The Implementation of Social Media Based Library Services at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Nigeria.

Academic libraries are faced with the challenge of meeting the varied demands of users stemming from the ever-increasing different formats of information resources. These libraries around the world have thus adopted the use of social media -to render the required services to library users. FUTO library is experiencing serious challenges in the effort to accommodate the needs of its users - including the increasing number of users small reading spaces compared to the rising student population and the fact that many students live off-campus. This study investigates the possibility of adopting social media-based library services at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), to overcome the library’s challenges

Building Strong Academic Libraries and Library Professionals in Uganda Through the University of Pretoria Carnegie CPD Programme

Academic libraries are encountering numerous changes due to the emerging information communication technologies trends and the ever-changing information-seeking behaviour of their users. For the librarians to effectively implement these trends and remain competitive, they need to be regularly engaged in continuing professional development (CPD) activities. The study aimed to find out the factors that influenced the motivation to participate in the University of Pretoria (UP) Carnegie CPD programme and the potential impact on service delivery of the selected academic libraries in Uganda as represented in the programme. The study applied a qualitative research design with an interpretive research approach. Exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling was used to recruit participants. The sample size of the study included eight Academic Librarians who attended the UP Carnegie CPD programme between 2014 and 2018. Data was collected using face to face semi-structured interviews and electronically using ZOOM (online platform). The findings of this study show that most UP Carnegie CPD participants mainly attended the programme due to its rich content; the hands-on subject coverage and new ICT trends, and the need to build their professional networks. The study also revealed the following challenges that were encountered by the participants during the implementations of the various initiatives drawn from the CPD knowledge and skills: difficulty in managing social media platform, lack of IR back-end support, limited data analysis skills required in providing research support, library users’ lack of interest in IL training, limited collaboration between Faculty and Librarians, and technophobia from some library staff who frustrate implementation efforts. The study provides recommendations on how to address these challenge

A critical analysis of information and knowledge societies with specific reference to the interaction between local and global knowledge systems

Benefiting from the process of globalisation and becoming an information and knowledge society, has become the vision for many governments throughout the world. However, as it has been demonstrated in this thesis, becoming an information and knowledge society is much easier for developed countries that already possess some of the prerequisite criteria, such as an efficient and effective ICT infrastructure. By investing in such an infrastructure, the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge from a local knowledge system with the global knowledge system is enabled. Through this two-way flow of information, the other criteria these countries have to comply with are stimulated, making it much easier and faster for these countries to achieve their goal. However, for the developing countries that are still in the grip of the digital divide, the goal of becoming information and knowledge societies seem nearly unattainable. Owing to this digital divide that is experienced by developing countries, combined with other barriers such as the social barriers that include the overall health and education level of citizens, the citizens of these countries cannot take part in the interaction and exchange process. Thus, this interaction and exchange process cannot aid these countries in complying with the other criteria needed to become information and knowledge societies, and in this way, the progress of developing countries towards becoming information and knowledge societies are seriously hampered. How does the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge between developing countries’ local knowledge systems and the global knowledge system contribute to their development and positive participation in the global information and knowledge society? This is the research question that has guided this thesis. To get an answer to this question the author addressed the following issues: The author sketched the theoretical foundation of this thesis by providing a brief historical perspective of the Information Science domain. This provided a better understanding of concepts such as data, information, knowledge, global-, western-, and scientific knowledge as well as indigenous-, traditional-, and local knowledge as applied in this thesis. The underlying relationship between these concepts were also explored. Furthermore, the phenomenon of the global information and knowledge society was discussed as one of the opportunities presented by globalisation. The author then analysed the criteria of the information and knowledge society as discussed in Chapter 3, and identified indicators that the stated criteria are constructed from. To investigate whether developed countries are information and knowledge societies, these indicators were applied to Norway and the USA. It was concluded that both countries comply with the stated criteria and are thus information and knowledge societies. The author followed the same method of investigation and applied the indicators identified in Chapter 4 to two developing countries, namely Niger and South Africa. It was concluded that both these countries do not comply with the stated criteria and, thus, are not information and knowledge societies. Furthermore, barriers were identified by the author that inhibit these countries from becoming information and knowledge societies. Lastly, the author discussed proposed solutions and recommendations that can be used to overcome the various barriers that inhibit the progress of developing countries becoming information and knowledge societies. Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008.Information ScienceDPhilunrestricte

Building Strong Academic Libraries and Library Professionals in Uganda Through the University of Pretoria Carnegie CPD Programme

