Reshaping and refocusing 21 st century academic libraries

RESHAPING AND REFOCUSING THE 21ST CENTURY ACADEMIC
LIBRARIES: Excerpts from the Carnegie - UP Capstone Conference
Held at Kievits Kroon Conference Centre, Pretoria - South Africa
from the 25th to 29th March 2019
Being a seminar paper presentation held at PG e-library conference room held
on the 4th of August 2019
By
Michael Esew, PhD, MSc. Info Sci, B.LIS, NCE, cln
e-mail: yaw4mi@gmail.com
&
Rukayat Tijani Ibrahim, MLS, B.LIS, NCE, cln.
Email: rukitij@gmail.com

RESHAPING AND REFOCUSING 21ST CENTURY ACADEMIC
LIBRARIES: Excerpts from the Carnegie - UP Capstone Conference.
Held at Kievits Kroon Conference Centre, Pretoria - South Africa.
From the 25th to 29th March 2019
By
Michael Esew, PhD, MSc. Info Sci, B.LIS, NCE, cln
&
Rukayat Tijani Ibrahim, MLS, B.LIS, NCE, cln.
Being a seminar paper presentation held at PG
e-library conference room held on the 4th of
August 2019

ABSTRACT
The Paper presents excerpts from the Carnegie - UP Capstone Conference that took place from 25th- 29th of
March, 2019 in Kievits Kroon, International Conference Centre, South Africa. The report presents a summary of
events, activities, pre-conference refresher session and programmes that took place during the conference.
Starting with the arrival of participants and guest from within and outside the continent of Africa. The report
highlights the events of Pre- conference refresher sessions, workshops, group discussions, Gala night and
Farewell Dinner. A total of 411 participants from the following sub-saharan African countries namely (Ghana,
Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda) were selected for the Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) and Masters in Information Technology (MIT) Training from 2010-2018. For the MIT 103
(86%) and CPD 308 (96.3%) success rates were recorded. Out of the aforementioned, only 147 participants
were re-selected (based on the performance of the take home assignments given after the course) for the Alumni
Conference which provided an opportunity for knowledge enhancement and relevant skills acquisition to keep
abreast with new trends, global best practices and new terminologies in Library and Information works, as well as
collaboration and networking with library and information professionals across Africa and overseas. Of utmost
importance, participants had the opportunity to present researches and proffer solution to the achievement of
Sustainable Development Goals in in the various countries and libraries.
Keywords: CPD, MIT, SDGs,

INTRODUCTION & oBJECTIVES
● The Carnegie Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Programme
is aimed at enhancing Librarian’s Information and Communication (ICT)
Skills For Research enablement in African Universities.
● For Capacity Building among Young Library and Information
Professionals.
● To empower the next generation of Library and Information Professionals
within African Countries with ICT skills.
● This Programme teaches Librarians about ICTs that will empower them
support the core mandate of their institutions’.
● It consist two different programmes i.e. ( MIT and CPD) fully sponsored
by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

INTRODUCTION CONT…
● The conference was the first of its kind organized for the UP Carnegie
Alumni (comprising CPD and MIT) graduates, participants were selected
based on the outcome of the take home assignment after each of the
intake.
● This maiden event was aimed at bringing together MIT and CPD Alumni
across the globe to rub minds and share knowledge especially on the
attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa by the
year 2030.
● The Pre- Conference refresher Session was very appealing and educative
with different Keynote speakers.
● The Conference had Sub-Themes spread across the various days of the
conference, and the presentations under the themes were really
educative….

REGISTRATION
Arrival, Registration and welcoming of
Participants took place at the Kievits Kroon ‘s
main foyer.
The conference registration times were on:
Sunday, 24 March 2019: 15h00 to 17h00
Sunday, 24 March 2019: 20h00 to 21h00

kEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
After a welcoming speech by the Head of
Department of Information Science in
person of Prof. Archie Dick the first Keynote
Speaker presented her paper.
It was so educative and an eye openinig
with Prof Clara Chu from Monteson Center,
University of Illinois.

PRE-CONFERENCE REFRESHER SESSIONs Cont...

▪ General Sessions: Paper presentation (Key papers and Lead papers)
•“Smart” libraries facilitate the integration of digital processes
and informational feedback loops in the organizational
infrastructure, whereby such integration is a desirable state for
“smarter” institutions, i.e., more efficiently organized, resource-
friendly, flexible, sustainable, green, and socially inclusive.*
•“smart” refers to efficiency due to the use of technologies and to
an automatization of processes to facilitate the working and
everyday environment.*
*Adapted from Freyberg, Linda. “Smart Libraries,” July 2, 2018. http://elephantinthelab.org/smart-libraries/

.Smart libraries deploy technologies that connect and monitor almost
every object in our lives, smart phones/devices process real-time data to
enhance our lives, communities and to better predict our future needs.
Thus, a smart library is constantly assessing and ranking the needs of
the local community so that relevant programs can be created, funded,
evaluated, enhanced and sustained.
•“Smart libraries play a major role in the creation of networked and
more sustainable communities.”
Weston, Chip. “Smart Libraries: Community Development Through Innovation and Partnerships,” The Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries.
September 12, 2016.
http://www.libraryvision.org/smart_libraries_community_development_through_innovation_and_partnerships

●A knowmad is what I
term a nomadic
knowledge and
innovation worker – that
is, a creative,
imaginative, and
innovative person who
can work with almost
anybody, anytime, and
anywhere. (adapted from
Moravec, John.
Knowmad Society (2013)

University robot ‘Libby’ brings
the future library closer
We need to move beyond talking
about the fourth industrial revolution
and translate this into action. If we
don’t embrace it, we’ll ultimately
fail.
This is the view of Isak van der Walt,
Digital Scholarship Centre and
MakerSpace manager at the
University of Pretoria in South
Africa, on the recent introduction of
a client service robot in its library.
The robot, known as 'Libby', is the
first of its kind known to be
employed in any university library in
Africa and is part of the University of
Pretoria’s Department of Library
Services’ drive to become a 21st
century service centre.

Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on
the fundamental data skills needed to conduct
research. Its mission is to provide researchers high-
quality, domain-specific training covering the full
lifecycle of data-driven research.

Conclusion
●In conclusion, it is evident to state that with the intrusion of
technology into libraries today, academic librarians have to brace up
with the current trends to make themselves more relevant to the
system and also avail themselves the opportunity of keeping up with
the changes in library practices world over.
●The new argument is that will librarians be relevant in the coming
future? Today we see machines/robots carrying out library task with
precision and accuracy, however the presence of the librarian cannot
be said to be overlooked.
●Therefore, librarians need to add value to where they are domiciled,
embrace new technologies and update skill regularly to meet the
expectations of the 21st century tech-savvy librarian.

Reshaping and refocusing 21 st century academic libraries

Reshaping and refocusing 21 st century academic libraries

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