Libraries In Africa Research Articles

Open science and academic libraries in Africa

This study is a comprehensive review of existing scholarly literature on Open Science to explore the prospects and adoption of Open Science (OS) in academic libraries in Africa. The study explains the history, dimensions, drivers and ecosystem of OS. The potential impacts, which include visibility, cost effectiveness, increased availability of scholarly resources, enhanced research outcomes, and greater collaboration among researchers, are identified. The study also highlights the challenges that African academic libraries face in the adoption of open science, such as limited funding and infrastructure, and a shortage of skilled professionals. The paper identifies the unique challenges and opportunities that academic libraries in the region face. The researchers recommend open science best practices such as prioritizing of the training of librarians, and awareness, developing supportive policies, investing in infrastructure, aligning with advocacy groups for support, and fostering international collaboration.

African Librarians and the Future of Learning: Reflections from the 5thAfLIA Conference and 7th African Library Summit in Accra, Ghana

Innovations in the 21st century have reshaped learning among people of different age, educational qualification, race, gender and geographical location. As a lifelong behaviour, it is predicted that the future of learning will transcend the conventional learning pattern and walls of the classroom with the introduction of open practices (such as the open educational resources) and the decolonization of educational content for both formal and informal learning. This discussion and many more characterized the 5thAfLIA conference and 7th African Library Summit in Accra, Ghana, as Librarians in Africa gathered to discuss the future of learning, libraries and sustainable development in Africa. The conference provided opportunity for Librarians in Africa to re-think their place in the future of learning and help achieve sustainable development. This paper, therefore, highlights the key activities and issues discussed during the 5th AfLIA Conference and 7th African Library Summit held in Accra, Ghana, from 22nd to 26th May, 2023.

Continuing professional development strategies for digital transformation among academic librarians in Africa: A systematic review

This study aimed to review evidence on the continuing professional development (CPD) strategies that have been implemented for academic librarians and the CPD strategies that have enabled the implementation of digital transformation within academic libraries in Africa. A literature search in six databases was performed, which included Academic Search Premier (searched through EbscoHost), Emerald, Eric (searched through EbscoHost), Proquest Thesis, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. A total of 3716 studies were retrieved from the six databases and exported into EndNote Referencing Manager. After removing duplicates and screening, 60 records were retained. Subsequently, full-text reading was done, and 15 records did not meet the criteria thereby leaving 45 records that were included in the review. The findings showed that the CPD strategies implemented in academic libraries included mentorship, availing librarians with protected time to engage in learning, and collaborating with external environments among others. However, academic libraries in Africa are yet to embrace the need to recruit a staff specifically designed for CPD activities, many do not have allocations within their budgets for Librarians’ training, and have no library staff training policies, The review established that few studies had reported on the CPD strategies that had led to the implementation of digital transformation in Africa. This included collaboration, attending short courses, and mentorship. Libraries need to designate staff in charge of librarians’ CPD activities, develop librarians’ training policies, and allocate funds for librarians’ training within their budgets.

Proposed standard guideline for managing information systems (ISs) in libraries in Africa

PurposeLibraries in Africa are adopting technology at a fast pace. However, literature has provided enough evidence of the many challenges libraries on the continent are facing in the use of the adopted information technology of which information systems (ISs) are major components. Literature also does not provide evidence of IS standard, policy or guideline at both national and international levels as a benchmark for the use of these systems. Therefore, this paper aims to propose an IS standard guideline as a guide for libraries in Africa to develop IS policies, standards or guidelines to help in effective use of IS in libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers based their proposed standard guideline on the findings from their earlier research works and evidence from other existing literature as has been reviewed in this paper.FindingsFindings from the literature revealed that libraries in Africa face a number of challenges in the use of IS which can be categorised into four main areas, namely, financial challenges, technological and infrastructural challenges, human resource challenges and organizational challenges.Originality/valueThis paper proposed an IS standard guideline to serve as a guide for libraries in Africa to develop IS policies, standards or guidelines to help in effective use of IS in libraries.

