1. 1 Libraries and information for development: some activities Paul Nieuwenhuysen Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen, Universiteit Antwerpen Belgium

2. 2 Libraries and information for development: overview of activities Consultancy with Unesco - PGI in Zimbabwe Consultancy with Unesco - IHP in Burkina, Guinee,… Teaching in RECOSCIX project in Eastern Africa Consultancy with Unesco in Eastern Europe Teaching for Unesco - Southern Africa Organisation of international training programs ! Supporting Sokoine National Agricultural Library in Tanzania !! Involvement in Unesco – IOC African information network

3. 3 Institutional University Co-operation organised by VLIR Belgium = Flemish Community + Walloon Community +… VLIR = Flemish Inter-university Council, in Belgium VLIR organises developmental co-operation between Belgian universities and universities in development. Recipients contribute to the management of the project as much as possible.

4. 4 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: the programme and the project Co-operation programme started in 1997, between Belgian universities and Sokoine University for Agriculture = SUA, in Morogoro, Tanzania = 7 projects: 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture 1 project is co-operation with Sokoine National Agricultural Library = the University Library of the Sokoine University for Agriculture

5. 5 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: location of the university Morogoro is 200 km inland from Dar es Salaam at the coast.

6. 6 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: aim of the project The aim is capacity building of the library, knowing that this will also strengthen the basis for »learning, »teaching, and »research at this university and in the large region served by this library.

7. 7 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: SNAL in Tanzania SNAL = Sokoine National Agricultural Library Established in 1991 Should co-ordinate with other libraries: »resource sharing »co-operation Number of volumes in the collection is about 40 000 Subscriptions to about 80 journals Strives to improve its efficiency by applying ICT

8. 8 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: training of library staff 1 staff member of SNAL is working towards a PhD degree in South Africa, since 1998. Short time practical training sessions in Flemish universities in Belgium were offered to 7 staff members of SNAL. Training in applications of computers and Internet was offered by 4 experts from Belgium, visiting Tanzania. More emphasis in the project on personnel than on hardware.

9. 9 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: network and Internet applications The connection of SNAL to Internet is the aim of another one of the 7 projects running at the university Based on a local Ethernet + satellite transmission Applications that are running already now: »Local Area Network: still not perfect »Electronic mail: still not perfect, but very useful »Access to WWW: still too slow Users are very enthusiastic

10. 10 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: building catalogues with ISIS CDS/ISIS software from UNESCO is used. Reasons for this choice: »Available free of charge »Powerful database management features »Availability of experts and experience »Old cheap PCs can still be used »Strong data formatting features allow conversion of data for input in other systems (perhaps a better but more expensive integrated library system in the future)

11. 11 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: CD-ROM services The first database on CD-ROM was obtained in 1997. Staff awareness raised rapidly by a training conducted in 1998. More CD-ROM databases were acquired, most of them free of charge; currently 30; subscriptions to 2. The CD-ROM services have greatly enhanced user access to information (mainly current bibliographical information).

12. 12 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: improving interlibrary lending Co-ordination of collection building and interlibrary lending (ILL) is expected of SNAL. An investigation is planned of the possible use of ICT for ILL; Internet and in particular e-mail will probably be useful for ILL, also in Tanzania. Experience gained from other countries such as Belgium may be useful when adapted to local conditions in Tanzania.

13. 13 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: Research in library science Essential for long term success of the project (because it is a co-operation among universities). Research should increase the status and the importance of the library. Research in co-operation with Belgium is planned. Barriers that hinder rapid progress include »shortage of staff »wish for research that is both fundamental and applicable

14. 14 Tanzania-Belgium Co-operation: challenges and planning We aim at sustainable development. Further staff training is important. Application of WWW for information retrieval should be further implemented, throughout the university. A web site for the library should be developed. Level of information literacy of users and potential users should be increased. The growing know-how and services should be extended to related institutes, in view of the national role of SNAL.