PERii: Library Development

As organisers and guides of knowledge, librarians play an important role in increasing the accessibility and dissemination of research. PERii works with libraries and librarians to:

• enable the development and enhancement of skills 
• train users to exploit and provide access to the resources of their institutions 
• develop digital services to meet the growing expectations of scholars and researchers
• ensure that policy makers and researchers have access to global knowledge

Like all of INASPs work, library development activities continue to evolve in response to the expressed needs and priorities of our partner countries. Activities are firmly embedded within national and organisational strategies, and are led, implemented and ultimately sustained by the countries themselves through individuals who are influential leaders in their national library and academic community.

Current key activities include:

Library and Information Science (LIS) Curriculum Development
Building on requests to support new generations of well-trained professional librarians, able to work within the digital environment, a central plank of the PERii Library Development work is curriculum development and the training and reinforcing skills of Library and Information Science (LIS) faculty.

This is achieved through the organisation and facilitation of LIS curriculum development workshops. These may be facilitated by national, regional or international experts and are supplemented where necessary with support for library faculty to follow distance-learning courses and visit peer institutions.

For further information, visit the LIS curriculum Development project page or the library development events page.

Information Literacy
The goal of our training in this area is the creation of information-literate individuals who know: 

• when and why information is needed 
• where to find information 
• how to evaluate, use and communicate information in an ethical manner

Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning (ALA).
A train the trainer approach is used, which encourages trainees to coach colleagues in what they have learned.

Library Consortia
In view of the rapid changes taking place in both the products and services of the information market, the high costs, and huge technological opportunities to share information, libraries in developing countries are responding increasingly by striving to develop library consortia.

The motivation for the creation of consortia is generally the need to share increasingly expensive (electronic) library collections in the most cost-effective manner for mutual benefit and cost-savings. But there are other areas in which the consortium can represent a qualitative leap forward in co-operation, efficiency and cost-savings (e.g. sharing/exchange of staff; cooperative acquisitions and cataloguing; consortial repositories). PERii supports workshops and stakeholder meetings which help consortia develop financial and management skills, and articulate policies and plans across the whole spectrum of digital library development.  

Institutional Repositories
PERii works with partner libraries to enable workshops that equip participants with the necessary skills to implement a digital repository - from compiling and implementing an e-strategy, conducting a needs analysis, compiling a business plan, proposal, installing the necessary software, digitization and copyright issues, up to giving exposure to the repository and the role of librarians and faculty.

Library automation/ Open source software
With the increasing availability of open-source software, interest in library automation is appearing more on the agenda. Although many libraries claim to be automated, many of the systems are out-of-date as there frequently hasnt been the funding to move from the old systems to the more modern clientserver applications. PERii works with libraries which are planning to implement open source systems (such as Koha, Evergreen and the ISIS-based ABCD) and offers workshops to equip their staff with the necessary planning and functional skills.

Professional Associations
Support to professional associations and the publication of conference proceedings have both been a long-standing activity for INASP and remains a key point of the Library Development component of PERii. Making the most of professional associations is encouraged and supported with the goal of increasing participation in, and capacities for, networking, so librarians can share knowledge and best practice.

Sufficiently resourced libraries in developing and emerging countries, providing access to relevant information and knowledge, create the most supportive environment for the development of research.

For further information, visit the strengthening professional associations page.  

For more information on Library Development, please contact us via email.

Documents

PERii Brochure ( 439kb)
PERii Brochure - Library Development ( 193kb)

Links

LIS curriculum Development project
Library Development Events
Strengthening professional associations