not bringing required results

• User skills have a major bearing on access and use; local research output and publishing



Capacity Building Challenges

• Limited funding available in library & HR budgets

• Low prioritisation for building IL and e-resources skills,

• Need to invest in relevant and effective training programmes,

• Need for aligned and supporting policies at institutions,

• Institutions’ level of e-Readiness to foster an environment that supports successful implementation of ICT and IL training programmes.



E-resources access and use challenges

• Low awareness about e-resources’ and their relevance

• Need for justification in investment at institutions inline with mandate and bottom-line goals of the institution

• Low usage of library e-resources among users

• Low user skills remain an important barrier to the uptake of e-resources

• Lack of adequate IT & Internet infrastructure at institutions

• Relevant supporting policies required to promote ICT/e-resources investment and use



Information Literacy/e-Resources Training by ITOCA and partners

• Research4Life /TEEAL programmes in SSA

• Over 80 ToT courses delivered in 28 countries since April 2005

• Week-long workshops for researchers and academicians

• Mixed audience: Librarians, Info managers, faculty, researchers, policy-makers, technical officers, etc

• Collaborative effort: FAO, WHO, UNEP, WIPO, CTA, IDS, Cornell and Yale Universities, Funding agencies, local institutions

• 1,760 graduates to date and continuing

• Local support increasing (hosting, funding, etc)



TEEAL/Research4Life Courses: 80 courses in 28 SSA countries (2005-2011)

ITOCA Trained Participants (www.itoca.org)



Lessons learnt: skills building worth the investment

• Training costly but worth the investment in skills building: Face-to-face training interventions should be complimented by online training tools and approaches to increase reach and ROI

• IT and Internet infrastructure investment to improved access, use and user skills

• Integration of Information literacy into tertiary education curricula will increase search skills at academic and research institutions

• ToT approach viable – practical hands-on, technical and facilitation skills inter-twinned in the courses.



Lessons learnt: Management support critical

• Institutionalisation strategies: e-resources play an important role in research and increased skills for information enablers, researchers, faculty and students needs to be prioritised and institutionalised if the strategy is to be sustained

• Management buy-in critical in order to increase investment in libraries, e-resources and the building of relevant skills

• Faculty and researchers must take the lead in supporting libraries in addressing the issue of low awareness and user skills at the institutions



Lessons Learnt: Advocacy at institutions for increased investment

• Library services contribution to bottom-line: Libraries have a direct impact on the quality of local research and local publishing work the researchers, faculty and students can undertake and produce given the limited resources at their disposal.

• Improved quality of research: The ability to write research manuscripts for publishing, competitive grant proposals, etc

• Directors of Libraries need to increase their voice and justification for the increased investment in e-resources and IL training at the institutions



Thank you.

www.itoca.org

[email protected]

11th southern african online information meeting (saoim), 5-8 june 2012 capacity building in library...

Documents

eresources skills

information skills

eresources access

eresources library services

africa slide

institutions level of

building il

uptake of e