Abstract
This issue of IFLA Journal, the first to be published after the World Library and Information Congress in Singapore, includes four papers dealing with a variety of topics.
The first paper, ‘National digital content policies: a comparative study of Arab and other countries’, by Ramy Abboud of Menofia University in Egypt, compares national policies pertaining to digital content in 10 countries, in addition to the European Union (EU), which were divided into Arab and non-Arab groups. A prototype of Policy Assessment Criteria (PAC), based on 56 variables, and including a model statistical indicator called Policies Quality Indicator (PQI) was developed to facilitate the comparison. The paper also sheds light on global strategic planning trends in the field of digital content through a comparison of Arab policies with those of selected developing and developed countries around the world.
The second paper deals with a country that has received little previous attention in these pages. In ‘The teachers’ role in fostering independent learning in high schools in Zanzibar’, Abbas Mohamed Omar of Zanzibar reports on a study of the role of teachers in fostering students’ independent learning through school library use in three public and two private high schools in Zanzibar. The study revealed that school libraries were confronted with library stocks containing outdated and outdated materials, limited library use by students and teachers, inefficient and untrained school library staff, lack of integration of information, curricula and classroom learning, and lack of cooperation between teaching and library staff. The paper makes a number of recommendations based on the findings.
The third paper, ‘Connecting Aga Khan University’s nine campus libraries across three continents through a shared library system’, by Ashraf Sharif and Normand Demers, of Aga Khan University, describes how the university selected and implemented a library management system to integrate its nine libraries, in four countries, using a single shared database. The paper aims to share the university’s experience of implementing an industry standard-base state-of-the-art library system to serve eight of its libraries on three continents. The scattered geographical locations and multilingual collections of the libraries make this experience a unique occurrence in the field of library and information science.
The fourth paper in this issue is a reproduction of a recent SAGE report, ‘Library Value in the Developing World’, by Nell McCreadie, Group Marketing Manager, SAGE Publications Ltd. The report, which was launched at WLIC in Singapore, is a follow up to the 2012 study ‘Working together: evolving value for academic libraries’, which reported findings from eight case studies in the UK, US, and Scandinavia. ‘Library Value in the Developing World’ reports on findings of a 6-month project with 12 case studies from low-income and middle-income developing countries. Data were collected and triangulated via a series of surveys and interviews. Some comparison with developed-country libraries and examples of good practice are identified, from which other institutions could learn in respect of the support librarians provide for faculty, and the working relationship between academic libraries and their key stakeholders.
This issue also includes a first group of papers from WLIC Singapore: the Opening Address by IFLA President Ingrid Parent; a presentation of the IFLA Trend Report, also by the President; the text of the IFLA Statement on Libraries and Development, which was approved by the IFLA Governing Board in Singapore; and a series of interviews with the winners of the SAGE co-sponsored ARL (Association of Research Libraries) attendance grant for the Singapore conference.