ZAMBIA

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ZAMBIAS PLACE IN AFRICA
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• Located south of the Equator, this landlocked
  country is positioned in southern Africa, and
  bordered by the countries of Angola, Botswana,
  D.R.C., Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and
  Zimbabwe
• Population of just above 10million of which 1/5
  live in Lusaka
• Known for the worlds largest waterfall, Victoria
  falls, locally known as the Musi-oa-tunya.

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• THE ACADEMIC LIBRARIAN IN A DEVELOPING SOCIETY
  challenges and prospects of retooling academic
  libraries
• Mutinta Mweemba Nabuyanda, Librarian
• National Institute of Public Administration,
  Zambia

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INTRODUCTION

• This paper highlights the challenges encountered
  by academic librarians in developing countries,
  in this case Zambia, in their endeavour to
  implement change management in the provision of
  efficient and effective information systems to
  their clients.

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• A sample of four academic libraries, namely, the
  National Institute of Public Administration
  (NIPA), Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and
  Sciences, the University of Zambia (UNZA)
  library, and the Zambia Institute of Accountancy
  Studies (ZCAS).
• These libraries present a 66.6 of the total
  membership of academic libraries in the Zambia
  Library Consortium (ZALICO).

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CHALLENGES

• Poor and inadequate Infrastructure
• -Old dilapidated infrastructure (libraries built
  in the 1960s)
• -Limited space for expansion ( even with the
  increase in enrolments)
• -Limited number of users at any given time, e.g.
  NIPA built to cater for 80 but currently 1, 236
  users, Evelyn Hone built to cater for 150 but
  currently has 1,763 users
• -Low funding levels

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• 2. Poor reading Culture
• -Inability to purchase books
• -Reading to pass examinations only and not for
  enjoyment.
• - Introduction of alternative entertainment, for
  example, Television, video games and cinemas

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• 3. Poor conditions of service
• -Low salary scales for librarians compared to
  other professionals
• -lowly placed in organisational structures
• -Working long hours without good incentives
• -High workload
• -lack of opportunity for advancement

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• 4. Low qualifications of library staff
• -Under utilization of e-resources
• -Poor service delivery
• -unable to cope with major responsibilities

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• 5. Poor Funding
• -Low provision for purchasing new books
• -low provision for infrastructure rehabilitation
• -Economic challenges of the third world
• a. Implications of exchange rates (
  dollarisation of world economy and fluctuations
  in the exchange rates)
• - limited modern equipment

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• -Reasons for poor funding
• -lack of government support
• -different priorities set by parent
  institutions.
• -limited sources of funding

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TRADITIONAL OR MODERN?

• Traditional
• -conventional book only materials
• -reading area only
• -hard copies only
• -manual catalogue systems

• Modern
• -e-resources
• -research facilities
• -soft and hard copies
• -automated catalogue systems

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Change management

• -challenges of getting new ideas implemented and
  appreciated.
• -implemented through education and communication
• -advantages of Information Communication
  Technology (ICT) need to be explained
• - undertake Orientation programmes

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• -selective dissemination of information (SDI) for
  e-resources through e-journal alerts
• -registration of internet protocol (IP) addresses
  for the whole institute
• -constant touch with academia and students to get
  feedback

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PROSPECTS

• Infrastructure Improvement
• -expanding and building of new infrastructure
• -widening bandwidth for efficient delivery of
  information
• -research can be carried out in the offices
  and laboratories without having to physically
  visit the library
• -Political will through the introduction of
  ICT national policy

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• 2. Training of librarians
• -training in modern information management
  systems
• -deliberate training policies for staff
  whenever a need is observed
• -provision of post-graduate and Masters levels
  within the country
• -Introduction of need-based training
• -upgrading of services
• -Establishing and maintaining professional
  bodies to monitor quality of training
  (locally/international)

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• 3. Funding
• -lobby for higher budget allocations
• -Taking advantage of availability of low-cost
  editions of books
• -lobby for assistance from cooperating
  partners through the government.
• -lobby for government subsidies
• -Introducing and providing chargeable services

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4. Networking

• -Institutional co-operation (locally)
• -Formation of Zambia Library Consortium
  (ZALICO)
• -resource sharing (INASP-PERI) programme in
  subscription for e-resources

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• Institutional co-operation (International)
• -Webster University and NIPA
• -Evelyn Hone College and Irish Government
• -ZCAS and Irish government/European Union

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CONCLUSION

• With the introduction of new technological
  changes, it is imperative that the academic
  librarian in the third world is empowered to
  provide services which will help develop not only
  the intellectual capabilities of the academia and
  students but also contribute positively to
  research issues touching on the very existence of
  our economies. Only then will the contribution of
  the academic librarian be looked at positively as
  it will help foster economic development of the
  country.