Librarians’ contribution to social change through information provision: the experience of Makerere University Library
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MUSOKE, Maria G. N. and NAMUGERA, Lydia (2014) Librarians’ contribution to social change through information provision: the experience of Makerere University Library. Paper presented at: IFLA WLIC 2014 - Lyon - Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge in Session 166 - Social Science Libraries with Women, Information and Libraries Special Interest Group. In: IFLA WLIC 2014, 16-22 August 2014, Lyon, France.
Bookmark or cite this item: https://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1054
Language:
English (Original)
Available under licence Creative Commons Attribution.
Bookmark or cite this item: https://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1054/1/166-musoke-en.pdf
Abstract
Librarians’ contribution to social change through information provision: the experience of Makerere University Library
Makerere University Library (Maklib) holdings include a rich collection of data and information resulting from its multiple roles, namely: serving as Uganda’s National Legal Deposit unit since 1958, the National Reference Library since 1972, as well as its primary role of serving Makerere University academic community and managing its Institutional Repository. The institutional repository consists of the legal deposit materials and Makerere University institutional documents One of Makerere University’s strategic priorities is community outreach. To support this priority, Maklib conducts various outreach activities which have contributed to social development, for example: Annual Library day outreach since 2009, which includes school support through re-organisation of libraries, training of library staff and donation of books; a periodic health information digest has been produced through repackaging of current literature on topical health issues and distributed to over one thousand-five hundred health units in Uganda since 1997; health information literacy training workshops to equip health workers with skills to utilise information resources and improve the quality of health care provision in Uganda. This paper will share the experience of conducting the above outreach activities and their evaluation, which demonstrate the role of librarians in responding to societal needs. Furthermore, a Library Gender Sentinel Site Committee (LGSSC) was set up in 2004 at Maklib to address gender issues. Among other things, the LGSSC holds a week-long celebration before every International Women’s day and distributes information on the day’s theme to library users. Since 2012, a Mother’s space, where expectant library users take a break, was set up in the new Main Library building extension to provide a conducive reading environment. Maklib proactively collects feedback from library users about its services. This paper also shares the feedback about Maklib services which, among other things, confirmed that ‘Change is a fact of life’ and information accessed and applied leads to societal development.Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) | |||||||||
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Conference details: | IFLA WLIC 2014 - Lyon - Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for KnowledgeSession 166 - Librarians as change agents: finding, using and managing data for social change for women - Social Science Libraries with Women, Information and Libraries Special Interest Group |
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Divisions: | Division 1 Library Types > Social Science Libraries Section Division 4 Support of the Profession > Management of Library Associations Section > Women, Information and Libraries Special Interest Group |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Information outreach, Library and social change, Library and gender, Makerere University library. | |||||||||
Date Deposited: | 26 Aug 2014 08:29 | |||||||||
Last Modified: | 14 Aug 2017 08:55 | |||||||||
URI: | https://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1054 |
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