Overcoming challenges to research access in Sri Lanka

13 June, 2017 Guest Contributor

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Vasanthi Thevanesam is Emeritus Professor at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. In the context of her own research on infectious diseases, she explains why access to the latest research is so vital for academics and clinicians in developing countries. Large chunks of the population in many tropical countries, like Sri Lanka, are exposed to a number of infectious diseases rarely encountered in more developed countries. In order to reduce the incidence of such diseases, we need to monitor them accurately. This is a challenge, because there is currently very little accurate and reliable information about many of these infections at the local level in Sri Lanka.

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Strengthening libraries improves research access in Kenya

6 June, 2017 Guest Contributor

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Information access

Dr Beatrice Achieng’ Odera-Kwach – the Senior Assistant Commission Secretary/Head of Department for Library and Information Services at the Commission for University Education in Nairobi, Kenya – shares her view on how strengthening libraries can help to overcome the challenges to research access in Kenya. Improved access to published research supports national and international development by improving education, accelerating discoveries and facilitating the sharing of knowledge. So, what concrete actions can be taken to enhance provision of and access to research literature in Kenya?

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Advancing agricultural science and innovation for national development

30 May, 2017 Guest Contributor

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Information access

Humphrey Kombe Keah – Information Management and Digital Services Specialist at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya – discusses the opportunities and challenges of strengthening the research and knowledge sector in Kenya for the advancement of national development.

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Challenges of facilitating research access in Bangladesh

22 May, 2017 Guest Contributor

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Information access

- Dr M. Nazim Uddin is the Head and Senior Manager of the Library and Information Services Section at icddr,b, an international health research organization based in Dhaka. He gives a librarian’s perspective of the challenges of research access in Bangladesh What should a library look like? For me, it should have five basic components: a building, professional staff members, resources (such as furniture and print and e-literature), budgets and users. In Bangladesh, the two most difficult components for librarians to manage are budgets and resources.

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Consortium strengthens information access in Kenya

27 April, 2017 INASP

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Information access

Jacinta Were, an INASP associate based in Kenya, discusses how INASP and the Kenyan library consortium have worked together for well over a decade to support sustainable access to electronic research information in the country. I’ve known and worked with INASP for the last 15 years, mainly to support research in Africa. When INASP started working in Kenya we had gone for about six years without subscribing to any journals because there was no budget. When we did subscribe to a journal, it was just one at a time, in print form, and it would often take two years to arrive. When INASP arrived and explained what they were planning to do we welcomed them, we said “Yes, this is really the right time!”

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RedLink Announces Partnership with INASP

10 April, 2017 INASP

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Information access

RedLink is working with INASP to make RedLink Network and its Library Dashboard available to the Zimbabwe University Librarians Consortium...

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