Collection development policy: A panacea for collection development challenges in university libraries in Africa

Collection development is faced with various challenges such as decreasing budget allocation, increasing cost of materials, increasing demand for information, the complexity of electronic resources, and legal issues arising from copyright and censorship. To meet these challenges, university libraries in developed countries have adopted different strategies such as using a written collection development policy (CDP) to guide their collection development activities. However, university libraries in Africa are lagging in this regard. It is either they have not formulated the policy or used it to guide their collection development activities. Therefore, this study argues that a written CDP, if well prepared and used, can address collection development challenges facing university libraries in Africa and provide standard collections necessary for teaching and research activities of the university communities. Specifically, the paper discusses major collection development challenges facing university libraries in Africa and establishes ways in which a written CDP could be used to overcome them. Methodologically, the paper is based on a review of related literature. The paper contains a literature review of papers discussing the major collection development challenges facing university libraries in Africa and ways a written CDP could be used to overcome them.

The Emergence of Green Libraries in Kenya: Insights From Academic Libraries

Environmental protection is an increasingly pressing issue all over the world. Ozone depletion, the greenhouse effect, global climate changes, and global warming are among rising environmental concerns. During a recent climate change conference, i.e., COP 26 in Glasgow, UK, in November 2021, the Glasgow climate pact was unveiled to drive action across the globe on mitigation- reducing emissions; adaptation – helping those already affected by climate change, finance – enabling countries to deliver on their climate goals and collaboration- working together to deliver even more significant action.Libraries have not been left behind and are engaging in green initiatives to lessen global warming and safeguard the environment through the green library initiative (Singh & Mishra, 2019). Librarians are slowly becoming eco-conscious and developing the sense of creating libraries that minimize power consumption and become energy efficient and environmentally friendly to attain sustainable libraries or green libraries.There is limited research on green initiatives in libraries in Africa, although a lot is being done in some libraries to ensure environmental sustainability. A case study of academic libraries in Kenya was done to establish the perspectives of librarians on going green and levels of adoption while also exploring the motivations and barriers to environmental sustainability championed by libraries.Through purposive sampling, the study looked at ten academic libraries in Kenya that are perceived to be either partially or fully green. Head librarians of these institutions were taken through interviews to explore the adoption of green initiatives. Observation and document review were also used in the mixed methods case study.

An evaluation of institutional repository development in African universities

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the development of institutional repositories in university libraries in Africa. An online questionnaire and institutional repository site investigation methods were used to collect data from 134 university libraries in English-speaking countries in Africa. The study finds that there is an increasing wave of development of institutional repositories in English-speaking countries in Africa. The majority of the institutional repositories contain high numbers of theses and dissertations, followed by journal articles and conference and workshop papers. The challenges that are identified include inadequate facilities, unstable Internet connectivity, a lack of funds, an irregular power supply, collecting material for institutional repositories, a lack of skilled information and communications technology personnel, copyright issues and an absence of institutional repository policies. The results from the study provide important data and insight into the development of institutional repositories in university libraries in the context of developing countries, and offer suggestions for university librarians and management teams.

Knowledge sharing practices among African health sciences librarians.

Objective:The objective of this study was to investigate knowledge sharing practices among health sciences librarians in African countries.Methods:A cross-sectional survey design was employed. The study population consisted of African health sciences librarians that attended the 16th Biennial Conference of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa on October 14–18, 2019, at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results:The types of knowledge most commonly shared by respondents were information on conferences, workshops, and seminars as well as information on new trends and technologies in librarianship. The main avenue of knowledge sharing was face-to-face interaction. Unwillingness to share knowledge and a lack of awareness about current trends and issues were the top identified challenges to knowledge sharing.Conclusion:These survey results establish the existence of a low level of knowledge sharing among health science librarians in Africa and suggest that concerted efforts should be made to overcome barriers to knowledge sharing within and across African countries.

