Entomologists’ Utilization of Electronic Information Resources at Makerere University, and National Agricultural Research Organization, Uganda

The concept of electronic resources had tremendously been adopted by most societies due to its associated value. Technology advancement has been a major driving force for this dynamic shift of access to information. Such a technology requirement may be in the form of hardware such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones, or software. These resources help researchers and scholars to access information conveniently at any time and from any location. Insects are a major component of the ecosystem. Some insects are very destructive such as giant looper, caterpillars and locusts, while others such as bees and grasshoppers are beneficial. While agriculturalists continue to experience losses due to pests, some solutions already exist and can be accessed online. It is therefore the role of experts like entomologists who should retrieve the technical information from various sources and provide meaningful solutions to the local farmers. This paper aims to address the gap in information services provided by institutions and information personnel, for improved utilization of electronic resources by teachers, researchers, and postgraduate students, of Entomology at Makerere University and National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). The study employed a mixed-methods research paradigm. An Interview guide, questionnaire, and observation guide were used to collect data from Entomologists. Data was captured using Epidata (V. 3.1), analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS (V.21) to obtain the frequencies and relationships in response to the research questions. Data were presented in tables and graphs for appropriate interpretation. Results from the study indicated that Entomologists were aware of the availability of E-Resources at their institutions. It was also established that the internet was largely utilized in the search for information, and searches from Google Scholar and AGORA databases were more prominent. The majority of the Entomologists were found to prefer E-Resources to print resources and that they mainly depended on E-Resources under their institutional subscriptions. Entomologists were found to have a diversity of information needs, but they largely searched for information on the biology and physiology of insects. The major challenge encountered by Entomologists in the use of E-Resources was the slow internet speed resulting from limited bandwidth. This study practically and theoretically, contributes to Information services at institutions. It isolates Entomologists from other researchers and provides conclusive solutions to societal problems resulting from hindrances to information access

Library Services and Linked Data at Makerere University: Prospects of a Research-Led University

Makerere University is the oldest and most prestigious university in East Africa. As one of the best universities on the African content, Makerere is aligned to three main activities; Teaching, Research, and Community Outreach, and these are inclined to 5 core values; allegiance to the institution, integrity, customer responsiveness, professionalism, and openness to diversity. Makerere University has a library system, hosting both electronic and print resources. The digitization of print resources has created a system, through which delicate material is conserved. The files and their metadata, using Dublin Core, are stored in the institutional repository and in the integrated library system (Virtua). The library system further generates library usage data which can be used in making acquisitions decisions. For most research output files, the data is available and would be archived alongside the digital files. Other than the National Biodiversity Data Bank which is transitioning to online, the rest of the data remains stored on authors’ personal computers and other storage tools. With support from the government and other development partners, Makerere university strives for a shift from a more academic-driven to a research-led university. This calls for more support from the university administration and other key units, to provide access points to linked data. This paper aimed at establishing the status of linked data at Makerere university, challenges encountered in data management, and prospect strategies. The researcher used an exploratory research methodology to generate key findings, from existing literature and personal experiences from experts. The findings reveal that Makerere university researchers archive their data in external repositories and that, while the Makerere Institutional Repository has the potential to host linked data, this service has not been exploited basically due to lack of skilled labor force, awareness, financial resources, and policy. However, this service, when incorporated in the institutional research agenda, can be implemented and also enhance data linking in the NBDB. It is anticipated that the results from this study will guide Makerere and other institutions in Uganda to embrace the value of linked data and therefore ignite its implementation

The Impact of TEEAL on the usage of AGORA in Academic and Research Institutions in Uganda

