|
|
| eJournals in Rwanda | PRINT | | New Roles and Challenges for Librarians and Libraries |
 Karlskrona (S), May 2007 - With financing by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the not-for-profit institutions of Rwanda have acquired access to a great number of eJournal collections from publishers and aggregators. Anna Stockman from the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden speaks with CHECK.point eLearning about eJournals in real life and her experiences from the National University of Rwanda.
What were the obstacles that had to be overcome?
Anna Stockman: First, let me say that not all of the obstacles have been overcome. The remaining ones include some that are purely technical, such as insufficient or badly managed bandwidth, equipment in short supply, and power failures.
Another type of obstacle is those related to attitudes. New technology is not always easily accepted by users and library staff. Users may have found their own way to retrieve information and could be reluctant to learn new ways. Library staff has to be convinced to work with new tools, which means more work for them but hopefully it also means greater user satisfaction.
What can others learn from your experience?
Anna Stockman: When you start to supply digital resources, I would say - in a few words - that it’s important for the library to:
- create awareness (both among users, university management, and library staff)
- promote resources and create alliances with “digital friendly” groups and individuals
- have good contacts with the responsible ICT staff
- keep up the databases and the links on a user-friendly website
- constantly train users and library staff
How do you see the role of libraries as access providers to digital resources and distributed expertise in Africa?
Anna Stockman: Libraries have a long history of making resources available to the users. Scarce materials and minimal budgets have been used in this way for the benefit of many rather than a few. The libraries used to provide print resources, but nowadays, digital resources are just as important or even more important. Making these resources available for as many as possible is a question of having a democratic attitude towards information.
What did you personally learn from your work with the National University of Rwanda?
Anna Stockman: Working with the National University of Rwanda (NUR) has been very rewarding for me. The enthusiasm and skills of many of the people working at the University have impressed and inspired me. On the other hand, I have also realized that I really can’t take my own experiences at my Swedish university library and expect them to translate entirely to the situation in Rwanda.
I’m used to a less hierarchical organization, and I had to learn to be more patient. During the course of our cooperation, I have increasingly come to appreciate the importance of team building and knowledge sharing.
Could you please give us a brief description of the Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI)?
Anna Stockman: PERI – the Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information, is one of the programs run by INASP - a charity formalized as an Interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
INASP has helped Rwanda to negotiate with providers of electronic journals to get access to journals from Blackwell, Cambridge journals, Emerald, IEEE, JSTOR, etc. According to the agreements, these resources are available to anyone in an educational, research, or non-profit environment in the entire country.
The objectives of PERI are to:
-
facilitate the acquisition of international and local information and knowledge;
- improve access to local research through the improved preparation, production, and management of local journals;
- provide awareness or training in the use, evaluation, and management of electronic information and communication technologies (ICTs);
- support problem-solving in regard to regional and local information access and dissemination challenges
Training in areas relating to these objectives is a very important part of the work done within PERI.
|
| |
|
|
Printview
recommend article
contact CHECKpoint |
|
Copyright © CHECKpoint eLearning/INFObases GmbH
Use of copyrighted material by copying, distribution - including in electronic format - as well as storage in database systems, the Internet, or Intranets is not permitted without prior approval in accordance with copyright law and is punishable by law |
| Top |
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
|
|
|
| | | | | | | Premium Content |  | Second Life as
an eLearning Platform | | 3D simulations and serious games are attaining ever-increasing significance for the learning world. A special case of its own is the virtual world Second Life. The CHECK.point eLearning Whitepaper "Second Life as an eLearning Platform" seeks to contribute to the discussion about Second Life’s suitability as a technological platform for education and training. The study answers questions like "For which application scenarios is Second Life suitable?" and "Which topics can be implemented successfully in Second Life?"
More information | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
|