Unveiling the veiled: Wikipedia collaborating with academic libraries in Africa in creating visibility for African women through Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon

PurposeThis study aims to show that digital literacy can serve as a tool for effecting social change and highlights the achievements of an academic library in digital content creation using the Wikipedia platform.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted qualitative research method, Interview and document analysis were used for data gathering. Data gathered were analysed using content (conceptual) analysis.FindingsFindings showed that the library has created or edited digital content for various categories of women, such as women in academia, industry and politics. These entries have received more than eight million views over a period of two years, which shows that the entries are being utilised. However, the editing exercise had been confronted with challenges such as accessing reliable citations in terms of the notability and verifiability policy of Wikipedia amongst others.Practical implicationsCurrently, people rely more on online resources for their research, leaving physical library resources unused. Even, more students start their research online using Wikipedia. Thus, libraries could create visibility for their physical material using regularly visited sites like Wikipedia and its sister projects such as Wikidata; otherwise, these physical materials will remain invisible to the people that needed them.Originality/valueContributing to Wikipedia by creating a new entry or editing an existing one can help students to deepen their knowledge about a subject; Wikipedia editing may serve as an avenue for improving information literacy skills. Drawing from the theory of cyberfeminism as used in the study, information and communications technology has the potential to empower women and transform gender relations.

Advocacy for School Library Development

The paper focuses on describing the importance and value for development of Rural School Libraries in Africa in order to overcome the increasing gap between the information rich and the information poor that currently threatens educational achievement in remote and inaccessible rural schools. It further discusses that main challenges faced when establishing and developing a rural school library to ensure that the socially excluded rural children have access to reading material. The question is - What are the materials and human resources needed to overcome these challenges. In conclusion, the paper offers recommendations that urge the government to establish School Library Service and to enact legislation to address the needs of rural schools in terms of infrastructure, equipment, material resources, appropriate manpower and the introduction of ICTs in rural schools to foster vital knowledge necessary to address local needs.

Partnership working in Africa: Shane Godbolt providing the links to the tapestry.

This paper explores the work that Shane Godbolt did in Africa in strengthening health information networks. It focuses on th role she played in supporting the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) and working with the Information Training Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA) to provide capacity building linkages. Some examples of such linkages extending beyond Africa to the United Kingdom are explored. It then concludes with reflections from authors on their own experiences of working with Shane Godbolt.

Strengthening health information librarianship in Africa through associations and partnerships: personal reflections in memory of Shane Godbolt

AbstractThis paper describes the significant roles Shane Godbolt played in promoting partnerships and collaborations and strengthening the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA). It presents the personal reflections of each author about Shane, the part she played in their professional and personal lives as well as Shane's vital support for AHILA and AHILA members during her lifetime.

Challenges of Resource Description and Access (RDA) Implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Literature

Resource Description and Access (RDA) is a new cataloguing standard, designed for the digital world, built on foundations established by Anglo American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) and it is to replace the existing Anglo American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd Edition (AACR2). RDA provides a comprehensive set of guidelines and instructions on resource description and access covering all types of content and media. It is based on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) in order to relate the user task of retrieval and access in an online library catalogue and biographic database from a user’s perspective. Bibliographic records in RDA are more relevant in an online environment by enabling catalogs to cluster related records to show different manifestations of the same work. Patrons could discover that the information sources they are seeking are available in different forms in the library. This paper investigated RDA as a new standard for cataloguing as well as the challenges related to RDA implementation in libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa, as the literature evidence that many libraries in Africa are still using the AACR. Qualitative research approach based on document content analysis was used. Findings revealed that RDA is gradually implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa however, there are challenges related to power supply, internet connectivity, ICT skills, training, funding and LIS systems. The study recommends alternative power supply, other training options, development of consortia, among others.

