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Librarians, book sellers, publishing agents meet in Kumasi

Librarians, book sellers, publishing agents meet in Kumasi

Following the emergence of the digital paradigm, particularly e-library, librarians in the country’s universities, book sellers and publishing agents have met at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi to deliberate on ways of plugging gaps in the Public Procurement Act 914, as a means of making printed books still relevant in library collections.

It has been found that in spite of the fact that the world is advancing from the manual hard copy system of keeping books and journals to soft copies, the existing Procurement Act seems not to be abreast of the times.

The experts who met last week Monday to discuss the issue included procurement officers and finance officers. They examined the application of the new law within the context of academic libraries in Ghana in order to recommend a speed up of the processes in making procurement decisions and searched for ways to remove bottlenecks that had bedevilled libraries in their quest to procure learning materials.

Slow progress

The Librarian of KNUST, Dr Samuel K. Nikoi, said he was unhappy about the slow progress that it took to procure textbooks and the conflict that arose thereof among various stakeholders who pointed accusing fingers at one another.

Dr Nikoi said this at the opening of a two-day workshop organised by the Committee of University Librarians and their deputies in Kumasi.

It was on the theme: ‘Procurement of information resources for academic and research librarians in Ghana: Issues, challenges and prospects.’

‘We have to plug loopholes that have hindered the smooth procurement of academic resources in order to meet the needs of users, especially students, and restore the library to its former glory.

“The implementation of the procurement law must support academia, not to stagnate or sabotage it”, he said.

Dr Nikoi said recent developments in information and communication technologies, dwindling library budget, growing numbers and diversity of student populations, increase in demand for distance education and the rise in e-research should be a wake-up call for librarians to do things differently.

Public procurement law

In a message to participants in the workshop by the Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Kwesi Obiri-Danso, and read on his behalf by Dr David Asamoah, a lecturer at KNUST, he said the Public Procurement Law, Act 914, required serious attention because it sought to ensure value for money in government expenditure.

He said a study by the World Bank in 2003 indicated that after expenditure on personal emoluments, about 50 to 70 per cent of national budgets was procurement-related, which was why a law was needed to guide the process.

Prof. Obiri-Danso said digital content was complex and expensive and as such it was pertinent that librarians and suppliers developed services and systems that procure, deliver and fully exploit available content in the most cost-effective way.

He said in the face of the emerging threat of e-learning, some public universities were resorting to partnering and collaborating with foreign entities to get access to their database, journals and books.

He also mentioned that considering the fact that there was a problem of assembling all books and other teaching materials from one source, different evaluation reports ought to be designed for such items.

 

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