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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 1

Presentation Outline The Higher Education Landscape in Africa Value of Academic Libraries in Africa Challenges in Service Delivery Collaborative Ventures Conclusion IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 2

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 3

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 Enabling academic excellence in African universities by demonstrating the value and impact of academic libraries to university leadership (A joint ACU/INASP publication for African vice chancellors, rectors and university leaders) IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 4

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 5

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 6

Providing Solutions through Collaboration Principles Types of collaboration Future areas of collaboration IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 7

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 8

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 9

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 10

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 11

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 IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 12

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!! IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 13

Obrigado!! IATUL/UFSC Networking Workshop 14