Open research data in African academic and research libraries: a literature analysis

PurposeThe paper presents a literature review on research data management services in African academic and research libraries on the backdrop of the advancing open science and open research data infrastructures. It provides areas of focus for library to support open research data.Design/methodology/approachThe literature analysis and future role of African libraries in research data management services were based on three areas as follows:open science, research infrastructures and open data infrastructures. Focussed literature searches were conducted across several electronic databases and discovery platforms, and a qualitative content analysis approach was used to explore the themes based on a coded list.FindingsThe review reports of an environment where open science in Africa is still at developmental stages. Research infrastructures face funding and technical challenges. Data management services are in formative stages with progress reported in a few countries where open science and research data management policies have emerged, cyber and data infrastructures are being developed and limited data librarianship courses are being taught.Originality/valueThe role of the academic and research libraries in Africa remains important in higher education and the national systems of research and innovation. Libraries should continue to align with institutional and national trends in response to the provision of data management services and as partners in the development of research infrastructures.

Critical success factors for digital library implementation in Africa: Solution focused rather than problem focused

Digital libraries continue to be an important source for indigenous content and research output in developing countries, especially in the context where traditional distribution mechanisms failed. It is therefore useful for continual research to maintain and enhance our standing on the topic and to improve ways of making digital libraries more usable and sustainable to the user community. It is with this effect that this study on the success factors of digital libraries was conducted, with the objective to identify and validate a set of critical success factors (CSFs) for digital library implementation in developing countries. To address this, a quantitative exploratory research design was employed using a web-based survey questionnaire as the data collection technique. A total of 56 item statements associated with the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework were developed and respondents were asked about their Perceived Importance and Actual Practices of those factors in digital library implementation. Digital libraries in Africa were sampled and an identified 155 digital libraries from this continent were obtained from OpenDOAR, with 111 sample size representative of the respondents. Based on a 70 percent response rate expectation, invitations were sent to respondents representing the digital libraries. After almost six months, there was a 67.7 percent response rate with 105 usable questionnaires obtained. This study revealed eight CSFs for digital library implementation in ranked order - Content, Architecture, People, Process, Standards, Location and Time, Policy and Advocacy. They are the salient factors that would not only assist to attain sustainable digital library development and implementation, but also provide guidance to library practitioners in appropriate decisions for digital library adoption. It may also help libraries to accomplish their digital library mission in the most cost effective way.

An assessment of digital literacy skills and knowledge-based competencies among librarians working in university libraries in Africa

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess digital literacy skills possessed by library and information professionals working in university libraries in Africa.Design/methodology/approachOnline questionnaire was developed to collect data from 214 librarians working in various university libraries in English-speaking countries in Africa.FindingsThe study found that librarians working in university libraries in Africa rated their database search skills, uploading documents to online platforms, skills in using different social media, sending and receiving e-mails skill, digital library development skills, skills in applying new technologies into library services, ability to create different file formats and ability to use open source software as very high. While, metadata development skills, and library website development skills were rated to be moderate and low. Overall, the librarians rated their level of digital literacy skills possessed to be moderate, and differences emerged between librarians in Nigeria and South Africa with regard to digital literacy skills possessed.Practical implicationsThis study attempts to identify skills that are central to librarians working in university libraries. The study will be useful for trainers who want to arrange training for academic librarians in Africa and other developing countries. For some library schools, it may help them to review their curriculum in accordance with the required skills and competencies for academic librarians in the market.Originality/valueFindings will be helpful to explore the skills and competencies needed by information professionals and to act as a guideline for competency development and curriculum update in library schools in developing countries.

Perspective

This paper, titled White Space Networking with Wi-Fi like Connectivity [8], received the best paper award at ACM SIGCOMM 2009. Since then, it has led to new research, a new IEEE standard, new governmental regulations, and a new industry. The work also laid the foundation for new rural connectivity initiatives, connecting rural schools, hospitals, and libraries in Africa, Asia, and America.

