Guest editorial

Library and information services in Africa is full of paradoxes and unequal development due to the marked differences in socio-political, economic and technological developments of the 54 African countries some of which have been reported in the Special Issue on African libraries and librarianship in Library Management vol 39, Issue 6–7, 2018, regional (e.g. Standing Conference of Eastern Central and Southern African Library and Information Association-SCECSAL), National (e.g. Library and Information Association of South Africa-LIASA) and International (e.g. IFLA) conferences and other research recent research publications focussing on African library and information services . We note differences in the development of libraries between the Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone and Arabic speaking countries; old (e.g. Ethiopia, Ghana)and new independent (e.g. South Sudan) states; rich (e.g. South Africa), medium and poor countries; academic, public, school and special libraries (Abdullahi, 2009, 2018); status and levels of LIS education and research; the non or influence of professional associations (Ocholla et al., 2013); differences in library access and services (e.g. Abdulahi, 2009, 2018). While there are still concerns with underdevelopment and dependency, there are recognised initiatives and activities in place for the improvement of library and information services. Such improvements are noted in human resource development/capacity building for library and information services where most of the African countries have one or more functional LIS Schools with large numbers found is Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. There is growing infrastructure and resource support largely in Academic libraries which are relatively better resourced and also in some National Libraries (e.g. South African National Library). Application of technology in libraries is increasingly common – but often quite limited – particularly in academic and also in some public libraries particularly those in richer countries. Library collection development where e-resources and Institutional Repositories (IR) is growing is being led by academic libraries. Library access and services are slowly moving towards open access and on-line/virtual library access and services. We also note that library and information access and services in Africa is increasingly provided by qualified librarians with postgraduate qualifications such as masters and doctoral qualifications as reflected in the growing number of thesis and dissertations in the IR. For example, there are currently 219 IR in Africa representing 4.1% (of 5,309) globally with 44 (20%) based in South Africa’s and the University of Pretoria IR is leading in Africa in terms of number and variety of content. Also, increases of LIS academic and professional conferences at regional levels (e.g. SCECSAL), national levels (LIASA) and institutionally organised levels such as annual and biannual conferences organised by the University of South Africa (e.g. UNILISA), University of Zululand (IS conference), Technical University of Kenya, (e.g. IKM) and those organised by university libraries such as UNISA, University of Stellenbosch, University of Johannesburg and University of Cape Town, support both LIS research and practice including continuous professional development (CPD). LIS research and development tend to focus on ICT4 information access and services, institutional repositories, digital scholarship – open access, research data management, knowledge management, records management, research support by libraries, information access and services and LIS education. Increasingly, theoretical and practical aspects of LIS development are reported in mainstream international databases (SCOPUS, WoS, GS, LISTA) regional database hosts (African Journals on-line – AJOL), National database hosts (SABINET- ESAL/SA-ePublications) and in the existing IR some of which represent publications (see Google Scholar citations) of established academics/researchers who have contributed to this special issue such as Theo Bothma, Luyanda Dube, Winne Chawinga, Madelein Fombard, Marlene Holmner, Tom Kwanya, Mabel Majanja, Dennis Ocholla, Bosire Onyancha, Patrick Ngulube, Peter Underwood and Sandy Zinn and Library Directors such as Elisha Chiware and Reggie Raju. Essentially there is growth in library and information services as a whole but disparities are still significant and the paradox is still real.

This special issue theme is “Global, national and regional commonalities and differences. The future of African libraries in supporting information access and services”. It consists of 18 articles focussing on-going and future developments and activities with a bias to ICT applications, LIS education, digitisation and repositories – RDM and IR, emerging/new library management and new trends in library and information access and services.