The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL) and the Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) are key information support programs in learning, teaching, and research. They provide access to relevant scientific evidence, in agriculture and related sciences. While AGORA was introduced in Uganda in 2005, TEEAL was introduced earlier as a “Library in a Box” and later as LAN-TEEAL. With the recent increase in acquisition of TEEAL sets at a number of academic and research institutions in Uganda and with the TEEAL and AGORA campaigns through the training organized under the Information Training and Outreach Center for Africa (ITOCA), it is not clear how TEEAL has impacted on Agricultural research and on the usage of AGORA as an online program in Uganda. The aim of his paper was to explore how TEEAL is used compared to its counterpart, AGORA. The key question to this study relates to respondents’ preference among the two programs and the underlying reasons. An online questionnaire was used to gather responses regarding preference and use of the two programs by students, academics, librarians, IT specialists, and researchers at the various institutions in Uganda. The study was informed by a review of literature from related studies. Findings from 59 respondents indicate that all (100%) the respondents had an idea of TEEAL while for AGORA it was 58 (98.3%) respondents. Of the respondents, 52.5% preferred TEEAL to AGORA because it required no internet access, although the majority believed that AGORA was more important than TEEAL, due to the coverage of more relevant online scientific literature. The most prominent challenges to TEEAL and AGORA were network failures and slow internet, respectively. TEEAL and AGORA were both acknowledged to be very vital resources for academic and research institutions in Uganda. TEEAL mainly had one advantage over AGORA and that is being an offline resource that can be used in institutions with unreliable and inadequate internet. AGORA was also found to have an advantage over TEEAL in that it had a wider content coverage. The most common strategy for improving the use of both programs, as stated by the respondents, was increasing awareness through training and marketing. It was thus recommended that the program hosts utilize the results of this study to improve the utilization of these vital agricultural databases through further training and awareness. It was also recommended that institutions be advised to strengthen their IT infrastructure to support the programs and ensure effective use, for increasing their academic and research output

Digital Access to Research: Prospects of the Technology Bank Project of the United Nations

In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly officially established the Technology Bank Project aimed at supporting and strengthening Science, Technology and Innovations (STI) in selected Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The focus area of the project was to promote digital access to research and technology in LDCs. Working in partnership with research4life, a partnership of 5 UN agencies (WHO, FAO, WIPO, ILO, UNEP), highly rated science publishers, Cornell and Yale Universities, that have been providing free access to global academic research through the five research4life programmes, as well as in collaboration with the Uganda Focal Persons, the Technology Bank aims to achieve its objective. The DAR (Digital Access to Resources) activities of the Technology Bank started in September 2018, in Uganda. The activities were then officially launched in a workshop at Uganda Christian University (UCU) on the 7th of November 2018. Subsequent activities and workshops were held in which the project reached out to many researchers and institutions. This paper, therefore, presents a summary of DAR activities and their spread within the country until December 2018

Making ICTs relevant to rural farmers in Uganda: A case of Kamuli district

ICTs stands for information and Communication Technologies, it has been broadly defined by the Uganda Communication Commission as technologies that provide an enabling environment for physical infrastructure and services development of application for generation, transmission processing, storing and disseminating information in all forms, including voice, text, data, graphics and video.  ICTs are not effectively communicated to farmers especially in rural areas although access to modern information technology is largely available. This paper will examine the relevance of ICTs to the rural farmers in Uganda. The objectives of the study are to investigate agricultural information needs of rural farmers in Kamuli district; to identify the ICT facilities used for dissemination agricultural information to rural farmers. The sample size was 62 respondents. Random sampling was used in identifying the respondents. Questionnaires was used to solicit responses from the respondents. Data was analysed using Ms. Excel and presented in tables. From the study, the majority of the respondents were males and the radio was the main ICT equipment used for accessing agricultural information. One of the major challenges to access of the ICTs is inadequate funding and training. It was therefore, recommended the need for government intervention to provide subsides and also establish training sectors for the rural farmers to access the agricultural information on other ICTs facilities

Going Green: Implementing Sustainable Strategies in Libraries Around the World

This publication is the outcome from a book project seminar, held during the Wintersemester 2017/2018 at the Institut für Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft (Berlin School for Library and Information Science) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, led by Petra Hauke. Participants in the seminar were Sasha Agins, Valentina Dimitriadu, Gesa Funke, Yannick Kavka, Jochen Nüske, Maximilian Paus, Huilin Ren, Sami Rustom, Vanessa Schrödter, Lisa Tänzer, Sophie Tertel, Katharina Toeppe, Antonia Trojok, Martine Weil, Erika Werner and Marvin Wieland. For further information please visit the book project’s website at http://www. ibi.hu-berlin.de/studium/studprojekte/buchidee