11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Capacity Building in Library Services: Influencing Innovation and Competitiveness Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director, ITOCA – Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Agenda ITOCA overview Capacity building: Shared vision Capacity Building Challenges: ICT and e-resources Research4Life/TEEAL programmes Training-of- Trainer programme ( ) Lessons learnt

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 ITOCA Overview Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa NGO, registered in RSA & Zim, est Formerly TEEAL Africa Office Capacity building organization aimed at enhancing information and communications technology (ICT) skills for mainly African librarians, info specialists, scientists, researchers and students in SSA region Runs several capacity building programmes –CEPD; Reseach4Life and TEEAL programmes

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Capacity Building: Shared vision Need for increased production, access and use of research output in Africa ICTs, in particular, E-resources play an important role in research and academic disciplines Increased costs of staff development /training Cascading model (ToT approach) F2F effective but expensive Online training tools/approaches working but of limited use Benefits of partnerships across the continent Local/regional/international Maximise ROI and reduce duplication

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Case for Advocacy: Role of libraries and e-resources Library services play an important role at research and academic institutions. Building information skills at these institutions is critical if research is to improve. Libraries need ICT infrastructure and relevant staff skills if this is going to be a reality in the SSA region. E-resources: “Build and they will come approach” not bringing required results User skills have a major bearing on access and use; local research output and publishing

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Capacity Building Challenges Limited funding available in library & HR budgets Low prioritisation for building IL and e-resources skills, Need to invest in relevant and effective training programmes, Need for aligned and supporting policies at institutions, Institutions’ level of e-Readiness to foster an environment that supports successful implementation of ICT and IL training programmes.

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 E-resources access and use challenges Low awareness about e-resources’ and their relevance Need for justification in investment at institutions inline with mandate and bottom-line goals of the institution Low usage of library e-resources among users Low user skills remain an important barrier to the uptake of e-resources Lack of adequate IT & Internet infrastructure at institutions Relevant supporting policies required to promote ICT/e- resources investment and use

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Information Literacy/e-Resources Training by ITOCA and partners Research4Life /TEEAL programmes in SSA Over 80 ToT courses delivered in 28 countries since April 2005 Week-long workshops for researchers and academicians Mixed audience: Librarians, Info managers, faculty, researchers, policy-makers, technical officers, etc Collaborative effort: FAO, WHO, UNEP, WIPO, CTA, IDS, Cornell and Yale Universities, Funding agencies, local institutions 1,760 graduates to date and continuing Local support increasing (hosting, funding, etc)

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012

TEEAL/Research4Life Courses: 80 courses in 28 SSA countries ( ) ITOCA Trained Participants (

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Lessons learnt: skills building worth the investment Training costly but worth the investment in skills building: Face-to-face training interventions should be complimented by online training tools and approaches to increase reach and ROI IT and Internet infrastructure investment to improved access, use and user skills Integration of Information literacy into tertiary education curricula will increase search skills at academic and research institutions ToT approach viable – practical hands-on, technical and facilitation skills inter-twinned in the courses.

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Lessons learnt: Management support critical Institutionalisation strategies: e-resources play an important role in research and increased skills for information enablers, researchers, faculty and students needs to be prioritised and institutionalised if the strategy is to be sustained Management buy-in critical in order to increase investment in libraries, e-resources and the building of relevant skills Faculty and researchers must take the lead in supporting libraries in addressing the issue of low awareness and user skills at the institutions

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Lessons Learnt: Advocacy at institutions for increased investment Library services contribution to bottom-line: Libraries have a direct impact on the quality of local research and local publishing work the researchers, faculty and students can undertake and produce given the limited resources at their disposal. Improved quality of research: The ability to write research manuscripts for publishing, competitive grant proposals, etc Directors of Libraries need to increase their voice and justification for the increased investment in e- resources and IL training at the institutions

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting (SAOIM), 5-8 June 2012 Thank you.