چکیده:
This paper highlights the strategic role of regional and national policies for
digital libraries and archives in promoting access to knowledge for development
in Africa. It views regional/national information policies as general frameworks
and contexts within which policies for digital libraries and archives are situated.
It, however, recognizes the need to highlight the latter as instrument for effective
access to and sharing of knowledge in the contemporary world in which
increasing dependence on digital technology makes effective participation of
digitally deficient nations virtually impossible. The paper provides an overview
of the existing provisions in terms of laws, policies, agencies, institutions,
facilities and such information/information and communication technologies
(ICT) infrastructures that are supposed to be the basis for developing national
and regional links for resource sharing. It identifies and analyses the dilemma in
achieving the set objectives of African information policies. While this dilemma
rooted in the political, economic and socio-cultural factors operating at different
specific levels, they combine to constitute an obstacle to national and regional
coordination and cooperation. Without coordination, effective resource sharing
at global level is severely constrained. Hence, the paper suggests strategies for
formulating and coordinating the implementation of comprehensive regional and
national policies for the development of digital libraries and archives in Africa
ensuring effective preservation of and access to African resources and enabling
resource sharing between Africans as well as on the global scale. The paper
concludes by stressing that neither the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
nor the entire Africa’s development agenda will be attainable without
developing a strong and sustainable knowledge base by establishing a powerful
and enduring backbone of information infrastructures capable of creating links
for effective intra and inter-continental sharing of knowledge resources. The
paper therefore recommends the setting up of a coordinating agency under the
African Union (AU) to develop a policy framework on the basis of the various
existing national policies, and to monitor and coordinate implementation at
various levels
خلاصه ماشینی:
The paper provides an overview of the existing provisions in terms of laws, policies, agencies, institutions, facilities and such information/information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructures that are supposed to be the basis for developing national and regional links for resource sharing.
Hence, the paper suggests strategies for formulating and coordinating the implementation of comprehensive regional and national policies for the development of digital libraries and archives in Africa ensuring effective preservation of and access to African resources and enabling resource sharing between Africans as well as on the global scale.
That is why this paper attempts to examine: (a) The provisions made in terms of laws, policies, agencies, institutions and infrastructures that serve as a basis for knowledge sharing in Africa; (b) African information policies as general frameworks for policies on digital libraries and archives; (c) The elements that constitute the dilemma in achieving the objectives of effective knowledge sharing in Africa, and the immense potentials that can be harnessed to tackle the challenge.
Where they exist, they are mostly characterized by: (a) Fragmentation (ECA, 2005) — disparate, uncoordinated policy instruments on ICTs, on telecommunications, on government information, etc, and absence of comprehensive framework for information production, management, transfer, access, utilization and infrastructure; (b) Irrelevance/non-relevance — Mashinini (2008), who conducted a study on challenges of ICT policy in rural communities of South Africa, reported that the challenges include the capacity to develop policies, to consult with all the relevant stakeholders, and the communication process ...