   
Social Responsibilities Discussion Group Paper
Amsterdam, 16 August 1998
North-South Library Cooperation: Some Consideration
Ismail Abdullahi
Abstract
The crisis through which international information and communication are now developing presents great
dangers if the growing gap between the information rich north and the information poor south is not considered seriously. The introduction of electronic technology in the field of information studies is even further widening
the dividing line between North and South.
This paper will discuss and argue for the need to narrow this growing gap through cooperation of library and information service and through a common approach and dialogue and thus establish the trust relationship
necessary for effective information sharing. This dialogue must provide every country the full potential
development of infrastructure and access of information whenever and wherever it is needed.
The paper will also make recommendations on strategies and ways these co-operations could be established.
Introduction
Development is a mutidimentional human experience that involves personal and
societal learning based on the continuous discovery of new information about ongoing
and potential changes. In recent years, three trends have been converging in developing
countries: dissatisfaction with prevailing methods of technical assistance program,
increasing concern about poverty, and the emergence of information consciousness.
In most countries, national priorities have gradually expanded from consideration of
physical infrastructure, training capabilities and consideration of skills, and use
of information technology.
The cooperation of all sectors in the national economy in the planning of
national development, the integration of economic, social and cultural advances -
necessitates increased access to information. Scientific and technological policies
supported by information, according to a United Nation's consultant aims at
strengthening a country's capability for knowledgeable decisions.
In the North countries the recognition of the importance of information as part of
national infrastructure as a factor of production, a determinant of productivity, a
resource and a commodity are well-known phenomena over many centuries.
Thus, today, information is an integral part of the society.
The growing gap of information between North and South was as a result
of lack of cooperation and resource sharing, and lack of development
infrastructure in the South countries. It is the firm belief of this writer that the
existing gap can be narrowed if the governments of the South give a serious
infrastructure development and if the North is willing to share their information
resources with the South. Therefore library cooperation among North and South
countries is important for a number of reasons. First, the concept of library
cooperation implies the removal of all barriers of library resource sharing.
Second, library cooperation implies equal access by any individual from any
geographical location to the sum total of the world's knowledge resources. Third,
no library can ever be self-sufficient.
Current Situation
In the last several years we have witnessed a high degree of interest and
activity in library development and cooperation in developing countries. The
reasons for this growing interest are varied. They are mainly motivated by the
strong desire to improve, revitalize, and strengthen the services within the
developing countries, to explore ways and means by which international as well
as interregional cooperative schemes can best be fashioned, and to actualize fresh
and more concrete approaches to basic problems facing the library world. The rise
of new forces and agencies of cooperation evidenced by several scholarly studies
and international seminars and discussions, coupled with advances of technology
and science, serve as an added propelling force toward the urgent quest for
answers to the common problems in the hope of making plans for effective library
cooperation in the South.
For libraries in the South, library cooperation is not only desirable but also
critically necessary. Since it is a tenuous practice for libraries with sizable
shortages of books in these countries to purchase en masse from abroad, many
studies on library cooperation in the South countries, for example Parker (1),
Bowden (2), and Bouzza (3) indicate that many libraries are involved to greater or
lesser degree in some kind of cooperative library venture. Mall (4)
emphasizes that the Third World Countries are all in need of information as a vital
ingredient of "nation-building." He further indicates that the lack of financial
resources and insufficiently trained manpower are the main barriers to the
availability of information in the Third World. The study conducted by
Salman (5) on eight developing countries' needs for access to the information
emphasized the lack of an essential infrastructure of national information system,
shortage of skilled manpower, under-utilized information services, the
unsatisfactory access to locally produced information, existence of a very limited
quantity of foreign and international information literature, and lack of application
of new technologies. According to Kent (6) the goals of sharing resources are
two-fold: to provide more materials for services, and to do so at less cost. Library
networks exist for the purpose of sharing resources, bibliographic data, functions,
materials, and human and technology resources. In describing the state of the art
of the library cooperation situation in West Asia, as well as in other regional
divisions of Asia, Asali (7) says that they are western oriented. Their relations
with libraries of Europe and the USA are much longer than relations that exist
among themselves.
This is a natural by-product of the fact that the libraries of the North are
more advanced and better organized than their counterparts in other parts of the
world. In the Arab world, for example, libraries have more extensive relations
with libraries in the USA and Britain than with themselves. Begg (8) points out
that the Asian nations need more resource sharing and library cooperation
by the libraries and agencies of the advanced and developed countries today
than ever before.
Issues of Technology
The issue of North-South flow of information has more to do with lack of
investment rather than the dependency on existing channels of communication.
As in most South countries, when the telecom sector was government run, there
were inadequate funds for investment. The monopoly also stifled growth because
customers had to take whatever the government offered and such a scheme was
not profitable. Other problems in building the information infrastructure in many
South countries stem from the fact that the users are not united in efforts to lobby
the government to provide better services. There cannot be a national information
infrastructure until the people who use it develop a cohesive mandate and identify
what inadequacies need to be rectified.
Joshi and Sauter explain that India's success followed a series of import
controls and a revamped government policy toward applied technologies.
