Information Development

Examines library and information strategies for Nigerian rural areas. Reinforces the significant role library services can play in securing sustainable development in the rural sector. Surveys what could be the objectives of such libraries and outlines different strategies for satisfying the information needs of rural people through libraries. Merely establishing libraries will not be enough; efforts should be made to disseminate relevant and timely information to the people. A service-oriented scheme is the best way out of the frustrating rural life in Nigeria.

Describes the activities of the National Science and Technology Library (NSTL) of China, an information resource sharing system offering services in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine. It maintains a joint index of its members’ collections and provides document searching and full-text document supply services. Both services are growing fast. The objective of NSTL in the next five years is to develop more functions and enlarge the system’s capacity to offer better quality services to fulfil users’ requirements.

Seeks to demonstrate that successful implementation of Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation is directly linked to effective and efficient records keeping regimes. Where records keeping systems are poor or ineffective, the implementation of FOI will either be problematic or fail to achieve the desired results.

Describes significant developments in the news information services at The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), in New Delhi, India. News information service is one of the most demand driven services in today’s information market. Every organization needs current information, which can be provided by news information services. The news information service at TERI is based on the institute’s mandate, which is focused on energy, environment, and sustainable development. It serves external and internal researchers, consultants and other users. The service was initially print-based, providing conventional press clippings, but with the emergence of new technologies it evolved into daily and weekly electronic services and now also offers web-based services. The information services have been tailored to meet the demands of the user community.

Lack of an effective marketing strategy of library resources has been found to be the main reason why targeted users–university teachers, researchers and students–are not using the Kenneth Dike Library of the University of Ibadan as they should. It was found that less than a quarter of these targeted users register annually in the library. A more aggressive marketing strategy has been set in place to sensitize users to the wealth of information resources available in this great library.

Reports on a survey designed to find out the role of tourist information in increasing tourist visits to Eritrea. The use of promotional channels like the Internet, magazines, brochures and others has been limited and tourist information about Eritrea was generally scarce. Shortage of funds and trained manpower were among the main challenges faced by travel agencies in promoting Eritrean attractions. The few information sources used by the Ministry of Tourism and by travel agencies were not easily accessible and not adequately detailed. They were also not effective in removing the negative perceptions of tourists about the political stability, health facilities and crime in the country. The information sources had done little to motivate tourists to visit the country. Eritrea should not promote its tourism industry before improving the tourism infrastructure.

Highlights the value of human resources in knowledge management. Describes the knowledge accessibility problems of developing countries and depicts the Indian scenario of knowledge management problems. The DAISY Consortium, project NOVA and several other initiatives facilitate knowledge access even for disadvantaged people and hence there is no dearth of technologies for knowledge access. Problems of knowledge accessibility arise due to uneven access to technology which leads to the digital divide. Indicates the efforts being made at the international level to overcome such problems and concludes that there is a need to develop ICT infrastructure for tackling knowledge management problems of developing countries.

Reports on a study of distance library services at the University of Swaziland. Observes that the user group is young and unemployed. Identifies the access challenges arising from transportation and funding limitations, lack of library and information technology skills, insufficient resources and user support, restrictive policies, poor photocopying, ILL and online search services and competition from on-campus students. Argues that public libraries support distance library services more than the Internet in Swaziland. Recommends a dedicated budget and staffing, relevant user education, liberalization of access policies, provision of more Internet and OPAC terminals, satellite library services and consolidated resource sharing agreements.