wsis pre-conference alexandria electronic information for libraries making digital research...

WSIS pre-Conference Alexandria

electronic Information For Libraries

MAKING DIGITAL RESEARCH MATERIALS AVAILABLE

IN DEVELOPING AND TRANSITION COUNTRIES

byHELENA ASAMOAH-HASSAN

eIFL-net COUNTRY COORDINATOR-GHANA

&

UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN, KNUST,KUMASI,GHANA

www.eifl.net


The eIFL.net organisation

eIFL.net is a not-for-profit organisation legally registered in the Netherlands,its office in Italy.A global coalition of 50 national library consortia in transition and developing countries. Membership driven programmes and services. Negotiations and advocacy for access to affordable e-resources in member countries Supports the creation of sustainable library consortia.


eIFL.net governance

eIFL.net is an NGO with Statutes and a Management Board (Board of Trustees). Member consortia are represented through an elected Advisory Council, advising on policy. Annual General Assembly of all national eIFL consortia coordinators confirms policy. Director and central team manage services, activities, website and electronic discussion lists, negotiations with vendors and funders, partnerships with related Projects and Bodies.


eIFL.net’s beliefs

Access to information is essential for education and research, the economy, institutional and personal development.

The empowerment of citizens depends on equal access to information worldwide.

Financial and other barriers hinder this access.

eIFL.net’s mission is to lower these barriers for libraries and their users in poor, developing and transition countries.


The changing information environment

Production of current information is changing fast from print to electronic.

Distribution of information is changing from many copies of a printed journal sent to many libraries to one electronic access point for many users.

Access to information is changing from reading a journal issue / article when it arrives in the library to searching for articles on a specific theme across a number of journals.


eIFL.net’s approach

eIFL.net exploits these changes on behalf of libraries and their users in member countries - because access by many users does not cost the vendor all that much more per new subscriber - because bulk access lowers the price overall and - because the consortium structure is a proven model of managing resources in a more cost- effective way.


eIFL.net aims

To

unite purchasing power of a large number of institutions through national library consortia. create and sustain a global infrastructure for central negotiations, administrative and technical support, educational services and issues pertaining to the provision of electronic content. advocate for the needs of member consortia with information providers, policy makers, funding agencies, international fora. provide a capacity building, knowledge and resource sharing network for member consortia.


eIFL.net operations

Delivery of programs through Training workshops. Awareness raising seminars. Specialist meetings. Annual General Assembly. Small grants for focused projects. Web-based resources, guidelines, manuals. Knowledge sharing through website, newsletter, discussion lists. Representation of members’ interests at the international level.


eIFL.net programmes

1. Licensing electronic commercial content.2. Building sustainable Library Consortia.3. Supporting Institutional Repositories’ and Open

Access activities.4. Lobbying and awareness raising in Intellectual

Property issues.5. Giving Information Technology support.


Electronic commercial content

Regular assessment of the electronic resource needs of country consortia. Negotiations with providers of electronic information in all subjects TO ARRIVE AT A PRICE AFFORDABLE TO THE MEMBERS. Talking with aggregators, big and small publishers, organisations, projects, about terms and conditions. Russian content for CIS countries.


Electronic commercial content

eIFL.net does NOT pay for the content, or only in very special cases for a short time, to ensure sustainability. Central negotiations on behalf of all or a group of member countries. Model license available for members to use. Access to legal advice.


Consortium building and management

Workshops (regional and national) and GA. Knowledge network (electronic and physical). Sharing of best practice and case studies. Online resources www.eifl.net incl. manuals, guidelines, models. Participation in national and international fora (ICOLC, IFLA, WSIS, WIPO). Start up grants for poor countries.


There is not one format for all countries – the best and most sustainable solution depends on the situation in-country.

Consortia in the eIFL network


eIFL.net member Consortia - 50

EUROPE -13

Albania Serbia and MontenegroBosnia and Herzegovina SlovakiaBulgaria SloveniaCroatiaEstoniaKosovoLatviaLithuaniaMacedoniaPoland


eIFL.net member consortia

FORMER SOVIET UNION - 11

ArmeniaAzerbaijanBelarusGeorgiaKazakhstanKyrgyzstanMoldovaRussiaTajikistanUkraineUzbekistan



ASIA AND SOUTH EAST ASIA - 4CambodiaChinaLaosMongolia

MIDDLE EAST - 6EgyptIranJordanLebanonPalestine TerritoriesSyria



SOUTHERN AFRICA - 9 WEST AND EAST AFRICA- 7

Botswana CameroonLesotho GhanaMalawi MaliMozambique NigeriaNamibia SenegalSouth Africa SudanSwaziland UgandaZambiaZimbabwe


Institutional Repositories

eIFL.net has from the beginning aimed at assisting to make available electronically, content produced in eIFL countries. Assistance with the selection of IT tools and technical help and support to build IR. Pilots have started in some eIFL.net countries. This programme area is new and just starting to produce results.


Open Access

Partnership with OAI to facilitate and support publications of authors from eIFL countries in alternative and OA journals. Promotion of Open Access journals (DOAJ). Awareness raising workshops (SA, Ukraine, Lithuania, China, others planned) about principles and business models. Advocacy about the importance of OA with research funding bodies and policy makers.


Intellectual Property

Creation of a network of experts. Awareness raising and training workshops. eIFL accreditation and participation in international fora - such as WSIS and WIPO. eIFL.net statements and advocacy on behalf of developing and transition countries regarding digital rights aimed at Fair Use for all members.


Information Technology

International request for information on portal technology. Many libraries can ill afford proprietory sofware. Just completed a survey of Open Software for library applications which is available on the eIFL.net web. Talking with OSS and proprietory providers about portal solution. Advice on IR software tools.


Membership survey

Survey on-going, 32 consortia respondents out of 50. 18 being expected.

- shows 2,285 Libraries (all types of libraries) are

represented in the 32 consortia

- shows that end users served are 4,226,308

The beliefs and mission of eIFL.net are being

realised.


Thank you for listening!!!!

www.eifl.net

wsis pre-conference alexandria electronic information for libraries making digital research...

Documents

member countries

national library consortia

electronic access point

information providers

distribution of information

bulk access

equal access

needs of member consortia