Development of the African Digital Health Library (ADHL): Experience at the Medical Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

The African Digital Health Library, (ADHL) is a collaborative project involving five African institutions namely Bamako University of Science and Technology, Kenya Methodist University, Universities of Ibadan, Nairobi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The University of Ibadan Nigeria component of the ADHL (ADHL-UI) is described in this paper. Funded by the Office of Global AIDS Coordinator of the United States Department of State, the goal of ADHL-UI is to store, preserve, make accessible through an institutional repository, theses and dissertations by postgraduate students of the institution's College of Medicine. The ADHL-UI has over 1000 theses and dissertations accessible on the internet. Creation of the ADHL-UI, a repository of theses and dissertations in the Medical Library, University of Ibadan, is a major contribution to research development and preservation of institutional scholarly heritage. Effective use by students and faculty will help in reducing duplication of research efforts and create visibility for the authors and the institution.

The African digital health library and digitization of health information in Zambia: process, challenges and achievements

The rapid growth of Internet and increasing interest in its usage has led to an acceleration of digitisation of printed documents and making available born digital documents online. Zambia's research output is primarily in print and not much is disseminated globally. It is against this background that innovations for digital libraries have been started in several African countries, including Zambia. The overall objective of the African Digital Health Library Zambia was to increase the health content that is held in the University of Zambia Institutional Repository by digitising publications produced by various institutions in Zambia, with a vision of capturing over 6,000 current and historical materials. Equipment was acquired and sensitisation meetings were held with various stake holders to ensure successful project initiation and sustainability. Scanning and uploading of documents was done after a technical expert had trained both Library and Information Technology staff on Dspace software. Marketing the digital library within the institutions and nationally was also conducted. In June 2018 there were 266,838 downloads of materials. Challenges of collecting required materials from relevant stake holders and convincing them to make available their content were encountered in the process. Enhanced collaboration and sensitisation of stakeholders were essential in ensuring the successful implementation of the project.

Research into practice: the path to development of an African network of knowledge brokers among health librarians

The knowledge broker role is an opportunity for librarians to support health care workers' by inserting knowledge into the nurse's frontline clinical practice. Conception of an African network of knowledge brokers arose out of a knowledge broker project for health care workers initiated at Chitambo District hospital of Chitambo district in Central Zambia by the Friends of Chitambo. The pilot knowledge broker learning course was designed through a collaborative network between organisations in Scotland, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Zambia. The course was set in modules corresponding to elements of the Promoting Action on Research Implementation Framework ­Evidence, Context and Facilitation. Formation of the African knowledge broker network was instigated through the course designed for health librarians from Zambia and Zimbabwe. The course has been refined and was to be delivered to six health librarians from Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia in March 2020; which was postponed due to COVID-19. An envisaged online version could not take place as most participants indicated lack of access to the internet due to the fact that their workplaces went on recess owing to COVID-19.The pilot knowledge broker learning course for Africa marks the beginning of the practice of knowledge brokering by African health librarians.

Public Library Services to HIV/AIDS Clients in Anambra State, Nigeria

This study investigated Public Library Services to HIV/AIDS Clients in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was carried out using a descriptive survey design with two research questions and two hypotheses. The population of this study comprised of 5,385 adult male and female HIV/AIDS Clients registered in the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. The sample size was 385 HIV/AIDS Clients. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample the number of respondents for this study The major findings are that some of the services provided by the public library to HIV/AIDS Clients are reading materials, chairs and tables, referral services, bibliographic services, literature search and lending services; while some of the ones not provided are: document delivery services, weekend library services, recreation services, film show services, career information service and notification of conferences, seminars and workshop services. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that the government should ensure that any constraint facing the provision of adequate library services for HIV/AIDS clients should be tackled

Health librarians making a difference in a health care setting: the Chitambo emergency care communications project

Health librarians in the role of a knowledge broker can encourage health care workers to use evidence based health information. The knowledge broker role is an intervention dedicated to translating knowledge into action originating from the evidence-based medicine campaign. The Chitambo Emergency Care Communications Project through its knowledge component work strand has visualisations of converting knowledge into action to improve emergency care response by health workers, through the implementation of the knowledge broker role for health care workers in Chitambo district, Central Zambia. Implementation of the knowledge broker activity for Chitambo adopted a framework purposefully designed to build capacity for health librarians by the National Health Service Education for Scotland. The knowledge to action model can be useful in providing the relevant information to improve patient outcomes for healthcare workers. These knowledge gaps can be alleviated by knowledge brokering as it straddles through any knowledge gaps between the health workers' knowledge and their service delivery practice.

The impact of MLA-NG conference attendance on medical librarians in Nigeria

This study investigated the impact of the Medical Library Association of Nigeria (MLA-NG) conference attendance on medical librarians in Nigeria. The study employed survey design method and questionnaire was used for the data collection. The data obtained were analyzed using tables, frequency distribution, percentages and charts. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents mentioned that they have attended the conference about twice or more and affirmed that the conferences attended have to a 'great extent' impacted on them. The findings also revealed that the benefits derived from attending conference include: update on current trends in librarianship, opportunity to learn new skills, networking and socializing with librarians from other libraries. Despite the benefits of attending conference, it was observed that the major constraints to conference attendance include: lack of sponsorship, high cost of registration for participants, lack of awareness of the conference among others. The study therefore, recommended that heads of medical libraries should consciously set certain amount aside in their institutions' library budget for conference sponsorship to ease cost of conference attendance for their staff. Also, organizers of conferences should also publicize schedules in good time using effective means of communication that can easily reach their members. Keywords: Conference; Medical Librarians, Professional development; Medical Library Association of Nigeria

Creating value-based medical library services through competitive intelligence

Competitive Intelligence is a management tool that enables top executives make smart, successful and strategic decisions thereby minimizing risk, avoiding being short-sighted, and getting it right the first time. The paper is a review on how the medical library can employ competitive intelligence to enhance their services in the healthcare organization. The paper notes that competitive intelligence will enable Medical Libraries to offer innovative and creative services. The paper concludes that medical librarians and information professionals should be re-positioned to become strategic part ofthe corporate information environment. They must also become more proactive in promoting their services andprojecting their library within their own organization.