Academic libraries are encountering numerous changes due to the emerging Information Communication Technological trends and the ever-changing information-seeking behaviour of their users. For the librarians to effectively implement these trends and remain competitive, they need to be regularly equipped with knowledge and skills through Continuing Professional Development. The study aimed to find out the factors that influenced the motivation to participate in the University of Pretoria (UP) Carnegie Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme and the potential impact on service delivery of the selected academic libraries in Uganda as represented in the programme. The study applied a qualitative research design with an interpretive research approach. Exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling was used to recruit participants. The sample size of the study included eight Academic Librarians who attended the UP Carnegie CPD programme between 2014 and 2018. These were from Makerere University, Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Muni University. Data was collected using face to face semi-structured interviews and electronically using ZOOM (online platform). The findings of this study show that most UP Carnegie CPD participants mainly attended the programme due to its rich content; they were intrigued by the hands-on subject coverage and new ICT trends, and the need to build their professional networks. The findings further revealed that the participants’ expectations were fulfilled by the various practical sessions held. This explains the reasons for the high applicability of the knowledge and skills acquired by the participants when they went back to their institutions. Finally, the study revealed the following challenges that were encountered by the participants during the implementations of the various initiatives drawn from the CPD knowledge and skills: difficulty in managing social media platform, lack of IR back-end support, limited data analysis skills required in providing research support, library users’ lack of interest in IL training, limited collaboration between Faculty and Librarians, and technophobia from some library staff who frustrate implementation efforts. The study provides recommendations on how to address these challenge

The road to the information and knowledge society : indigenous knowledge and the Millennium Development Goals

Benefiting from the process of globalisation and becoming an information and knowledge society has become the vision for many governments throughout the world. However, becoming such a society is much easier for developed countries as they already possess some of the prerequisite criteria to be classified as an information and knowledge society. These criteria include a stable economy, an efficient physical infrastructure, and an effective ICT infrastructure, to mention a few (Britz 2006; Holmner 2008). As many of the criteria of an information and knowledge society coincide with the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it is much easier and faster for these developed countries to achieve these goals and benefit from the global economy. For developing countries that are still experiencing a digital divide, these goals seem nearly unattainable. As the deadline for achieving the MDGs is only five years away, it has become imperative for developing countries to investigate other roads and possibilities to assist them in progressing towards attaining these goals at an increased speed. Utilising indigenous knowledge is one of these roads that developing countries are making use of to reach this destination.This paper was presented at the 6th Biennial ProLISSA Conference, Pretoria, 9–11 March 2011.http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_mousaion.html or http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=2012

Telehealthcare in COPD: A systematic review and meta-analysis on physical outcomes and dyspnea

SummaryBackgroundOnly a minority of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have access to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Home-based solutions such as telehealthcare, have been used in efforts to make PR more available. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the effects of telehealthcare on physical activity level, physical capacity and dyspnea in patients with COPD, and to describe the interventions used.MethodsRandomized controlled trials were identified through database searches, reference lists and included authors. Articles were reviewed based on eligibility criteria by three authors. Risk of bias was assessed by two authors. Standardized mean differences (SMD) or mean differences (MD) with 95% CI were calculated. Forest plots were used to present data visually.ResultsNine studies (982 patients) were included. For physical activity level, there was a significant effect favoring telehealthcare (MD, 64.7 min; 95% CI, 54.4–74.9). No difference between groups was found for physical capacity (MD, −1.3 m; 95% CI, −8.1–5.5) and dyspnea (SMD, 0.088; 95% CI, −0.056–0.233). Telehealthcare was promoted through phone calls, websites or mobile phones, often combined with education and/or exercise training. Comparators were ordinary care, exercise training and/or education.ConclusionsThe use of telehealthcare may lead to improvements in physical activity level, although the results should be interpreted with caution given the heterogeneity in studies. This is an important area of research and further studies of the effect of telehealthcare for patients with COPD would be beneficial.RegistrationIn PROSPERO 2012: CRD42012003294. Study protocol: http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPEROFILES/3294_PROTOCOL_20121016.pdf

The role of the academic library in providing outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies

This study investigated the role of academic library in providing outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies in Nsukka prison library. The research adopted qualitative inquiry approach for the processes and procedures of the research. It was guided by five objectives which includes – the outreach services provided by the academic library to the prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies, the mobile tools and technologies used for the provision of outreach services to the prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies, the benefits of outreach services as provided by prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies, problems encountered in the provision of outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies and strategies for enhancing the provision of outreach services to prison inmates by means of mobile tools and technologies. Data obtained from the questionnaire was analysed using mean and percentages while the ones obtained from focus group discussion was analysed in prose narrative. Among other things, the findings revealed that outreach services are provided to the prison inmates by the academic library. Other findings from the research revealed that mobile tools and technologies are being introduced to the delivery of outreach services in the prison library, the prison inmates support the delivery of outreach services to them by means of mobile tools and technologies, the prsion authority/administration permits the academic librarian’s provision of outreach services to the prison inmates. However, inadequate fund, personnel and mobile tools forms the major part of the problems encountered in the delivery of outreach servises to the inmates. Based on the findings, it was recommended among other things that there should be provision of adequate mobile tools and technologies for the delivery of outreach services, there should be integration of outreach services with other educational programmes, there should be training and retraining of both the prison inmates and the academic library on the use of mobile devices among others. More importantly, there should be provision of a functional prison library to accommodate resources – tool, technologies, personnel for the provision of library services to the inmates