Information and Development: the information effect

Paper presented at the 9th General Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) Paris, France, 22–25 September 1999, in a session of the EADI Information Management Working Group. The need for integrating information and communication policy with other policies needs to be better understood in most developing countries. Information and communication technologies and the new global information infrastructure have both positive and negative impacts on development. Widening disparities can lead to further disenfranchisement of the ‘have-nots’, but can also help empower them. This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing international discussion on the ways in which the developing countries can benefit from the information revolution, to clarify the issues involved in measuring the information effect – the impact that the use of information makes on development –and to explore the methods that can be used to measure it.

Access and Use of Digital Resources: A Survey of Their Value for Faculty in Three Ghanaian Universities

This paper is culled from a doctoral study that investigated the development and management of digital libraries in selected academic libraries in Ghana. In this article, the authors report on the value that faculty members place on access to and use of digital resources and their implications for library services in three Ghanaian universities. The survey method was used to administer a structured questionnaire to 230 faculty members. Using convenience sampling, 10% of faculty were selected from the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and the University of Cape Coast. Univariate and bivariate analyses were done to construct frequencies and establish relationships among respondents. Findings showed that less than half of the faculty members were aware of and used digital resources such as the online databases, institutional repositories, the library’s website and the online public access catalogue (OPAC). Nevertheless, the impact of the resources on them was very positive. The study recommended the need for university librarians to interact with faculty during orientation sessions for new faculty as well as new heads of departments. Additionally, subject librarians should work closely with departmental heads to be allocated periods for presentation on available digital resources, their usefulness for their own career enhancement and for their teaching role. The underlying implications of this study show that more advocacies are required from university libraries to enhance the use of digital resources.