Bridge Builders African Experiences With Information and Communication Technology (1996) / Chapter Skim
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CASE STUDIES ON THE COLLECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND DISSEMINATION OF LOCAL INFORMATION RESOURCES
CASE STUDIES ON THE COLLECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND DISSEMINATION OF LOCAL INFORMATION RESOURCES
Pages 215-272
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The following group of case studies focuses on efforts made to collect local information, to organize it into usable forms, and then to disseminate it to those who can put it to good use. Thus one case study in this section is about a group of natural products researchers who banded together to form a professional network that unites them through newsletters, conferences, publications, and now, electronic means.
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216 BRIDGE BUILDERS ment for desktop publishing and CD-ROM searches they realized the same benefits of other case study authors. The CSIR in Ghana took a serious look at its mandate and designed a system to improve national access to scientific and technological information.
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BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE PROJECT This paper describes the background history, objectives, and main activities of the Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa, known in short as NAPRECA. We give particular emphasis to the role of the network in improving the scientific and technological information (STI)
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Abegaz of the same department as myself at Addis Ababa University to serve as Secretary and Treasurer. The rationale for this decision was to avoid having the two officers in different countries, a situation that would have paralyzed the Network right from its inception.
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This turn of events contributed to a weakening of the branch in Zimbabwe, a problem that has not been circumvented to date. In Ethiopia, NAPRECA became affiliated with Addis Ababa University (AAU)
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, and, of course, ourselves from Ethiopia. The meeting took place in Addis Ababa in March 1988.
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PROJECT EXPERIENCE AND IMPLEMENTATION Seven categories of activities will be described in this section. In short, these are: Dissemination of information through publication of a biannual newsletter, monograph series and symposium abstracts; Administration of a post-graduate scholarship program; Implementation of an Exchange of Researchers Scheme Organization of the Natural Products Summer School; Convening of the Natural Products Symposium once every two years; Conducting training workshops; and Coordination of the UNESCO's Botany 2000 program.
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delegation to Addis Ababa in October 1987. A conference for former DAAD fellows was taking place and on one evening during that conference, I happened to sit beside Mr.
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(See Box 2.) Organizing the Natural Products Summer School One ofthe regular activities of NAPRECA is the organization and implementation of Natural Products Summer Schools.
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In the Third Coordinating Board meeting that took place in Arusha, we agreed to organize subsequent symposia every two years. That led to the fourth symposium in Addis Ababa, in December 1991.
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Nearly a dozen well known South African scientists came to the symposium and this had an impact on the quality of the oral as well as poster presentations. It was humorous to hear a South African professor say at the beginning of his lecture that he was extremely pleased because he was "for the first time in Africa." As Madagascar was a Francophone country there were several participants who came from Francophone Africa and France, and one parallel session was dominated by papers presented in French.
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The instructor was Mr. Wodajie Imru, senior glass blower of the Chemistry Department, Addis Ababa University.
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We therefore dedicate one regular column in the NAPRECA Newsletter to list all those papers on African plants that appear in these journals. The column attracts the attention of many researchers whose libraries do not subscribe to these journals.
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The symposia, training workshops, and summer schools organized by NAPRECA have served as excellent fore for the exchange of ideas and information. The benefits of all of these to promote research and development in the field of natural products research in Africa is obvi ous.
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This is because NAPRECA was entitled to use the guest house, student quarters, laboratory, lecture halls, and other facilities oftheAddisAbaba University. Consequently many of the Summer School and Exchange of Researchers programs took place in Addis Ababa.
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Abegaz, and H Guadey of Addis Ababa University have served the network for the constitutionally allowable two terms since 1988.
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Despite support from UNESCO and a founding meeting held in Ghana during the IFS and Kumasi University-sponsored scientific meeting in September 1990, the NAPRECA parallel network failed to take off.
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DEVSIS is a project that dates back to the mid-1970s, when a number of international agencies, including the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, established a system that would help meet the information needs of planners and decision-makers responsible for economic and social development planning.
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The Documentation Unit and its library deliver the following products, technologies, and services: Reference Service through which we assist users in accessing the library's computerized databases. Selective Dissemination of Information through which we offer a current awareness service to the Institute's researchers through their research interest profiles.
