COTUL has Asked the Government to Support the Purchase of Electronic Publications
The Consortium of Tanzania University and Research Libraries (COTUL) has asked the Government through the Prime Minister's office to help buy electronic publications used for teaching in colleges because they are sold at an expensive price that the federation cannot afford to buy.
The Chairman of the Federation, Dr. Sydney Msonde made the request on November 9, 2023 during the opening of a scientific conference that has brought together various academics at the level of librarians, teachers from universities in Tanzania Mainland and Islands, researchers and people dealing with technology (IT) issues.
He said that COTUL's goal is to ensure that electronic publications are available to teachers and students so that they can do their basic activities of learning, teaching and doing research in this country, but buying these publications has become a challenge due to their high prices.
Dr. Msonde gave an example of the publication of a database called 'Science Direct' which is sold for 250,000 US dollars, so it is not easy for one of the local institutions to be able to afford to buy such a publication.
He said so far, "As COTUL, our big task is to mobilize and bring together all public and private institutions so that they can contribute part of the financial resources that will enable them to buy these basic publications to meet the need to do teaching and research in the country"
Dr. Msonde also said that sharing and access to these publications may not be productive if the teachers and students who will be using them will not develop the best ability to use them which is the basic thing.
He said therefore, the aim of the conference is to discuss the future of the library profession and how teachers in public institutions and individuals can use electronic publications to improve teaching and learning for students in Tanzania.
And the Director of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the Prime Minister's Office, Sakina Mwinyimkuu, praised COTUL for making great strides in the 15 years since the federation was established in 2008.
She said that the federation has been a great help to the government by helping it get various information and knowledge that would normally be expensive to get.
"The existence of COTUL is an opportunity even for those of us who are involved in conducting various evaluations, including research, it is indeed a very important platform," said Mwinyimkuu.
Mwinyimkuu said the Government will continue to support the work done by COTUL and asked the federation to meet with education stakeholders within the Government to see how to collaborate with them and that their work is necessary and unavoidable especially in this period when the world needs technology to grow the economy.
On her part, the Director General of the Tanzania Library Services Board (TLSB), Dr. Mboni Ruzegea said the Government of the sixth phase under President Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan is making major improvements to the library from the system of storing books and other publications in the old way of paper and going to the digital system.
One of the sponsors of the conference, the Director of the Totoo Ltd Company headquartered in Kilimanjaro, Dr. Elvis Silayo said that the biggest challenge that makes many people unable to use the library is that they are not aware of the available information and how to search the information so as part of the profession it should be in schools.
He said that many people do not like to study professional matters, but the library has a lot of information that they can find and help them gain knowledge that can help them in their daily lives.
He said that the current libraries have books published in the 70s and 80s, so such information may not be of help to someone who needs to do anything for this period and explained that the current libraries should go further by having information that goes with the times.
Silayo said that the familiar concept that libraries are there to prepare students to pass the exam should now be abandoned instead they should be used to prepare them for life.
And the Lecturer of the College of Financial Management (IFM), Dr. Valeria Kyumana, said that the training has equipped them because with changes in technology the library and the services they provide cannot continue using the old system they were providing.
"We must look at the technology as it goes and grow with it and as librarians, we can take it and give it to our customers we serve who are students and other people," said Dr.Kyumana.
Some of the sponsors of the conference are TOTOO COMPANY LTD, EBSCO, ELSEVIER, JOVE, BUKU, ECLAT, BOOKSTORE, EMERAD INSIGHT, TCC AND LEXISNEXIS.
