Six-Country Africa Public Library Perception Study

Six-Country Africa Public Library Perception Study


"Most people in six African countries believe public libraries have the potential to contribute to community development in important areas such as health, employment and agriculture. However, libraries are small and under-resourced, and most people associate them with traditional book lending and reference services rather than innovation and technology."

These are among key findings of groundbreaking research into perceptions of public libraries in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme (PLIP) commissioned the research to deepen understanding of the role of public libraries in Africa and of the vision, aspirations and expectations of the general public, librarians and national and local government. The study was conducted by the social and marketing research company, TNS RMS East Africa Ltd., from December to July 2011. It makes for interesting reading and produces a list of recommendations including advocacy to improve services based on community development needs, increased access to digitial technology, and building librarians' technical skills, as well as increasing outreach to particular user groups, including women.

New Books - October 2011

A selection of new books added to the catalogue in October 2011, including a number of books purchased to support our growing collection in human rights, which support the Institute's MA in Understanding and Securing Human Rights

Moyn, Samuel. The last utopia : human rights in history. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010.

Gatwa, Tharcisse. The churches and ethnic ideology in the Rwandan crises, 1900-1994. Milton Keynes : Paternoster, 2005.

Bronkhorst, Salomé. Climate change and conflict : lessons for conflict resolution from the Southern Sahel of Sudan. Umhlanga : African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), 2011.

Dinstein, Yoram. The conduct of hostilities under the law of international armed conflict. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Kalshoven, Frits and Liesbeth Zegveld. Constraints on the waging of war : an introduction to international humanitarian law. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Sibomana, André. Hope for Rwanda : conversations with Laure Guilbert and Hervé Deguine, translated and with a postscript by Carina Tertsakian ; foreword by Alison Des Forges. London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press ; Dar Es Salaam : Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, 1999.

Hoffman, David and John Rowe. Human rights in the UK : an introduction to the Human Rights Act 1998. Harlow : Longman, 2010.

Hutching, Megan. Leading the way : how New Zealand women won the vote. Auckland : HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.

Bunte, Thimna and Laureline Monnier. Mediating land conflict in Burundi. Umhlanga : African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), 2011.

Seecharan, Clem. Mother India's Shadow over El Dorado : Indo-Guyanese politics and identity, 1890s-1930s. Kingston ; Miami : Ian Randle Publishers, c2011.

Social accountability & poverty reduction in Ghana : community assessment of five districts / by the Centre for Budget Advocacy (CBA) of ISODEC ; with the support of the Department for International Development (DFID), through the Institute for Policy Alternatives (IPA), and of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), through Diakonia. Accra : Centre for Budget Advocacy (CBA) of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), [2005]

Wednesday 30th November - library will close at 3.00pm

Please note that the library has a planned closure of 3.00pm on Wednesday 30th November.

This is to enable arrangements for the University's Foundation Day. This year is the 175th anniversary of the University and also coincides with the 75th anniversary of the opening of Senate House (1936) and the completion of the refurbishment of the Senate House Libraries. Linking these significant milestones together the University plans to create an event that showcases our history, our standing, our vision and our people.

As part of Foundation Day celebrations Honorary degrees will be conferred by the Chancellor, HRH The Princess Royal, on the following eminent individuals:


Sir Keith Ajegbo, education consultant, Doctor of Literature (Education)
William Kentridge, artist, Doctor of Literature
Mary Quant OBE, fashion designer, Doctor of Literature
Dame Alison Richard, former Vice-Chancellor, Cambridge University, Doctor of Laws
Andrew Ritchie, inventor, Doctor of Science (Engineering)
Sir Magdi Yacoub, professor of cardiothoracic surgery, Doctor of Science (Medicine)

Please note that some services may also be affected by strike action, and we recommend checking in advance of your visit.