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Technologies used include: electronic mail, through HealthNet and Internet; Facsimile; and CD-ROM. The Documentation Unit has been selected as a POPLINE site for Botswana and will therefore have the POPLINE CD-ROM database.
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Train staff in the organization and operation of a specialized documentation center; and d) Determine the computer equipment, staff and training that would be needed in order for NIR to carry out its mandate as the primary national focal point for all information and documentation in the country and to prepare for it to participate in regional networks such as SADIS and PADIS.
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The reason for this, however, was that it had been decided that the computer processing of data would be done in PADIS and this had seemed feasible until the implementation of the project. The library was already using its own manual information processing and retrieval system, which was tedious but very appropriate for the collection.
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Newspaper Clippings Database The Documentation Unit provides a newspaper clippings service. When the service started, about ten years ago, articles found relevant were clipped and then
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The main purpose of the mailing list, however, was for exchanging information and' particularly, distributing the Institutes' publications. The system used was a manual one, which was effective but very tedious and timeconsuming.
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Impact of the DEVSIS-Botswana Project Outside the Institute The impact of the project outside the NIR Documentation Unit can be judged by the number of requests for assistance with database development that we have been receiving and continue to receive. The following are excerpts from some of these requests: "In terms of computerization, our center has acquired the necessary hardware and chosen Micro CDS/ISIS software.
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"The University of Bophuthatswana is in the process of setting up a documentation center. I, therefore, wish to send two professional librarians, to study your setup, especially the organization/processing of materials." (University Librarian, University of Bophuthatswana Library, 1993~9 "Through Professor Heywood I heard about your computerization project and DEVSIS-Botswana, and I am greatly interested in paying you a visit to study your work in this regard." (Director of the National Archives of Namibia, 1991)
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6. Employment of support staff, including a Data Entry Clerk.
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First, the Documentation Unit was fully involved in the project from the beginningeven though it had been conceived elsewhere. Second' this project includes the following "main ingredients" of a database development project.
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It was very important that the Ministry was involved so that the necessary link between NIR and Government could be established at the very beginning. Collection of Documents for the Database A research assistant was employed to go through the NIR library databases and identify Basarwa-related documents so that they could be re-indexed with the potential users of the database in mind.
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Our program does not teach participants the basic concepts of computers and information science; we require that they already have experience in running their libraries or documentation centers. Instead, we expose them to the various information services that we provide.
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~OlES 1. Bashed ~ a term used in Botswana for ~ group of peoples fin variously as the Bushmen, Woman or San of Southern Africa, and fir the purpose of tab case soda tab is the term tab I sbaN use.
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KEMRI is mandated to conduct research in the biomedical sciences and its main objectives are to: cooperate with the other research organizations and institutions of higher learning in training programs and in matters of relevant research; work with other research bodies within and outside Kenya carrying out similar research; and cooperate with the Ministry of Health, the National Council of Science and Technology, and the Medical Science Advisory Research Committee in matters pertaining to research policies and priorities. The Member Research Centers KEMRI has about 1,200 staff members, of which about 450 are either scientists or technical staff.
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Study and identify KEMRI's data processing needs and requirements; Provide some additional hardware to facilitate immediate processing requirements; and Facilitate exchange of knowledge through training visits to institutions with an operational information management system. Professor Dean Haynes, then the Deputy Director of the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology, an international research center located in Nairobi, helped us by identifying consultants who had the relevant experience and had carried out similar activities.
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This allowed us to follow the strategy of implementing the system according to the primary needs of KEMRI and then building the secondary systems as needed and as resources permitted. PROJECT EXPERIENCE AND IMPLEMENTATION The final project provided five main initial services, which are described in some detail below.
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The project provided two microcomputer systems in each of the eight centers and in the secretariat for data management, analysis, and report preparation by scientific, technical and support staff. We also acquired a dot matrix printer and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
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for use in the library and at the central computer facility for online literature searches and internal database development. Two external CD-ROM drives were installed together with Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
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CD-ROM and use of email sytems. Introduction to microcomputers and to the software applications for operating systems, database management, word processing and spreadsheets.
