(Download) "Providing Access to Knowledge in Africa: The Need for Capacity Building in Classification, Indexing, And Abstracting Skills" by Library Philosophy and Practice " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Providing Access to Knowledge in Africa: The Need for Capacity Building in Classification, Indexing, And Abstracting Skills
- Author : Library Philosophy and Practice
- Release Date : January 01, 2011
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 92 KB
Description
Introduction One of the visions of the African Virtual Library and Information Network (AVLIN) is to be a web of network information accessible to the people of the region and others engaged in African development. This implies that AVLIN will seek to develop indigenous/endogenous knowledge base dependent on available information resources within the regional institutions. To play leading role in this project should be the various library professionals employed in the region's universities and research institutions whose major functions are research and knowledge development. Witten et. al. (2002) recognized this when he argued that the most important thing to do is not disseminating information originating in the developed world but to foster the ability to build information collections locally. Alemna and Cobbla (2005) noted that Africa is ready to pursue developing digital libraries in a more earnest way but lacks some basic resources. We are of the opinion that the most important resources lacking in this venture is that of skilled cataloguers, indexers and abstractors. This is evident in the claim by the organizers of this conference that "There is urgency to these policy discussions as major digital initiatives involving African content are currently being under-taken by non-African organizations without widely accepted protocols and agreements...." This paper argues that there is a serious need for a theoretical and policy framework necessary to provide a basis for systematic training of professionals to place African knowledge on a pedestal that will make it accessible to the world of knowledge. This argument is predicated on the following questions: