Redesigning customer support services for electronic resources: The case of UDSM library

This paper reports on a study conducted at the University of Dar es Salaam library to determine whether or not library customers are satisfied with services related to access and use of electronic resources. A total of 70 postgraduate students filled out an online questionnaire with both open and close-ended questions; however, 53 of the respondents returned the filled-in questionnaires. The findings revealed that most users were at the coursework stage and are mainly interested in various web-based electronic resources for the purpose of answering assignment questions while a few are interested in using subscribed to journal articles to assist with their research work and writing up dissertations. The findings further revealed that while there is generally satisfaction with how librarians offered services related to access and use of electronic resources, a number of challenges were encountered including lack of appropriate communication skills among librarians who handle customers, limited human resources, slow response rates from librarians and problems related to limited number of computers, slow Internet connectivity, electricity power supply. It was recommended that library services related to access and use of electronic resources should be re-designed to enable librarians serve customers better by utilizing appropriate customer-service related skills

Investigating reading culture among students in higher learning institutions in Tanzania

This paper presents findings of a survey conducted in some selected higher education learning institutions in Tanzania to determine the reading patterns of students when they undertake extracurricular activities.. The purpose was to ascertain whether students utilize their time in reading various informational materials for purposes other than academic activities. Electronic questionnaires were conveniently distributed to students at DUCE, IDRP Dodoma, Law School of Tanzania, RUCU Iringa, SLADS Bagamoyo, SUA Morogoro, SUZA, Tumaini University (DSM campus), UDSM and Zanzibar University. The study findings indicate that students spend their spare time reading print and e-newspapers, books and magazines, and access social media that cover aspects such as sports, economic, technological and social issues. They are motivated to read by their desire to learn new aspects of life, expanding their vocabularies, improving reading skills, and acquiring new information. The findings also indicate that students spend their time watching TV, talking to friends, listening to radio, playingand watching games. Furthermore, it was revealed that too much academic work, limited internet connection and family responsibilities are among factors that inhibit their reading habits. The study recommends that academic libraries should work out means to create conducive reading environment for students by stocking more reading resources, conduct more outreachprograms to attract more readers, create reading and writing clubs at schools to empower students in education at large and launch TVprograms which will attract more students to read and learn when undertaking extracurricular activities. .Keywords: reading culture; reading habits; information resources;; problem-solving skills; academic librarie

Awareness, Access and Use of Locally Published Journals among Researchers in the Tanzanian Universities

This is a baseline study of researchers’ awareness, access and use of locally published academic journals. Specifically the study addressed the following research questions: to what extent researchers in Tanzanian public universities awareness of the available indexed and non-indexed scholarly journals? What problems do researchers encounter when accessing local journals? And what are the researchers’ usage patterns of locally published journals? The study was conducted in five universities, which are: University of Dar es Salaam, Ardhi University, Sokoine universities of agriculture, Open University of Tanzania and Muhimbili University of health and allied sciences. The findings show that majority of researchers in higher learning institutions are aware of the available locally published journals within and outside areas of specialization. The findings further show that researchers, to large extent, use articles published from these journals to support their researches. Irregular publication of journals, lack of electronic versions for some journals and missing journal volumes and issues are among the factors that restrict access and use of local journals. It is recommended that for the journals to be published regularly, journal publishers with the support of their parent organizations should find ways of making them both sustainable and cost-effective, including adopting new models of journal publication. Libraries are also argued to improve the visibility of the journals by providing abstracting and indexing services.Keywords: Scholarly journals, information use, Tanzani

Perceived benefits and barriers of using online journal systems

This study has established the perceived benefits and barriers of using online journal systems (OJS). A descriptive research design alongside a quantitative approach was used to establish perceived benefits and barriers of using online journal systems among University of Dar es Salaam faculty members. In the study data were gathered through survey questionnaires. The data were then organized and summarized through descriptive statistics in form of frequencies and percentages. The study reveals that a significant number of faculty members infrequently use the systems in their scholarly communication. Along this, the study reveals various benefits of using OJS as perceived by faculty members. The study also reveals diverse perceived barriers that undermine effective use of the systems. These include low internet bandwidth and technical difficulties. The study recommends that the UDSM has to take deliberate measures to enhance internet services through increasing bandwidth, alongside increasing training on the use of online journal systems

An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Research Capacity Developments in Higher Education Institutions in Tanzania

The study examined factors influencing efforts towards developing research capacity in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Tanzania. A mixed research approach (quantitative and qualitative) was employed in the study. Accordingly, a cross-sectional survey using questionnaires and semi-structured interview was used to collect primary data from simple randomly and purposively selected academic staff. The study findings show that competences, knowledge, and experiences in conducting research are the attributes that faculty members acquire through short training aimed to enhance competences in conducting research. Factors promoting research capacity development include presence of research policy and awareness of it, motivation to conduct research, availability and adequacy of research funds. Challenges faced were insufficient research skills, poor collaboration between senior and junior academic staff, and lack of proactiveness and commitment in conducting research. The study recommends that HEIs should regularly organize training on research skills for academic staff and faculty members to be proactive and committed in carrying out research.&nbsp

Perceptions of librarians towards the adoption of embedded librarianship in Tanzania

Academic libraries in Tanzania have not fully adopted or embraced embedded librarianship as an innovative approach to enhance library service delivery. To gain understanding on the adoption of embedded librarianship, the present study explored the librarians' perceptions towards the adoption of embedded librarianship approach in academic libraries in Tanzania. The study mainly employed exploratory research design blended in a mixed research approach where both quantitative and qualitative aspects were used. A total of 166 librarians from six university libraries filled the questionnaire while 6 directors were interviewed. Statistical Product for Service Solutions (SPSS) version 21 was used to perform descriptive statistics. The study revealed librarians' positive perceptions on the adoption of embedded librarianship in academic libraries. Strengthening librarians and user partnership is an important mechanism to enhance library service delivery. Building strong collaboration between library and faculties through MoU, and enhancing librarians' competencies in teaching, research, communication, ICT applications are necessary for effective adoption of embedded librarianship

The design and implementation of an information literacy training course that integrated Information and Library Science conceptions of information literacy, educational theory and information behaviour research: a Tanzanian pilot study.

This paper reviews the implementation of an Information Literacy Training course at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. The training lasted seven days and involved Masters students from the Faculty of Education. The course was created as part of a PhD research project on information literacy that was undertaken by the second author of this paper at the Department of Information Science at Loughborough University. The objective was to develop a training course that inculcated information literacy and could be implemented by staff in the library. The success of the course was therefore partly judged on whether it effectively enabled knowledge transfer. This was tested by involving librarians in the pilot, and who took the entire course, and then seeing whether they were able to effectively implement the course themselves. This paper explores the implementation of the information literacy training programme attended by Master students from the Faculty of Education at the University of Dar Es Salaam. The course was innovative in that it integrated knowledge from information behaviour research and educational theory with current perspectives of information literacy from Information and Library Science. The style of training was influenced by the pedagogical theories of Kolb and Vygotsky that stress the importance of experiential and reflective learning and mediated communication. The notion that learning information literacy is more akin to learning a culture rather than skills and that learners are active participants in the learning process further emphasised the need for communication and sharing of learning throughout the course. All stages of the course were evaluated using quizzes, exercises, group reflection and presentations that related to each stage in the course. Trainees’ knowledge of information literacy was evaluated before and after the course to provide an indication of changes in knowledge. A review of the course content and its rationale is given here, challenges are identified, and questions about future initiatives are raised. The course, judging from the various forms of feedback, was effective. It also enabled the librarians to run subsequent courses, including the training of Masters students described in this paper. Hence, the programme proved successful in terms of knowledge transfer

Developing information literacy programmes for public university libraries in Tanzania : a case study of the University of Dar es Salaam

