Weekly highlights – 17 August 2015

1. Staff quote

“It’s exciting that INASP staff and associates are sharing INASP’s knowledge and experience in a range of discussions in our partner countries and internationally. We have recently contributed to articles in mainstream newspapers such as The Guardian, publishing-industry magazines such as Research Information and scientific publications such as The Scientist. INASP and our partners also contribute to local media in our partner countries. This included an interview on Ethiopian television last month. It was also great to see posts by members of our AuthorAID community featured in recent blogs (see external coverage section below) and we are looking forward to working with SciDev.Net to bring more such stories to wider attention.”

Siân Harris, Communications Coordinator

2. Updates

• We have published a Storify of our recent library consortia meeting in Ethiopia.
• Winner Chawinga, a Master’s student at the Department of Library and Information Science, University of the Western Cape, South Africa has won the IFLA/ekz Library and Information Science (LIS) Student Paper Award 2015 for his paper is on the topic: “A decade of formal Library and Information Science Education in Malawi: the case of Mzuzu University”. Winner is being sponsored by INASP to attend the IFLA conference and present his paper. See our Facebook page for a photograph of Winner, along with Lawrence Gojeh from Jimma University, whom INASP is also sponsoring to attend the conference.
• For updates from this year’s IFLA meeting, which INASP staff Anne Powell and Peter Burnett are also attending, see the hashtag  #wlic2015.

3. Upcoming events

• Julie Walker will be Tanzania from 24^th to 28^th August to observe a pilot gender workshop
• Sue Corbett will be speaking at the ALPSP annual conference in London from 9^th to 11^th September

4. Recent publications

• INASP-sponsored Winner takes prize at IFLA conference– INASP News, August 17, 2015 INASP-sponsored Winner takes prize at IFLA conference
• Guest Post: A Blended Course Given in Bolivia by an AuthorAID Workshop Grantee– AuthorAID, August 16, 2015 Post from Cynthia Cisneros Fajardo, who took an AuthorAID online course and went on to receive an AuthorAID workshop grant
• INASP staff and sponsored delegates present at IFLA World Library Congress– INASP News, August 14, 2015 INASP’s Peter Burnett (Programme Manager, Library Curricula/Network Management) and Anne Powell (Programme Manager, Information Access & Publisher Liaison) are in South Africa for the 81st IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Cape Town
• Open Access Week Competition 2015 now open INASP News, August 13, 2015 INASP has now opened our Open Access Week Competition for 2015 in collaboration with UNESCO. The competition is open to representatives of institutions and organizations from INASP partner or network countries
• “Digital development” – the last 100 metres– Practising Development, August 13, 2015 Jon Harle considers technological possibilities and realities for research access
• Training supports libraries to monitor use of e-resources– Practising Development, August 13, 2015 Veronika Schaeffler discusses the importance for research and development of monitoring and evaluation of e-resources for library consortia and reflects on a recent workshop in Sri Lanka
• Tip of the Week #246– AuthorAID, August 11, 2015 Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare a short CV for grant proposals, writes Bernard Appiah
• My journey from civil war to global health, via AuthorAID– AuthorAID, August 11, 2015 Somalian doctor and researcher Dr Jibril Handuleh explains how AuthorAID helped him publish 15 papers over two years
• Understanding the country context: why it is important– Practising Development, August 10, 2015 Abdullah Shams Bin Tariq from Bangladesh urges publishers to take advice from organizations such as INASP in understanding country context and to follow #inaspPrinciples
• AuthorAID Awards 10 Travel Grants– AuthorAID, August 9, 2015 AuthorAID is pleased to announce the newest recipients of AuthorAID travel grants. These grants give researchers funding to attend conferences for which they have had presentations accepted

5. External coverage

• Beyond the niche: how AuthorAID has expanded my academic horizons– Office of Astronomy for Development blog, August 14, 2015 Article by AuthorAID mentor Richard de Grijs who was a runner up in the Author AID exciting story competition earlier this year
• Opinion: “Staying Active” after Retirement: Consider Mentorship – The Scientist Magazine, August 11, 2015 Article by Barbara Gastel of AuthorAID
• 15 steps closer to quality higher education in Africa – The Guardian, August 10, 2015 Summary of recent online discussion, with contributions from INASP’s Jon Harle
• My journey from civil war to global health– PLOS Translational Global Health, August 7, 2015 Article by winner of AuthorAID exciting story competition
• ‘Women hit more than men by vehicular pollution’ – SciDev.Net, July 31, 2015 Article about research published in Annals of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine on the NepJOL platform
• VakaYiko consortium meets in Accra– HSRC, July 31, 2015
• Summer reading– KirstyEvidence blog, July 21, 2015
• Linking up the layers: Campus Networks and Access to e-resources in Africa– IFLA, July 10, 2015