The utilisation of library spaces by postgraduate students at a university in an African country

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the use of library spaces by postgraduate students at the North-West University in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachA survey research methodology was used in which both online and print questionnaires were used to gather data.FindingsThe major findings of the study were that postgraduate students frequently visited the libraries to make use of the quite study spaces, which include the research commons and the study carrels. The study further found out that postgraduate students rarely visited the libraries for the purpose of consulting librarians regarding their studies. Challenges expressed by the students include insufficient workstations, poor internet and Wi-Fi connectivity and limited seating capacity. The benefit of the study is that it will help librarians and the university administrators to better understand the postgraduate students space needs, as well as the challenges being encountered.Research limitations/implicationsThis biggest limitation of this study was a lack or low response rate by certain faculties, which mitigated against comparing the use of spaces by faculty.Practical implicationsThe results of this study re-affirm the need for postgraduate spaces. University libraries that seek to build postgraduate spaces in the future need to ensure that an adequate number of computer workstations are supplied and Wi-Fi and bandwidth are improved. University libraries that already have postgraduate spaces should consider adding more workstations and improving bandwidth and Wi-Fi connectivity in those spaces. These results further point to a need for libraries in Africa and elsewhere to consider having more quiet study spaces for postgraduate students while reducing the number of group study spaces.Social implicationsThe results of this study point to a need for libraries and university authorities to periodically review library spaces as a way to ensure their continued optimal usage. They also point to a need for more funds to further enhance the library spaces for postgraduate students’ use.Originality/valueSouth African libraries are faced with challenges including the addition of 15 per cent value added tax to print and online resources. In this environment, libraries are expected by university authorities to demonstrate return on investment. This study, therefore, is located within the realm of determining return on investment for the funds spent by universities to build dedicated postgraduate library spaces. This study will further benefit librarians and the university administrators by helping them to better understand the postgraduate students space needs, as well as the challenges being encountered.

The experience of occupational psychosocial stress among librarians in three African countries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on describing the experience of occupational psychosocial stress among librarians in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. It further seeks to identify the various psychosocial stress components and how they interact to determine the stress level of librarians.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Effort-Reward Imbalance scale, this descriptive study employed a web-based data collection tool (Google Form) to design and solicit data from respondents. Convenient sampling technique was used to employ 153 librarians from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa with at least a diploma in any library-related programme, who work in either academic, public or special libraries.FindingsThis study established the prevalence of occupational psychosocial stress among librarians from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. It was realised that gender, country of residence of respondents, age, work experience, workers with children under 13 years of age and work roles were the main factors that influenced the occupational stress among the respondents.Research limitations/implicationsThe response rate for this study was low. As a result, undertaking any inferential statistics to explain relationships was not possible.Originality/valueThe value of this study lies in the depth of narrative data collected and the insight it affords with regards to contemporary work within libraries in Africa and beyond. The results presented may provide both a starting point for further discussion and may also promote an increased openness about issues of employee safety in the library environment.

ICT-related training and support Programmes for information professionals

This paper, which seeks to investigate ICT-related training and support programmes for information professionals, becomes essential due to multifarious tasks that require adequate ICT skills, knowledge and application in a dynamic context to function better. This paper adopted the quantitative research approach. The quantitative approach was survey, using a questionnaire to collect data from respondents in selected university libraries in Africa. Findings revealed that ICT-related training and support programmes offered to information professionals helped to improve current practices of library operations and service delivery to users. Re-skilling becomes significant due to the existing phenomenon of pedagogical learning, thus leading to the creation and harvesting of knowledge among information professionals. The exposure, experience, knowledge and skills acquired serve as defence for information professionals in the application and use of ICT-related tools of hardware and software, irrespective of the context. Embracing continuous acquisition of knowledge and skills to navigate and sustain dynamism in the work place becomes a necessity.