Promoviendo la comunicación para el cambio social
| Plea for African digital libraries |
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| Lunes 13 de Julio de 2009 12:46 | ||
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Barka shared her concerns about a growing digital divide which she said may leave the poor more marginalised in the "new global community". "Africa is still lagging behind … in its acquisition and use of technologies [such as printing presses, computers and internet access] to preserve and provide access to its own content," she said. Kimbo Mchombu, a professor at the University of Namibia, said at the conference that most African countries are falling behind South Africa. Very few countries except South Africa had explored knowledge management, he said. Barka called for the formation of partnerships both inside and outside Africa, to ensure access to local information and knowledge for the people, and for this knowledge to be incorporated into Africa's development strategy to enhance economic and social development. "Libraries and archives through the ages have worked to bring together knowledge and information, preserving what Africa has accomplished and providing the fertile soil for ideas. They provide the opportunity to educate oneself, to learn from others and also form new ideas of how to do things better or more effectively within our particular context," said Barka. Speaking on knowledge-oriented development, Abraham Azubuike, chief librarian at UNECA, told the conference that an effective national library and information services system for economic, scientific and technological development was crucial for building a national knowledge system. Azubuike advised countries to build effective libraries for every community. He said sustainable, knowledge-based development strategies must be based on such libraries as well as a strong reading culture and widespread literacy in information technology. The above article written by Brenda Zulu appeared on SciDevNet.
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