Violence, Memory and Commemoration: Perspectives from Southern, Eastern and Central Africa

Southern Africa: History, Culture and Society Seminar Series

Centre for African Studies, University of London

Violence, Memory and Commemoration: Perspectives from Southern, Eastern and Central Africa
Tom Lodge (Limerick), ‘Sharpeville and Memory’
Rachel Ibreck (Limerick), ‘The Time of Mourning: The Politics of Commemorating the Tutsi Genocide’
Annie Coombes (Birkbeck), ‘Learning from the Lari Massacre(s): Object Lessons from Contemporary Kenya’
Discussant: JoAnn McGregor (UCL)

9 December, 2011; 13.00 – 16.30
Birkbeck College
CLO GO1
Clore Management Centre

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/maps/centrallondon.pdf

Seminar convenors: Wayne Dooling (SOAS); Rebekah Lee (Goldsmiths); Hilary Sapire(Birkbeck)
RSVP h.sapire@bbk.ac.uk

African Human Rights Case Law Analyser

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is the oldest human rights complaint-handling body in Africa. Established by the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Article 30), since 1988, the African Commission has been receiving and determining cases (called communications) on human rights violations in Africa. It has through the years developed a valuable and uniquely African body of human rights case law, which is available here in its most exhaustive collection.


The African Human Rights Case Law Analyser offers the most exhaustive access to the decisions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in English and French.


The African Human Rights Case Law Analyser (CLA) is a joint project of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems (HURIDOCS). Its principal aim is to promote human rights in Africa by filling the information lacuna on the African Human Rights System.

Pakistan Forum : Voice of a Progressive Pakistan

Pakistan Forum : Voices of a Progressive Pakistan


http://www.pakistaniaat.net/

Started by the editors of Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies (based in the English Department of the University of North Texas, and the sponsored journal of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies) this is a public forum for all those interested in Pakistani history, culture, and politics. The website includes current affairs discussion, blog postings, book reviews and links to many Pakistan based blogs.

Independence and After: Dr Eric Williams and the Making of Trinidad and Tobago

To mark the centenary of the birth of Dr Eric Williams and in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of independence in Trinidad and Tobago, a one-day conference Independence and After: Dr Eric Williams and the Making of Trinidad and Tobago was held at the Institute for the Study of the Americas on the 27 September 2011. This conference explored the shaping of Trinidadian politics and society under the Williams’ administration and the legacies of this period today.


The conference was filmed and all panels are now available to view on:


http://americas.sas.ac.uk/events/videos-podcasts-and-papers/independence-and-after-dr-eric-williams-the-making-of-trinidad-tobago.html

(Programme below)

The Institute is grateful to the Eric Williams Memorial Collection Research Library, Archives & Museum at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago for their generous funding of this conference.

PROGRAMME

10.00-10.05 Welcome and Introduction

10.05 – 11.15 Dissecting the Man and the Myth
• Paul Sutton, Reader Emeritus, Hull University "Ryan on Williams: An Appreciation and Critique"
• Selwyn Ryan, University of the West Indies, St Augustine "Response"
• Colin Palmer, Schomburg Center "Response"

11.30 -1.00 Politics & Ethnicity
• Colin Clarke, Professor Emeritus, Oxford University "Reflexions on Race, Religion and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago either side of Independence"
• Brinsley Samaroo, University of the West Indies, St Augustine "Dr Williams’ Academic East Indian Concerns"
• Humberto Garcia Muniz, University of Puerto Rico "The Pan-Caribbeanism of Eric Williams"

2.00 – 3.15 Politics & National Culture
• Teruyuki Tsuji, Kwansei Gakuin University "Villaging the Nation: Eric Williams and the Engineering of National Culture"
• Jacqueline Nunes, London School of Economics "Voice of the oppressed or the oppressor's tool? A quantitative analysis of the relationship between calypso and the PNM"

3.15 – 4.30 Personal Reflections on Political Times
• Raoul Pantin, journalist and writer, Trinidad and Tobago "Eric Williams: A Personal Reflection"

4.50-6.00 Legacies of the Williams Era
• Matthew Bishop, University of the West Indies, St Augustine "The Legacy of Eric Williams and Contemporary Trinidadian Politics"

• ROUND TABLE followed by open discussion: Reflections on the Williams Era, including:
- Colin Palmer, Schomburg Centre, New York
- Selwyn Ryan, University of the West Indies, St Augustine
- Brinsley Samaroo, University of the West Indies, St Augustine