UCC inaugurates Specialised Research Commons
The University of Cape Coast has (UCC) inaugurated a law library and Research Commons inside its main library to provide a conducive environment for research.
A Research Commons is a specialised facility for research and scholarly studies.
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It was launched as part of the university’s Library Week Celebration.
The Research Commons/law library provides research support services and has group discussion rooms, seminar rooms, printing services and computer workstations connected to high-speed internet and access to electronic learning resources.
The week-long programme, which is on the theme:“The 21st Century Library Services for Higher Education: Redefining University of Cape Coast,” seeks to promote the use of the library in the university to enhance academic work.
The University Librarian, Dr Mac Anthony Cobblah, stated that from a humble beginning in 1962 with a total of 20,000 books and materials, the library, now the Sam
Jonah Library, had over 270,000 books and materials with the capacity to seat 2,000 students.
It also has 31 settler libraries across faculties and departments.
Currently, he said, the four-storey library complex had several specialised departments, including the special needs unit, and received about 5,000 visits a day.
Relevance
Dr Cobblah noted that libraries remained crucial in spite of the emergence of the internet, adding that technology had not come to replace libraries but to strengthen the role of libraries.
He said the library was the knowledge bank of the university and the Sam Jonah Library, “the central knowledge bank of the university”, must be supported to manage the knowledge.
Improved services
The university librarian said the facility had improved services by introducing online services and restructured it to reflect the academic structure.
It had also reviewed policies and operational manuals to enhance services to reflect the changing trends of libraries.
Dr Cobblah said the library was working to establish the Sam Jonah Research and Exhibition Centre of Excellence to promote research, while personal librarian services would also be provided in the near future.
Chancellor
The Chancellor of the university, after whom the library has been named, Dr Sir Sam Jonah, said libraries all over the world were important facilities for enhanced academic work, adding that he was happy that the UCC library was responding to such changes.
He said the inauguration was an indication of the university’s commitment to promote research work by academic research fellows and students, saying it was timely, considering that the university was hosting a number of international postgraduate programmes.
The chancellor urged universities to give equal attention to research, noting that there was too much emphasis on teaching at the expense of research, and lauded UCC for investing in infrastructure that would support research.
Dr Sir Jonah urged the university not to duplicate efforts but centralise efforts to create facilities to serve the entire community.
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Dora Edu-Buandoh, expressed the hope that the new facility would further promote scholarly works in the university.