1. Lydia Namugera and Caroline Kobusingye
MAKERERE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY’S PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE LIBRARY CONSORTIUM AND RESOURCE SHARING IN UGANDA by
Lydia Namugera and Caroline Kobusingye
Presentation at the IFLA ‘Document Delivery satellite meeting: “Restructuring resource sharing: new organisations, technologies, methods”- Nancy,
13-14th August, 2014

2. Outline Introduction CUUL Methodology Response Maklib’s pivotal role
Challenges and Solutions
Recommendations
Conclusion
Acknowledgment

3. Introduction: Uganda in East Africa

4. Introduction: Makerere Univ
In 1922, Makerere Univ was established as a Univ College of London, then Univ of East Africa & became a Nat Univ in 1972;
Mak Univ 2013/14 admission is over 40,000 students from Uganda & various countries from Africa & beyond.
Makerere Univ Lib (Maklib) serves multiple roles. In 1958, it became the 1st legal deposit unit in Uga;
In 1972, Maklib became a National Reference Lib in addition to its primary role as Ac lib;

5. Introduction … cont
Since the 1990’s, Africa has been experiencing a rapid expansion in higher education and research
The expansion requires a vibrant lib & info service to meet the changing user info needs and demands;
More so in Sub-Saharan African Univ Libraries where shortage of infrastructure & facilities are very common.

6. Introduction… cont The ever-increasing student population
Student enrolment
Academic Year 6

7. ‘‘CUUL”…Introduction
Consortium of Uganda University Libraries (CUUL) was established in 2001 with the aim of strengthening the network of librarians, researchers and academics in Uganda.
To provide effective and efficient lib and info services, Ugandan libraries agreed to cooperate formally by forming CUUL during a workshop on “Library Cooperation for Effective Provision of Information in Uganda and beyond”.

8. The Methodology
A short survey was carried out to ascertain Maklib’s role in CUUL
A questionnaire consisting of 11 open-ended questions was administered to CUUL member participants online & also asked to share their success stories spelling out CUUL benefits & Maklib’s support as well as challenges faced.
The paper further draws from Doc review of the consortium reports & experience of the researchers as active participants in CUUL activities.

9. The Methodology … cont
Informal discussions with CUUL Executive Committee members and former National E-resources coordinators were carried out to obtain detailed information from a wider scope of experience about CUUL’s activities.

10. The Response
The survey response rate was 30% (12/40) of which one institution – Young Men’s Christian Association was a non CUUL member.
9 of the respondents had full membership, while 2 had affiliate membership.
On average these institutions had been subscribed to CUUL for over 4 years, with the highest being 13 yrs & the least less than 1 year.
Low response was due to poor or internet culture by most Librarians, and lack of stable internet at the institutions.

11. Resources Sustainability Document Delivery Services
Maklib’s Pivitol Role
Searching Tools
Monitoring and Evaluation
Resources Sustainability
Licensing and Negotiations
Maklib
Resources Mobilisation & Funding
Document Delivery Services
Institutional Visits
Member Recruitment
Training & Capacity building

12. Membership Recruitment
There is an exponential increase in the number of institutions from 23 in to 40 in 2013 with 135%

13. Resource Mobilisation &Funding
Mobilising Resources from Institutions
Proposal Writing to support agents eg. SIDA,INASP
Response: “Maklib lobbied for SIDA funding which greatly subsidized the cost of acquiring e-resources”
Initiated the Collaboration of Uganda and Research4life support organisations

14. Resources Mobilisation Cont…
Year
CUUL (USD)
Mak Univ/ SIDA (USD)
2011
28,224
59,095
2012
31,213
62,872.94
2013
37,136.71
56,106
2014
39,196.08
50,071
On average, Maklib contributes 63% to the e-resources annual subscription fees

15. Resource Sustainability
In collaboration with SIDA & INASP, Maklib supported CUUL to come up with an equal e-resources sharing model
By November 2006, out of the 43 registered PERI-Uganda institutions, only 10 (23%) had responded to the e-resources sustainability initiative.
Maklib then met the additional balance of the budget worth USD 13,743 to the available USD 10,320.