Following the technology policy of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's, in 1984 India
has established research institutes, developed a highly skilled labor force and built
a favorable public attitude toward applied technology (9). In West Africa, almost
fourty years after independence, telecommunication structure is still concentrated
in Western metropolis through which information is filtered and routed to other
nations. Experiences in many African countries show that when technology is
exported from the North, included in its design is a host of cultural
accompaniments. First the language may be different from what is commonly
spoken in the recipient nation. Secondly, the interface design may be in contrast
with cultural norm (10). In addition to this, many South countries have developed
over-centralized administrations. This has resulted in severe restrictions on the
flow of information further exacerbating the lack of appreciation for its
utilization.
Lack of Awareness
Unfortunately, most policy makers in the continent of Africa do not
perceive information as an important resource vital for national development (11).
Furthermore, information technology, such as Internet, is perceived as something
unfeasible not only because of its capital-intensity, but because its value may
not be immediately realized. A major problem facing information professionals
in developing countries is a lack of acceptance by decision-makers of the premise
that information and documentation and their associated technologies are essential
to industrial activity and economic development. There is a lack of awareness of
the relationships between organizational management systems and computer-
based information systems; the degree to which the effectiveness of the former
ones are becoming independent upon the efficiency and the effectiveness of the
latter ones is something that is not in the minds of many administrators in South
countries. Information sharing and technology should be a key factor for change
in South countries who until now and unlike the north countries, are mainly
consumers of information. Commitment to information development and
technology by the South countries will bring about a change in attitude and could
lead to the transfer of information and technology North to South .
Issues of Consideration
Library cooperation in the South is plagued by several problems that
hinder their efficiency and adequacy. Lack of sufficient funds, the soaring
cost of library materials, weak domestic currency, the literature explosion in the
world, underdeveloped publishing industry coupled with lack of cooperation and
coordination among themselves are some of the major obstacles currently facing
library developments in this region.
The range of technology in different parts of the world goes from barely
existing to high tech state-of-the-art. Some South countries are struggling with
the basics. They need books and a place to store them. Some countries are
politically unstable. They may be recovering from revolution or in the midst of
one. Political reform can be just as disruptive because of the instability it
creates (12) Therefore, We can say that the adaptation of information
development is determined by multiple variables such as political, economic,
socio-cultural and technical. Each of which is presenting great challenges to the
libraries and information centers in the South.
Robert Giplin reminds us that the information age has ushered in a new
reality for the world's five billion citizens lack of access to information, is rapidly
creating a dichotomy of the "haves" and the new "have-nots" giving credence to
the adage, "information is power". He continues to stress that the diffusion of
technology from developed to developing nations is a key element to the
international distribution of power (13). The North-South countries
alike share a common interest on how to use effectively vast amounts of available
information knowledge to meet their information access objective. A steady
supply of information is important for libraries in North and South countries.
Information sharing enhances user satisfaction, is cost effective, is faster and
simpler, a rapid response is the ability to access vast amount of information
stored in remote computerized system such as DIALOG, BRS, INFOLINE, etc.
Information transfer and technolog transfer are the key factors that can
narrow the growing gap between the information rich North and the information
poor South.
Recommendations
References
- Thomas F. Parker, "Resource Sharing from Inside and Out: Reflections on the Organizational
Nature of Library Networks, " Library Resources and Technical Services 19, 4 (Fall 1975) 352-53.
- R. Bowden, "The Opportunities for, and Problems of, Regional Co-operation in Library Services in Developing
Countries. Proceedings of the 1977 IFLA/Unesco Pre-Conference Seminar for Librarians from Developing Countries, Antwerp University, August 30-September 4, 1977.
- Abdelmajid Bouazza, Resource Sharing among Libraries in Developing Countries: The Gulf Between Hope
and Reality," International Library Rweview 18 (1986), 373-87.
- Peter Mall, "Should the Third World Have Information Technology?" IFLA Journal 9 (November 1983): 296-308
- Lamia Salman, "The Information Needs of the Developing Countries: Analytical Case -Studies," Unesco Journal
of Information Science, Librarianship, and Archives Administartion 3 (October, December 1981): 241-46
- Allen Kent, "Network Anatomy and Network Objectives," in Library Rsource Sharing, ed. Allen Kent and Thomas
Galvin (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1977), 4
- Kamel, Asali, "Some Ideas on Coopration Between National Libraries in Asia and Oceana," International Library
Review 12, 1 (January 1980): 13.
- N. Begg, "Development of Resource Sharing in Pakistan," International Library Review 12 (July 1980):299
- Kailash Joshi and Vicki L. Sauter, "The Opportunities and Constraints Affecting an Informatics Policy: The India
Experience," Information and Management, 20 (1991): 313.
- Tony Fernandes, Global Interface Design, (Boston:AP Professional, 1995):87
- Saul Zulu, "Africa's Survival for Meeting the Challenges of Information Technology," Libri 44, 1 (1994):82
- Mohammed Aman "Transfer of Information Technology to Developing Countries with particular Emphasies on
Africa." Paper presented at African American National Conference. Milwaukee, Wisconson, (1995).
- Robert Giplin, "Equillibrium and Decline." American Foreign Policy, ed. G. John Ikenberry, (Princeton: Harper-
Collins, 1989), 124.
|
