The African Virtual Library Initiative (AVL-I): The strategy for information management for the Sub-Saharan Africa

Author : William G. Kinyanjui
Date added : 2000-08-22

Brief Project Background

Results

Introduction

This is an attempt to answer some frequently asked questions regarding the direction AVL-I is taking. This moment is also used to introduce the AVL-I as an alternative approach for developing the information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Africa. The core strategy of AVL-I is the involvement of individuals and organizations that are committed to achieving the goals and aspirations which were set by stakeholders in form of resolutions made last year. The strategy also calls for a one to one relationship between the AVL-I and the stakeholder i.e. the individual or institution that shares the common interest with the AVL-I. This approach will help avoid the possibility of being hijacked by interests other than the well intentioned. In Africa, lack of development can be directly attributed to personal interests overriding the public good. Too often, good ideas die because they are hijacked by people who see opportunities rather than responsibilities in getting involved. This has led to many wonderful projects becoming stillbirth in Africa. The strategy was intended to deliberately skirt clear of the likelihood of being sacrificed and wasted under such circumstances, and emphasizes on meaningful participation and visible goodwill that is likely to translate into positive results.

Since the launching of AVL-I last year, a lot has happened that underlie the expectations of the stakeholders. Almost every institution in Kenya has become alert to its obligations in as far as the application of ICTs are concerned. While at the launching only a handful of institutions had the use of email communication, and even fewer knew the potential of the Internet in their work, today, slightly more than a year later, these tools have become commonplace among organizations participating in AVL-I. It is also a much sought after tool among academic, development and research organizations that have been involved in AVL-I but have not been connected.

Libraries have begun to see their enhanced value in terms of delivery of services, as they quickly graduate to online status, thanks to the constant prompting from the AVL-I. In almost every library in Kenya, there are plans to automate the library services in line with resolutions agreed upon last year at the convention of the stakeholders of AVL-I. Libraries without the email clearly see themselves at a serious disadvantage and they are doing all they can to get connected and to access information on the World Wide Web.

This approach has also ensured that the AVL-I will continue to attract active participation from individuals and organizations that have made certain commitments and have interests in its work in clearly defined terms. These parties will take part in determining the future of AVL-I in its bid to revolutionize the way information is used and managed in Africa. These individuals and institutional stakeholders have a right to negotiate the level of individual or institutional participation and investment in the development of the AVL-I. The ongoing exercise of identifying and undertaking collaboration with individuals and organizations is intended to achieve this purpose.

These experiences are clearly confined to Kenya for the time being, the country AVL-I concentrated on since the launching. The experience gained can now be replicated in each of the other countries where the AVL-I is about to start establishing the national nodes (see below).

The goal

The goal of the AVL-I is to influence all types of libraries in Africa to place their holdings on the World Wide Web for global access and to achieve full online status before the end of the first decade of this century. For Kenya where the AVL-I was launched in April 1999, the progress towards the goal of attaining online status by the year 2004 is on full steam and is achievable.

The objectives

The primary objective of the AVL-I is to work with libraries and other information centres in all sectors to develop local content and raise the profile of the information they hold using information and communication technologies (ICTs) especially the Internet. The secondary objective is to facilitate access to the information content by persons interested in the Africa irrespective of where they are in the world. The other secondary objective is to improve research in and on Africa by placing the most comprehensive materials at the disposal of any researcher at affordable cost. Last but not least, the AVL-I aims to re-establish the dignity and centrality of the library/information centres in institutions in Africa, and enhance their value to their patrons.

The AVL-I would achieve these objectives mainly through projects undertaken jointly with stakeholders, and with initial support from donors. Here below are some of the broad areas of project concentration.

The projects

The African Virtual Library Initiative has commenced work on the virtual library of Africa, the African Library Online project. When completed, the online library is expected to become the one-stop information access facility for information resources on Africa. The site will link to every other initiative for African knowledge, but it should be the most comprehensive single source of this information from source. The construction site for African Library Online will involve input from a wide range of stakeholders from Africa and abroad. This is part of the collaborative adventure of the AVL-I which can be visited at www.avli.org..

The African Library Online project requires partnerships and funds to undertake design work, extensive research to identify national information resources in each of the African countries and African information held outside Africa for the online library.

Establishing the National Node Project. The project involves identification of the institution in each country most suitable to host the national node. The institution functioning as the national node would also host the National Library Network Support Facility. This project would provide access to the most comprehensive electronic research materials accessed online, and will network with the other nodes to create the African Virtual Library.

The other major project of the AVL-I is training. The curriculum for a postgraduate diploma in information management was developed by the AVL-I in conjunction with the Kenya Institute of Management with the purpose of training young African graduates to spearhead information revolution in Africa. The training programme will be offered through the African Information and Communication Technology Institute (AICTI), an initiative of the AVL-I in conjunction with local institutions, in collaboration with local training institutions, and through the distance learning method under development. Details of the training programme can be found on the AICTI web page at www.avli.org/training.htm. This project requires funds for developing distance-learning materials, hosting them and for the service provider. The AVL-I anticipates to, in partnership with a donor and well-wishers, sponsoring at least 100 young graduates, two from each African country to the one-year course in Nairobi. This group of information managers will constitute the nucleus team to work towards a new approach to information management in Africa.