The aim of the research was to develop a training course that inculcated infonnation literacy that could be implemented by staff at the University of Dar es Salaam library (Tanzania), in order to provide students with appropriate infonnation literacy skills to meet their educational goals. The course was developed from an integration of knowledge from infonnation behaviour research and educational theory with current perspectives of infonnation literacy from Infonnation and Library Science (ILS). The ultimate goal of the research was to create a framework that would be used by public university libraries in Tanzania to teach infonnation literacy courses. The study was carried out in two parts. In the first implementation "pilot" programme, the course was tested by involving librarians who took the entire course, in order to see whether the same course structure could be used to implement to the Masters of Education students. Following adaptations made on the first course, a second course programme was implemented to Masters of Education students by two librarians who attended the first implementation "pilot" programme. Therefore, the success of the course was partly judged on whether it effectively enabled knowledge transfer from the librarians to students. Data collection methods were predominantly qualitative, although quantitative methods in tenns of diagnostic tests were also used. The tests were used to evaluate trainees' knowledge ofinfonnation literacy before and after the course to provide an indication of changes in knowledge. Qualitative methods used included semistructured interviews with librarians and academic staff at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in order to make sure that assumptions made about students' knowledge of infonnation literacy and the kind of problems experienced by students were correct. Other methods included quizzes, exercises, group reflection and presentations that related to each stage in the course. These methods served to indicate trainees' understanding of what was taught, reflections on the leaming process and provided feedback for improvements on the course. The major findings showed that there was a recognized need for infonnation literacy and that problems such as unfamiliarity with categories of infonnation sources, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and use, were experienced in Tanzania as was the case in other "Western" countries. In addition, librarians were able to transfer skills learned to students, who in turn used the same course materials to teach fellow students who did not participate in the course. Furthermore, the design of the course was facilitated by the integration of Information and library science (ILS) approaches to information literacy with the knowledge of information behaviour and pedagogic theory. The thesis provides recommendations for the library and information curricula to introduce information literacy, teaching information literacy in a holistic way and with librarians participating in teaching and research. In addition, the study recommended that librarians should facilitate the development of information literacy in primary and secondary schools.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Examining entrepreneurship opportunities among Library and Information Science professionals in Tanzania

This paper reports on a study conducted to examine various entrepreneurship opportunities that exist among librarians and information science professionals. A survey was carried out among ongoing undergraduate LIS students in their second and third years, Master Degree students in their second year as well as LIS professionals who completed studies between 2012 and 2019, and who were working at various institutions at the time when the study was conducted. Questionnaires were distributed to a total of 20 purposively selected undergraduates and 10 postgraduate students while interviews were conducted among five LIS professionals as well as three heads of departments of LIS schools at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tumaini University Dar es Salaam and Open University of Tanzania. Results of the study revealed that most respondents acquired entrepreneurship skills through formal education during their LIS education and the fact that the most important skills that were potential to make librarians and information professionals entrepreneurs included information literacy training skills, information search, reference services and research methods. Challenges that would limit librarians and information professionals in exercising their entrepreneurship skills included lack of innovative skills, insufficient financial resources to start up business, inadequate ICT facilities and training as well as lack of confidence and encouragement. It was therefore suggested that LIS curricular should be improved to accommodate more relevant entrepreneurship skills, LIS institutions should prepare candidates to become entrepreneurs as well as provision of free entrepreneurship training during and after studies

Awareness and usage of online journal publishing systems by university academic staff

The extent to which academic staff and researchers are aware of and use online journal publishing systems to publish their work is not very well known. The present study examines awareness and use of online journal management and publishing systems by University of Dar es Salaam academic staff. A cross-sectional descriptive research design alongside a mixed research approach (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) was used to examine awareness and use of online journal publishing systems by the UDSM academic staff. Data gathered through questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages helped to organise and summarise research data. The study findings suggest that awareness of online journal publishing systems does not match with frequency of using the systems. Occasionally use of the systems is an indication of ineffective usage. The findings also reveal diverse barriers that undermine the effective use of online journal publish system. The study recommends that the UDSM has to take deliberate measures to enhance internet services through increasing bandwidth, internet cables and network systems alongside increasing training on the use of online journal systems, writing, referencing and citation skills