16. Current proposed cost Sharing model
Full members are to pay 80% of the budget,
Public institutions 50%,
Private institutions 30%,
Affiliates pay 20%.

17. Licensing and Negotiations
Close collaboration with INASP when dealing with Publishers
Responses:
“reduction in the costs of e-resources through collective bargaining”
“The subscription costs have come down and affordable through the consortium rather than individual institutions”.

18. Sourcing for federated search Tools - Libhub
Thru Maklib’s collaboration with Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development team (GLORIAD), CUUL members got free access to Libhub.
Responses:“…students have been able to acquire articles for their research papers on different topics using the various e-resources subscribed to. Also, while using these materials, students were in position to make notes and write timely course works from an informed point of view.”
"There are more users now who have access to our resources, thanks to Kiox and Libhub"

19. Libhub: http://libhub.sempertool.dk/
Quick Search

20. Impact of Libhub
E-resources Usage statistics over the year

21. Training & Capacity Building
technical troubleshooting and bandwidth management,
scholarly writing and communication
e-resources management,
leadership and management,
institutional repository management,
project planning,
marketing, pedagogy
demand driven workshops

22. Training and Capacity building
Impact of Sida Support to Makerere Universuty

23. Training and Capacity Building Cont…

24. Training and Capacity building cont…

25. Impact of Sida Support to Makerere Universuty
Responses on Training
“we have shared experiences and best practices with colleagues from sister academic libraries”
“hosting capacity building training which has improved the performance of our staff members”
“connected us to emerald officials who trained our academic staff in e-resources utilisation on the 26th of May 2014”
Impact of Sida Support to Makerere Universuty

26. Participants in the Pedagogical Skills

27. Institutional Visits

28. Institutional Visits Cont…

29. Document Delivery Services
Partners:
British Library
University of Bergen
University of Tennessee
Articles Delivered:
107 delivered in 2012,
395 delivered in 2013
166 articles have been delivered in 2014

30. Document Delivery Services – DDS: http://mulib.mak.ac.ug

31. Challenges and Solutions
The cost of bandwidth has remained too high for many Ugandan institutions, rendering them unable to access online resources.
Research and Educ Network for Ug (RENU), based at Mak Univ in collaboration with CUUL supports research through broadband connectivity. RENU has procured Network equipment and established a network node. This has improved internet access at Mak Univ and Ug Christian Univ, and plans are underway to Connect Kyambogo Univ & JCRC.
Subscribing to the Ezproxy Software

32. Challenges, cont…
The consortium is faced with limited funds, this is mainly due to irregular payment of membership and e-resources subscriptions fees.
Lack of awareness of the benefits of the consortium among the govt departments has hindered financial support from govt.
To address this, a committee in charge of lobbying for govt support from institutions like National Council of Higher Education has been formed.

33. The challenges, Cont…
Limited human resource at institutions and lack of training skills combined with poor ICT skills.
Poor internet culture to keep abreast with the technological changes in libraries hinders the resource sharing activities.

34. Recommendations
Librarians have to become more innovative to lobby and interest their institutions as well as govt to give budget support to the consortium activities since the activities are geared towards supporting teaching, learning, research, and enhancing national development.
Librarians should keep up-to-date with the technological changes in libraries to ease resource sharing activities.

35. Conclusion
Maklib’s role in supporting CUUL activities & ensuring its’ sustainability is invaluable.
Played its’ role as a Nat E-resources Coordinating institution through training & capacity building of members institutions, e-resources sharing, Institutional visits and DDS among others.

36. Conclusion cont...
“A passion to work for reasons that go beyond money and status; a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence lead to a strong drive to achieve, and optimism even in the face of failure” Goleman Daniel (What makes a leader, Harvard Business review, 1998).
We will continue to ‘build for the future’ of Uganda and beyond.

37. Acknowledgement MakLib CUUL Institutions SIDA INASP EIFL
CUUL Coordinators
Mak Univ adm