Categories of stakeholders

The AVL-I recognizes the role of various stakeholders, which depend on the level of involvement and participation in AVL-I affairs. Some are involved minimally while other stakeholders will play crucial roles to determine the direction and the future of the initiative. Below is an attempt at categorization of stakeholders.

The idea of AVL-I started with an individual long before it was brought to the public. For the first time, a single institution was invited to participate in an attempt to test the viability of the idea. When the Kenya Institute of Management enthusiastically embraced the idea and accepted to participate in it, the idea seemed good enough to be extended to other potential stakeholders. During the high profile launching in April 1999, where nearly sixty academic, development and research organizations were represented, the AVL-I was widely acclaimed and accepted as a viable strategy to cause change in the management of information in Africa. Since then, the AVL-I has evolved gradually and has been modified in response to the needs of others and interactions with potential stakeholders, while retaining the original focus.

The AVL-I is presented as a programme open for wide scale participation. Potential stakeholders are mainly African academic, development and research organizations, but international organizations and individuals with interest in African affairs are also eligible to participate in one way or the other. Through out, the AVL-I is guided by the resolutions of Kenyan stakeholders of last year, which assigned responsibilities to the AVL-I, to the organizations individually, and to the individual persons who wants to take part. The ongoing exercise is intended to audit the performance of every one of the stakeholders on individual basis, and to invite active participation of, and solidify relationships between AVL-I and each one of them. Here below is an attempt to describe the type of relationships that are emerging to give specific stakeholders a stake in the AVL-I on a win-win basis.

National information node

The African Virtual Library Initiative with its humble beginnings in Nairobi has plans to set up a national node in every African country. The national node is basically the main resource centre for electronic products of the initiative in a country. The AVL-I invites major academic, development, and research organizations to express interest to host the national node in each country. The institution that hosts the national node is strategically placed to support the initiative’s work in the country. The National Library Network Support facility is located at the national node. This support facility will handle the most comprehensive electronic information resources in form of databases and publications in the country to be shared by all. The main servers holding these resources will be mirrored and the experience replicated in other nodes in Africa. The national node is a project to be co-sponsored by the AVL-I, the host institution, and the funding parties under a memorandum of understanding that stipulates the role of each sponsor.

Investor stakeholders

The AVL-I will collaborate with strategic organizations in order to pursue objectives of common interest. Such interests almost always involve development and co-sponsoring of projects that would enhance the use of ICTs in the access and management of information, and improve the standing of the partners. Such collaboration has been established with the Kenya Institute of Management, Advanced Policy Institute of University of California, Los Angeles, USA, and the Nairobinet Ltd of Kenya. Discussions are under way to establish collaboration with the National Council for NGOs (Kenya), the National Council for Science and Technology (Kenya), and the Info Technology Supplies Ltd of UK. The AVL-I recognizes the importance of various academic, development and research institutions as resources of considerable national value. The AVL-I would like to collaborate with major universities and research institutions both in public and private sector, in Africa and in other countries in order to enhance access to these resources and to carry forward the knowledge agenda in Africa.

Collaboration with these institutions always entails entering into a memorandum of understanding between the collaborating organizations that state the common interests the parties would like to pursue and the mutual benefits this relationship brings.

This category of stakeholder guarantees active participation in achieving the goals and objectives contained in the understanding.

Client stakeholders

Every academic, development, and research organization in Africa is potentially a stakeholder of AVL-I. These individuals and institutions have been invited to participate in the meetings of the AVL-I. In Kenya, institutions in all categories overwhelmingly supported the initiative and consequently mandated the AVL-I to implement the recommendations that would elevate the African content to the global platform using the ICTs and through prudent management.

It is possible to identify this type of stakeholder. The stakeholder of this category does not have any special collaboration arrangements with AVL-I except that they are beneficiaries of the work of AVL-I and its partners in such areas as training and information access. This status can change anytime when a partnership is established and by entering into some special understanding with AVL-I.

Personal stakeholders

The personal stakeholders are individuals participating actively and undertaking AVL-I related assignments. This is an opportunity for individuals to take advantage of the presence of AVL-I to change their professional status outside of their immediate surroundings. AVL-I recognizes voluntary work provided by individuals in all aspects of development. The AVL-I is carefully documenting contributions made by individuals in Africa and beyond in order to give credit where this is due.

The AVL-I also supports implementation of projects proposed by individuals professionals from anywhere in the world so long as the projects are in line with the goals and aspirations of the AVL-I.

