Libraries and information for development: some activities

1. Libraries and information for development: some activities Paul Nieuwenhuysen Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen, Universiteit Antwerpen Belgium

2. Libraries and information for development: overview of activities • Consultancy with Unesco - PGI in Zimbabwe • Consultancy with Unesco - IHP in Burkina, Guinee,… • Teaching in RECOSCIX project in Eastern Africa • Consultancy with Unesco in Eastern Europe • Teaching for Unesco - Southern Africa • Organisation of international training programs ! • Supporting Sokoine National Agricultural Library in Tanzania !! • Involvement in Unesco – IOC African information network

3. Institutional University Co-operation organised by VLIR • Belgium = Flemish Community + Walloon Community +… • VLIR = Flemish Inter-university Council, in Belgium • VLIR organises developmental co-operation between Belgian universities and universities in development. • Recipients contribute to the management of the project as much as possible.

4. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: the programme and the project Co-operation programme started in 1997, between Belgian universities and Sokoine University for Agriculture = SUA, in Morogoro, Tanzania = 7 projects: • 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture • 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture • 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture • 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture • 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture

5. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: location of the university Morogoro is 200 km inland from Dar es Salaamat the coast.

6. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: aim of the project The aim is capacity building of the library, knowing that this will also strengthen the basis for • learning, • teaching, and • research at this university and in the large region served by this library.

7. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: SNAL in Tanzania • SNAL = Sokoine National Agricultural Library • Established in 1991 • Should co-ordinate with other libraries: • resource sharing • co-operation • Number of volumes in the collection is about 40 000 • Subscriptions to about 80 journals • Strives to improve its efficiency by applying ICT

8. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: training of library staff • 1 staff member of SNAL is working towards a PhD degree in South Africa, since 1998. • Short time practical training sessions in Flemish universities in Belgium were offered to 7 staff members of SNAL. • Training in applications of computers and Internet was offered by 4 experts from Belgium, visiting Tanzania. • More emphasis in the project on personnel than on hardware.

9. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: network and Internet applications • The connection of SNAL to Internet is the aim of another one of the 7 projects running at the university • Based on a local Ethernet + satellite transmission • Applications that are running already now: • Local Area Network: still not perfect • Electronic mail: still not perfect, but very useful • Access to WWW: still too slow • Users are very enthusiastic

10. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: building catalogues with ISIS • CDS/ISIS software from UNESCO is used. • Reasons for this choice: • Available free of charge • Powerful database management features • Availability of experts and experience • Old cheap PCs can still be used • Strong data formatting features allow conversion of data for input in other systems (perhaps a better but more expensive integrated library system in the future)

11. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: CD-ROM services • The first database on CD-ROM was obtained in 1997. • Staff awareness raised rapidly by a training conducted in 1998. • More CD-ROM databases were acquired, most of them free of charge; currently 30; subscriptions to 2. • The CD-ROM services have greatly enhanced user access to information (mainly current bibliographical information).

12. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: improving interlibrary lending • Co-ordination of collection building and interlibrary lending (ILL) is expected of SNAL. • An investigation is planned of the possible use of ICT for ILL; Internet and in particular e-mail will probably be useful for ILL, also in Tanzania. • Experience gained from other countries such as Belgium may be useful when adapted to local conditions in Tanzania.

13. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: Research in library science • Essential for long term success of the project (because it is a co-operation among universities). • Research should increase the status and the importance of the library. • Research in co-operation with Belgium is planned. • Barriers that hinder rapid progress include • shortage of staff • wish for research that is both fundamental and applicable

14. Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: challenges and planning • We aim at sustainable development. • Further staff training is important. • Application of WWW for information retrieval should be further implemented, throughout the university. • A web site for the library should be developed. • Level of information literacy of users and potential users should be increased. • The growing know-how and services should be extended to related institutes, in view of the national role of SNAL.