Hosting the 16th AHILA Conference in Ibadan, Nigeria: organization, achievements, challenges and lessons learnt

Attending a scientific conference offers researchers several potential benefits including opportunity to present and receive constructive feedback from professional colleagues. Organizing such conference is also beneficial to the hosts who can acquire skills for coordination, communication and networking. However, the process is fraught with many challenges. One hundred and nine professionals attended the 16th AHILA conference from 22 countries in Africa, Europe and United States of America. The conference agenda was balanced, integrating skills acquisition, information for career development, sources of evidence-based free e-resources, including databases, and e-books for libraries covering health-related topics. This article describes achievement, challenges and lessons learnt in hosting the conference and could serve as a guide for health information professionals planning a similar conference in the future

Adoption of Cloud Computing by Academic Libraries for Research Data Protection

Technological evolution is an influencer for libraries alertness to meet the rising information needs of users. The purpose of the study was to identify and review possible measures that academic libraries could consider to secure data in the cloud and safeguard research data/assets. The study was guided by descriptive design, which made use of secondary data to address the problem of low utilization of the cloud among academic libraries in African. The findings of the study revealed a low adoption rate of cloud computing by academic libraries in Africa. It was also proven that major challenges that inhibited the adoption of cloud computing by academic libraries were lack of institutional policy guidelines and authentication procedures from cloud service providers. Recommendations of the study were that academic libraries should fully utilize cloud computing services to store research data to enhance access and visibility. The Management of academic libraries should put in place policies and guidelines that will guide in the selection of cloud service provider for research data storage

An assessment of public secondary school teachers' use of information resources in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State

The purpose of this study was to survey the use of information resources among senior secondary school teachers in Abeokuta North local government area of Ogun State. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Using the multistage sampling technique, four public secondary schools were purposively selected resulting in a sample size of 243 teachers. A self-developed questionnaire was used for data collection and analysis was carried out using descriptive  statistics. Findings revealed that the teachers mostly use textbook, reference  sources and internet to obtain information for their teaching activities. The major purposes for consulting information sources among the teachers were to prepare for classroom teaching and obtain examination questions. The study also revealed that the teachers are using ICTs frequently to obtain information, but are challenged by the lack of functional school library and high cost of internet. It was recommended that the State government and school administrators equip school libraries with resources and programmes that will make them function effectively to the advantage of secondary school teachers. Librarians in public libraries should also train  secondary school teachers to improve their use of ICT resources.Keywords: school libraries, information resources, secondary school teachers, information u

Adoption of Cloud Computing by Academic Libraries for Research Data Protection

Technological evolution is an influencer for libraries alertness to meet the rising information needs of users. The purpose of the study was to identify and review possible measures that academic libraries could consider to secure data in the cloud and safeguard research data/assets. The study was guided by descriptive design, which made use of secondary data to address the problem of low utilization of the cloud among academic libraries in African. The findings of the study revealed a low adoption rate of cloud computing by academic libraries in Africa. It was also proven that major challenges that inhibited the adoption of cloud computing by academic libraries were lack of institutional policy guidelines and authentication procedures from cloud service providers. Recommendations of the study were that academic libraries should fully utilize cloud computing services to store research data to enhance access and visibility. The Management of academic libraries should put in place policies and guidelines that will guide in the selection of cloud service provider for research data storage