Collaboration

What the AVL-I brings to the collaboration with libraries/information centres

In this age of information and communication technologies (ICTs), your library automatically gets into the ICT programme for Africa which is in agreement with the global initiatives
Your library becomes part of a larger consortium, exposed to resources larger than it has on its own. Your library owes its patrons this much.
Your library learns from others in the consortium, there is no need of re-inventing the wheel while examples of poor or good methods exist to learn from
AVL-I provides alternative source of financing. Poor state of libraries result from lack of inadequate funding. The AVL-I projects are donor supportable, and any co-sponsored project has better likelihood of being funded than on your own
AVL-I re-establishes the dignity of a librarian in Africa which has been highly compromised by years of neglect by the librarians themselves and by their sponsors. No individual can guarantee this except by participating in a programme that gives the individual the chance to stand out. This can be salvaged through active participation in AVL-I as a stakeholder.
AVL-I has resources for retrospective conversion of library catalogues. The AVL-I has the necessary databases and the software to undertake a complete retrospective work at minimal cost.
AVL-I would facilitate obtaining tools for retrospective conversion of library catalogues at the lowest possible cost for your library
AVL-I brings capacity for library automation project management which would ensure that the library undertakes the necessary automation process without guesswork
AVL-I would facilitate obtaining library automation software at the lowest possible cost for your library, and enjoy favourable maintenance terms
The African Library Online provides an online home for any library catalogue making it possible for anyone to access the resources of your library
AVL-I would construct and host your library’s website alongside other national resources on the African Library Online. The AVL-I will also link to your website if you already have one, exposing your library even more widely.
AVL-I will provide your patrons with the most comprehensive source of research information by hosting most of the world-class databases from ISI, UMI, CABI, and electronic publications at affordable cost. All stakeholders of the AVL-I will share these facilities.
AVL-I has capacity to train your staff in all manner of ICTs especially in information management. A list of training areas is available on the African Library Online website and has been distributed to all libraries.
AVL-I can facilitate the setting up a cyber café in your library as an income-generating venture for your library.
Last but not least, AVL-I will give your staff the reason for wanting to continue being librarians, even after they have almost given up on it.

Financing AVL-I

The AVL-I started as an idea and a commitment. The idea has since grown so much without external financing. Individuals have carried much of the work of AVL-I through personal commitment. The AVL-I charges some fees whenever there is a meeting of stakeholders, which has helped to meet the costs of operational costs for the meeting. Some stakeholders have offered assistance in kind. The Kenya Institute of Management has offered free use of an office for the Programme Coordinator and his mainly volunteer staff at their Emperor Plaza campus downtown for the past six months. Nairobinet Ltd has hosted the website of AVL-I without charge since the site was launched in June 1999, and continues to do so and to assist in the design work. They also support the AVL-I with email/Internet connection. The greatest sources of support are individual volunteers and members of the working groups representing various stakeholders.

This is positive support from well-wishers for the AVL-I work by people who seriously believe in the viability of the programme. We invite more support from those who, when they read this presentation, will also believe in what we are doing and the direction we are taking this initiative. With a little financial support, can you imagine how fast we could move?

The AVL-I participated in the Kenya Education Network (KENET) Project of Leland Initiative as a stakeholder. The coordinator of AVL-I prepared the concept paper of the KENET, and contributed heavily in the design of the project document of KENET. It is anticipated that when it is implemented, the AVL-I will show the way forward.

The AVL-I and Advanced Policy Institute of University of California at Los Angeles have a collaborative project that has been recommended for funding from the Education for Development and Democracy Initiative (EDDI) Fund. The AVL-I will be co-sponsoring projects with local and international partners and institutions and jointly seek for funds from donors to implement these projects.

The funds to support these projects take long to realize making it difficult to lay solid foundation for AVL-I. The AVL-I needs seed money to undertake several of its projects, and to make the work of the programme coordinator easier. The Programme Coordinator appeals to donors and well-wishers to support this work with seed money as we wait the processing of project funds.

Conclusion

The process of meaningful identification of organizations willing to work with AVL-I is ongoing. The AVL-I is presently negotiating with major academic, development and research organizations to develop the most potent information resource Africa has ever known. The AVL-I becomes the rallying point for meaningful collaboration among academic, development and research organizations in the whole of Africa. The African Library Online becomes the online flag bearer for this development. As the construction of this online library continues, it will provide the most comprehensive source of information on and about Africa and elevate the African knowledge content to the global platform.

Lessons

William G. Kinyanjui
Programme Coordinator
African Virtual Library Initiative (AVL-I)
PO Box 34729
Nairobi, Kenya

Email: avlilib@avli.org
Website: http://www.avli.org

Project Information

Total budget in US$ : -

Contact Information

William G. Kinyanjui

Disclaimer: No stories on this website shall be reproduced or stored in any other retrieval system without the written permission of the infoDev/IICD. Although every precaution will be taken in the preperation and maintenance of this collection of stories, neither infoDev, IICD or the submitting parties assume any responsibilities for errors or omissions. In addition, no liability is assumed fordamages resulting from the use of the information supplied in the stories.