I attended a presentation by an international supplier – Mallory International Ltd – and their local partner – Sytris – this week, on electronic books or ebooks. I have known that this platform was being worked on and trialed for quite some time, and it is of course relevant to the work I do at Ashesi‘s library. In fact I am often asked about ebooks by visitors, and colleagues, so I am always on the lookout for a platform that actually works in our environment. So the “outdooring” as it were of Baobab ebooks was definitely welcome.
But this post is not really to talk about ebooks – maybe I will do that another time? but rather to mention a comment made by one of the attendees. This person is a librarian, and works in a private university college here in Accra and she mentioned that she did not have any working computers in her library, nor was the library connected to the internet! I couldn’t help myself and asked why she bothered to attend the presentation. Her response was “for her self-development”. I didn’t say anything more.
It is pretty sad though that there are institutions here in Ghana which have been accredited by the National Accreditation Board and consequently allowed to operate, and be mentored by public universities which do not have the most basic of 21st century facilities. How do their students learn to look for information?
Upon reflection this is not just sad; it is actually a downright shame!
I am looking forward to seeing and buying a copy of the latest Caine Prize collection of short stories which Sub-Saharan are co-publishing with New Internationalist, and other publishers on the African continent.
Accra books and things 