Archives des mots-clés : Africa

Open Access Initiatives in Africa — Structure, Incentives and Disincentives

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Building open access in Africa is imperative not only for African scholars and researchers doing scientific research but also for the expansion of the global science and technology knowledgebase. This paper examines the structure of homegrown initiatives, and observes very low level of awareness prevailing in the higher educational institutions and research institutes, organizations and governments.

Increasing penetration of internet as well as growing proficiency in its use account for any evidence of OA movement in the region. The absence of interest and willingness of governments and policy makers to take a role in building the movement in the region makes any observed progress a fragmented one.

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2012.11.024

Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications…

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Awareness and Use of Open Access Scholarly Publications by LIS Lecturers in Southern Nigeria :

“The study examined the awareness and use of open access scholarly publications by Library and Information Science (LIS) lecturers in southern Nigeria. Based on this, three (3) objectives were set out for the study. The descriptive survey design was employed and the questionnaire entitled “Awareness and Use of Open Access to Scholarly Publications Questionnaire” (AUOASPQ) was administered on the entire population of 141 LIS lecturers from which 114 responses were successfully collected. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and regression analysis. The study revealed a high level of usage of open access publications by both senior and junior LIS lecturers and that the awareness of open access concepts accounts for the tendency of LIS lecturers in southern Nigeria to use open access publications. The study recommends that efforts should be geared towards inculcating the awareness and use of open access especially through enabling infrastructure and enacting policies such as mandatory deposit of scholarly works in open access archives.”

URL : http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.library.20120104.02.html

Scientific Publishing in West Africa A Comparison of…

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Scientific Publishing in West Africa: A Comparison of Benin with Senegal and Ghana :

“We compared scientific indicators related to Benin, Senegal and Ghana. We collected data from Web of Science and used indicators like the yearly productivity, the language of publication, the type of publication, the citable documents, the publication fields, and the main international partners as well as the percentage of papers in collaboration. Results showed that Benin productivity is the lowest one; Ghana and Senegal competed over the period; depending on the type of documents under consideration, the positions of the three countries vary. Citable documents had an increasing trend for all the countries. There is less cooperation between African countries and Benin, Senegal and Ghana; colonial ties count much in their international partnership. Cooperation among the three countries is negligible.”

URL : http://2012.sticonference.org/Proceedings/vol2/Megnigbeto_Scientific_589.pdf

Digital Librarians and the Challenges of Open Access…

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Digital Librarians and the Challenges of Open Access to Knowledge: The Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUAU) Library Experience :

“The development of Internet technology has provided academic and research institutions with a very high level of visibility on the web. As a result, teaching, learning and research is widely improved in the global society today. The intellectual call for knowledge and information dissemination by countless organizations and educational meetings has given birth to a terminology called open access. This initiative is aimed at bringing the knowledge society to a state of free access to all kinds of information and learning material using the Internet and ICT tools. The library plays an important role in sustaining the open access initiative (Das, 2008). Librarians who ensure the organization and dissemination of full-text content of knowledge materials to online communities are the digital librarians.”

URL : http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/uzuebgu-mcalbert.htm

Perceptions of Public Libraries in Africa This…

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Perceptions of Public Libraries in Africa :

“This article presents a summary of some results of the study Perceptions of Public Libraries in Africa which was conducted to research perceptions of stakeholders and the public towards public libraries in six African countries. The study is closely linked with the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme, which awarded grants to public libraries in developing and transition countries to address a range of socio-economic issues facing their communities, including projects in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia.

The goal of the study was to understand the perceptions of national and local stakeholders (municipalities, ministries, public agencies, media, etc.) and the public (including non-users) in respect of public libraries in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe about the potential of public libraries. It also aimed to understand how these stakeholders could best be positively influenced to create, fund, support or to use public libraries. It is hoped that stakeholders in the countries studied will choose to assess the findings as a potential tool to improve library management and advocacy.”

URL : http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue68/elbert-et-al

Open Access and Scholarly Publishing Opportunities and Challenges…

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Open Access and Scholarly Publishing: Opportunities and Challenges to Nigerian Researchers :

“The study examined the extent of researchers’ appreciation of open access scholarly publishing. It discussed the opportunities and the benefits of open access to scholars worldwide. Challenges of OA were discussed and solutions suggested. Four research questions were raised. The population of this study was 140 lecturers from the University of Benin, Nigeria. The study revealed that the respondents had cited open access journals articles and that the major benefit derived from using open access journals is that it provides free online access to the literature necessary for research.”

URL : http://www.white-clouds.com/iclc/cliej/cl33IO.pdf