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This has facilitated the exchange of information among local scientists and with the international scientific community. RESULTS, IMPACTS,AND BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT Hardware and Software KEMRI has experienced a dramatic growth in provision and use of microcomputer systems for various research activities.
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Email services have been poorly used overall with user rate ranging between 4 percent and 12 percent. Eighty percent of the scientists are aware of the existence of MEDLINE on CDROM and 64 percent have conducted a search at either the Library or the central computer facility.
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The project provides full support to all email, communications, and desktop publishing services that exist within KEMRI. 80 70 60 50 ~O 040 30 20 10 o- _ 1 992 1 993 O 1994 4~0~ cop ~N ~ ~ N~ ~ Add Application type FIGURE 2 Percentage of Scientists at KEMRI Able to Use Specific Software Applications
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In this same vein, we learned that email services should be provided initially to those scientists and researchers who are the most motivated to communicate with colleagues in other countries or regions. Those who share a common interest in a research area or in problem-solving will readily adapt to a new technology that makes communication relatively quick and inexpensive.
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· Strengthen the desktop publishing operation in order to efficiently produce the new journal; put these services on a self-sustaining basis. · Install a communication system in order to promote the use of email and to take advantage of Kenya's newly-achieved access to the Internet.
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ViZZars John Pillars is Director of the National Science and Technology Library and Information Center, which he helped tofound in 1964. His current interests include the popularization of science, science education, and the application of information technologies in support of science.
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The CSIR must show even greater commitment to information and its repackaging and transfer. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Ghana National Scientific and Technological Information Network (GHASTINET)
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They have acquired other skills but could use more practical training through attachment to similar organizations. Additional training is required in technical areas such as database development and management, abstracting and indexing, handling user inquiries, and information searching.
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There is also a Fidonet-based communication software, Frontdoor, used for electronic mail exchange with the Association for Progressive Communications in London. The equipment and software are used for database management, word processing, desktop publishing, accounting, and electronic mail.
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These activities ensure logical work flow and smooth communication among the various sections. Financial Aspects The project is funded predominantly from central government sources but it has benefited from funds provided by the International Development Research
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To do this, we: · developed an efficient system for the bibliographic control of indigenous STI; created computerized databases for indigenous STI, ongoing research projects, high-level scientific and technical manpower, and a union list of S&T periodicals; from these databases, generated and produced publications and other promotional material; established a facility for microfilming indigenous STI; arranged training programs and workshops for network participants; and promoted the implementation of the network and its services. By its various activities, the project is expected to arouse the awareness of Information personnel to the importance of science and technology information.
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For several years, Ghana had experienced the problem of low-yield of local maize varieties and their high susceptibility to serious insect attack, both on- and off-farm. The role of information in alleviating these problems is not so much in the form of publications, but rather in the form of effective knowledge transfer and communication between the Crops Research Institute, the Extension Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, and farmers and maize consumers.
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User Reaction Users who have reacted positively to the project are predominantly the research scientists of institutes and academic staff end students of universities. Their reaction is initially one of approbation of the objectives of the project, especially with regard to the databases and the publicizing of the collection of indigenous STI.
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~. GHASTINET Brochure, a flier advertising the project, and another advertising the electronic mail service.
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More could have been achieved if we had developed a vigorous and sustained information marketing program. The responses we obtained during the survey of users in agricultural research institutions indicated the benefits derived and the impact of the project, even though the demonstration did not result in an increase in requests for CD-ROM searches.
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The project staff have benefited because they have learned new skills in computer use, database creation and maintenance, word processing, desktop publishing, spreadsheets, CD-ROM searching, and electronic mailing. The CSIR as a whole has benefited from the introduction of computers into the organization.
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In this connection, another success factor has been the sometimes unorthodox public relations approach of project staff, especially at the individual level, to government officials in the funding ministry. This personal and informal approach helped drive home more effectively the not easily recognizable principle that STI is a vital ingredient to national development.
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The most recent example was the freezing of allocations made for equipment in the 1995 approved budget estimates. It is also partly due to the relative low priority accorded to library and information projects.
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There is the urgent need to re-examine the project in the light of new circumstances and to intensify collaboration with agencies that generate or disseminate information in one form or the other. There is further need to create the awareness that information management is not the exclusive prerogative of the librarian or other information professionals.
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