0805 developing cpd in africa w pictures

Developing Continuing Professional Development in Africa
What will be the effects of better broadband access?
What will be the effects of better connectivity ? Developing Continuing Professional Development in Africa

Current Situation
No or poor connectivity
Isolation of health workers
Difficulties of transport

Current Situation
Few health libraries
Even fewer librarians
Poor resources

Benefits of Broadband Access
Access to resources
Availability of health information
Distance learning & clinical support
Isolation reduced

How will digitization affect African Librarians?
Sudden change – blogs, wikis, social software
New information roles
Consumers not information literate
Librarians need to be in at the ground floor

Librarians & Broadband Access
Need for more health librarians
Specialist roles
New skills needed
Timing of training

Challenges
Lack of specialist health librarians
Few training opportunities
Sidelining of librarian expertise

Sources for perceived training needs in U.K and Africa
U.K.
Survey of practising health librarians. (Petrinic & Urquhart 2008)
Survey of advertisements for information posts (Orme 2008)
AFRICA
Workshops in Kenya and Zambia
(Phi reports)

Same or Similar Training Needs
Training/teaching skills
Evidence based health care
Critical appraisal, systematic reviewing – of research articles
Research methods and statistics – to identify user needs

Similar Training Needs
Identifying the evidence - Advanced searching skills for different databases
Service promotion skills – marketing library services
Library management systems skills – factors in automating library routines
Website design & development – website design, creation of portals and gateways

Training wanted by African Librarians not mentioned by U.K. librarians
Copyright
Collection development and template for local application
IT – general and specific e.g. WIN-ISIS
Writing for publication, proposals & repackaging for different audiences

Wanted by African Librarians support & discussion
Advocacy - raising the profile of health information as essential to health
Creating and maintaining database of health research in-country
Library skills for resource centre assistants
Professional networking

Wanted by African Librarians information exchange
Information about trends in information transfer
Protocol for the identification of reliable websites and information services

Wanted by U.K. Librarians not mentioned by African librarians
Subject knowledge
Project management
Strategic planning
Performance management
Change management
Negotiating skills
What else might be needed for both African & U.K. Librarians?

What else might be needed?
Use of Wikis, blogs, social software
Better techniques of communication with remote users
Creation of national/institutional repositories
Greater cooperation between institutions
Leadership in developing the information society at a national level

Conclusion
Greater access & bandwidth can benefit health throughout Africa.
More specialized librarians will be needed
More training opportunities are essential
Librarians in Africa are in a different situation and culture to those in U.K

Training Programmes
To remain driven by African requests
But informed by our experience of the changes in our professional roles

Providing support to health librarians through partnership in:
Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
Partnerships in Health Information registered charity in U.K. no. 103674

0805 developing cpd in africa w pictures

by Jean Shaw on Mar 07, 2011

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