The link between LIS education and library services is important. Writing on LIS Education and linking with academic library services in the article “The status of electronic teaching within South African LIS Education” Mabel K Majanja from the University of South Africa(UNISA) South Africa, defines e-teaching, acknowledges the need of preparedness with ICT skills by South African graduates and academics/faculty and recognises that academics in South Africa have not been left behind the trends regarding e-teaching and most of them feel quite confident about their self-efficacy but concern that the e-teaching support in terms of resources and technology are inadequate due to lack of ICTs and e-learning guidelines by some universities. The next 10 articles focus on on-going and new library and information access and services. Starting off is “The emerging roles of academic librarians in Kenya: Apomediaries or Infomediaries? Which co-authored by Joel Nakitare( Rongo University), Emily Sawe( Strathmore University), Joyce Nyambala and Tom Kwanya( Technical University of Kenya/TUK) all in Kenya, where they analyse and propose the future roles of the librarians and provide insightful observations. The study established that most library users are digital, independent and access library resources remotely but many more still use non-digital platforms and that academic librarians increasingly play the role of apomediaries which is quite positive. Fourth industrial revolution has become a buzz word globally. The next article entitled “Readiness of Academic Libraries in South Africa to Research teaching and Learning Support in the 4th Industrial Revolution” is written by Dennis Ocholla and Lyudmila Ocholla from University of Zululand South Africa. They acknowledge that the 4IR will impact on everything, everywhere, including research and libraries and conceptualize 4IR, and compare current academic library services/trends in South Africa with 4IR requirements, through the analysis of 26 public university library websites. The findings show that the libraries are responding well to the revolution through their services, with remarkable innovation and creativity. The study expects library services to be responsive, resourced and accessible anytime and anywhere, and provides a conceptual framework and a benchmark for further research and exploration in the country, region and perhaps elsewhere. The third article referring to “An authentic flip model for Africa: library as publisher service” is co-authored by Reggie Raju, Jill Claassen, Jeremiah Pietersen and Danielle Abrahamse from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. The article focusses on library as a publisher which is mentioned in the previous article as a new trend for library access and services. The four authors investigate the fit for purpose of the flip model proposed by Max Planck Society and Plan S for the African environment and a viable alternative model that supports the growth of African scholarship and the dissemination and suggest that Africa is in dire need of an alternative publishing paradigm where library as a publisher is poised to play a major role. The next five articles focus on Research Data Management (RDM) which is still in its infant stages of development in Africa but picking momentum is some academic libraries in the region. Kicking off is “Open Research Data in African academic and research libraries: a literature analysis” and “Data librarianship in South African academic and research libraries: a survey” both written by Elisha Chiware from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. In his first article, he reviews literature in the domain and identify gaps as RDM is at development stages and point out that the role of academic libraries in research and education remain fundamental. In the second one, he focusses on current skills base of librarians working in research data management services in academic and research libraries in South Africa and on the relevance of courses and programmes that are currently being offered by Library and Information Studies programmes in response to the needs of RDA and like in the previous paper, he recognises and admits that the RDM environment in a developmental stage, with limited skilled personnel to run RDM services as well as specific data librarianship courses within existing LIS Schools which is challenging to curriculum development in the domain. The third article under RDM entitled “A conceptual Virtual Research Environment model for the management of research data, a South African perspective” is co-authored by Barend van Wyk, Theo Bothma and Marlene Holmner all from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. The article presents a VRE conceptual model, with identified generic component layers and components that could potentially be applied and used in different research settings/disciplines and reveals the role that VREs play in the successful management of research data throughout the research lifecycle. The fourth article by Fredrick Odhiambo Adika (Strachmore University) and Tom Kwanya (TUK) from Kenya focus on Research data management literacy amongst lecturers at Strathmore University, Kenya while the fifth article by Winner Dominic Chawinga from Mzuzu University in Malawi and Sandy Zinn from the University of Western Cape, South Africa focusses on “Research data management at a public university in Malawi: the role of “three hands” and note key RDM challenges for attention to include the absence of research data management policies, lack of incentives, lack of skills and