Information Sciences

Permanent URI for this collection

http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/27

Browse

Browsing Information Sciences by Subject "Academic Resource Centre"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An Academic Resource Centre in the University of Malawi: It’s Need and a Plan for its Development, Together with Prototype Databases.
    (Addis Ababa University, 1993-05) Duncan, Vote; Neelameghan, A. (Prof.)
    The Academic Resource Centre (ARC) discussed in this thesis is an information facility designed to provide information support for the efficient and effective performance of the statutory and public service functions of the University of Malawi and its associated institutions and organizations including related government departments, parastatals, research centres etc. It is conceived as an information centre forming an i ntegral part of the university college and institutions associated with higher learning and research in Malawi. The ARC will utilize viable information technology in conjunction with manual methods. Pre-planning studies undertaken include: a review of trends in information technology (IT), a survey of accessibility to IT in Malawi, an assessment of the existing information support systems of the University of Malawi and their inadequacies in relation to the information and data needs of the variety of users of the academic and research community and the related government and parastatal organizations. Based on the findings, plans to develop the ARC and steps to implement the plans are proposed. The ARC is conceived as a networking of i nformat ion systems wi thi n t he university and the associated institutions as · well as of appropriate institutions in the country and abroad. The ARC plan outlines the requirements in terms of manpower, systems design and implementation. Libraries and information centres which could participate in the ARC network are mentioned. A set of integrated databases consisting of: bibliographic records; information on curriculum development, academic prospectus etc; profiles of experts and institutions; of databases and information systems; of ongoing projects and researches in the University of Malawi, Government and other selected research institutions, databases to is be presented developed as prototypes for the at the ARC. Data entry guideliness are also provided .Training fa c ilities for IT personnel are not adequate in the country and it has led to underutilization of equipment and heavy reliance on vendor service support for the systems. Some suggestions are made in overcoming this problem. Introduction of IT in libraries, documentation and information centres in the country is slowly gaining ground and currently is largely being applied in special libraries and to a certain extent i n academic libraries as well. However, IT applications to generate information products and services is currently limited to word processing and in-house bibliographic database management. Emerging Its, such as CD-ROM, networking and desktop publishing, are yet to be widely used in Malawi. The need for developing national databases to capture and disseminate information generated in the country is emphasized.