ERIC Number: ED434660
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1998-Jun
Pages: 9
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
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A Library Ready for 21st Century Services: The Case of the University of Science and Technology (UST) Library, Kumasi, Ghana.
Asamoah-Hassan, Helena Rebecca
This paper discusses changes at the University of Science and Technology Library (Ghana). The first section provides historical background and summarizes current services, including the collection, the facility, the university's network of faculty/school/institute/center libraries, main library departments, staff, and automation. The next section notes factors necessitating change, including economic recession, inadequate staffing, information explosion, and technological innovations. The following areas of library work that will need to be changed or improved for the library to be relevant in the 21st century are discussed in the third section: (1) collection development, including policies/procedures and the choice between print and digital information; (2) interlibrary loans and document delivery, including the use of facsimile, e-mail, and satellite transmission; (3) the virtual library; (4) staff roles, including responsibilities of professional and paraprofessional staff; (5) the head librarian's role, including leadership, accountability, and management; and (6) other changes, including cooperative ventures, networking, charging fees, and cutting costs. The final section presents a vision for the 21st century university library that highlights reduction of red tape/bureaucracy, orientation toward meeting user needs and delivery of high quality services, library staff support of student learning, flexible structure, cooperation with faculties/institutes, an entrepreneurial approach to securing resources, and library marketing efforts. (Contains 11 references.) (MES)
Descriptors: Academic Libraries, Developing Nations, Electronic Libraries, Foreign Countries, Futures (of Society), Higher Education, Information Technology, Library Automation, Library Development, Library Personnel, Library Services, Science Libraries, User Needs (Information)
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Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
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Language: English
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Identifiers - Location: Ghana
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