unavailability of data infrastructure. The next three articles are concerned with ICT application in the libraries. Stanislaus Litsalia Agava from Tangaza College in Kenya and Peter Underwood from the University of Pretoria, South Africa focus on “ICT proficiency: perspectives of Tangaza University College librarians in Kenya” and reports that the majority of TUC librarians have very high ICT competence in basic ICT and some web technologies; however, they lack technical ICT skills. Lack of funding, time, practical lessons, personal interest, training opportunities and ICT obsolescence were the major challenges facing the librarians. Coming to the “Innovative use of technologies to enhance knowledge management” Everlyn M'mbone Anduvare & Marlene Holmner from the University of Pretoria, South Africa identify and recommend to the Marist International University College (MIUC) technologies that enhance knowledge management, with a particular focus on collaborative and distributed learning and confirm the existence of informal knowledge management practices at the MIUC and recommend technologies established through a review of the literature to expedite these practices and provide valuable insights for enhancing collaborative and distributed learning. Open Access and IR is a growing area of research, information access and services in African libraries. In the article focussing on “Strategies for the use of open access Institutional Repositories at Universities in Ghana” Madelein Fombad from UNISA, South Africa and Kwame Kodua-Ntim from UNISA and University of Cape Coast, Ghana, found that software, staffing, advocacy and marketing, and policies were crucial in the development of an OAIR strategy at the University of Ghana and suggests strategies for the use of instrumental OAIRs at university libraries in Ghana that can benefit policy. The next paper focus on information seeking, access and services. Fidelis Mutisya from African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights Arusha, Tanzania and Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha from UNISA, South Africa article refer to “Users' perceived level of service at the African Union Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Library in Arusha, Tanzania” and found that the library’s best services lie in its human resources, information collection and physical facilities. The identified strengths and weaknesses of the African Court library as far as the perceived level of service is concerned can inform decisions on the improvement of the library quality service. In the next article focussing on “Critical success factors for total quality management implementation and implications for sustainable academic libraries” Edward Asante from Koforidua Technical University, Ghana and Patrick Ngulube from UNISA, South Africa found that out of the eight variables tested, six of them (i.e. top management commitment, employee innovation employee training, organisational culture, teamwork and effective communication, quality performance) indicated a significant positive relationship with total quality management implementation apart from strategic planning and human resource management and the results were found to be applicable to academic universities library in Ghana and perhaps elsewhere. Other than quality management in libraries, the next article dwell on the “Influence of copyright exceptions and limitations on access to information in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda libraries” which is an aspect of information access. In the article, Magdaline Wanjiru Mungai from Africa Nazarene University, Kenya; Selikem Sebuava, from Accra Technical University, Ghana; Asaph Nuwagirya, from Makerere University, Uganda and Marlene Holmner from the university of Pretoria, South Africa found that while copyright exceptions do not always improve access as intended because they are inadequate, major inconsistencies exist in the exceptions in these countries relating to key terminologies that have not been defined, the concept is not well understood and librarians and lack of self-efficacy in educating users. Coming next article focuses on “Selecting information products and services to embed in a virtual learning environment to support Engineering undergraduates in a blended learning context” is written by Lesego Makhafola and Martie J. van Deventer from the University of Pretoria, South Africa with the purpose of understanding the expectations of undergraduate third and fourth year students from librarians regarding online learning environment and to determine what information products, training and other services the students expected librarians to embed. They found that students regarded access to an embedded librarian as important and expect the study to be of value to the stakeholders involved in the teaching and learning of Engineering subjects. The last article is entitled “Competitive intelligence as a coping strategy for academic libraries in South Africa” co-authored by Smangele Moyane and Ntando Nkomo from Durban University of Technology and Luyanda Dube and Patrick Ngulube from UNISA, South Africa. The four authors established that various competitive intelligence (CI) techniques were employed, however, their implementation was not formalised and that CI was driven by various factors such as rivalries in the information value chain; relevance; financial and budgetary constraints; changing user expectations and evolving technology. This article may influence and perhaps enhance service quality and information access and curricula development in LIS schools.