2009-11-24
BTH University Library in Rwanda
Our library has since 2003 been collaborating with the National University of Rwanda (NUR) and it´s University Library. We (Anna Stockman and Kent Pettersson) have recently visited Rwanda and organized a workshop for nine librarians at the university library. The focus of the workshop was effective use of electronic journal databases and the working tasks of a librarian in a modern library. Librarians in Rwanda are normally working with quite traditional tasks like buying and lending out books, cataloging etc. At the workshop, we wanted to emphasize the educational function of a librarian at a university. As an example students, researchers and teachers at NUR have access to over 30 000 electronic journals in the university's network, but not all of them have knowledge about their existence or how to use them. Librarians therefore have an important role to play in making these sources of information accessible and known.
Participants at the workshop
During the time we have collaborated with the university library at NUR much have been done to modernize their operations. With help from the Swedish Development Organization SIDA new literature has been possible to purchase. The computerization of the library has contributed to the dissemination of electronic journals all over the university, which of course has been a prerequisite for the quality and development of research performed there. A number of employees have received scholarships to pursue studies in Library and Information Science in Rwanda and other African countries. The staff has also over the years had access to courses and workshops organized by the organization INASP or from us at BTH.
In addition to the cooperation between the libraries, the IT department at BTH has worked with the development of the computer network at NUR. We have also during these years sent teachers from BTH who have lectured at the Master program of Computer Science and Telecommunications. BTH has also received its first PhD student from Rwanda and he has now finished his first year of studies at the Department of Telecommunications.
Kent Pettersson, library Infocenter
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