Job shadowing in Karlskrona

Here at the library of Blekinge Institute of Technology we are glad to have two library directors from Rwanda visiting for two days. This time we focus on anti-plagiarism and support to researchers but we also try to find time to explore resources like the bibliographic databases Scopus and ISI Web of Science.
Here we see Marguerite and Fébronie together with librarian Kent Pettersson who has been in Rwanda several times.

Library delegation arrived safely in Sweden

Marguerite Umubyeyi, the Library sub programme team leader (and director of library at Huye Campus/College of Arts and Social Sciences) and Fébronie Mukabayire (director of library at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences) made it all the way to winter cold and dark Sweden. They arrived on Sunday 30th of November for two weeks of job shadowing and additional study visits.

Chritsmas market at Stora Torget in Borås.
Fébronie Mukabayire to the left and Marguerite Umubyeyi.
In the middle, doctoral student Berthilde Uwamwezi.

Read more below:

More from the ARM and questions to Campus Librarians

As you have noted, the annual review meeting of the UR-Sweden Programme for Research, Higher Education and Institutional Advancement resulted in the library sub programme team stressing one of the dimensions of our work, help with anti-plagiarism. This is an area where we have the possiblity to work with other teams, and we have now started talking with both the ICT sub programme and the CIT (instructional teaching) one.

In fact, we are a number of cross cutting programmes, that need to cooperate and try to, together, find out how we best intergrate and harmonize within the University of Rwanda. And.... (read more below by clicking on "read more")...

Team leaders from several sub programmes at the ARM.

And...  

Harmonizing is not anything that is of importance only at a sub programme level within the UR-Sweden cooperation. It is crucial for the university libraries.

The campus libraries within the UR, together with the library sub programme, are in a process that aims at harmonizing of services and organisation. Here, it is of great importance to take your experience and and views into consideration. Please think and share with the team as we get back to you -- or e-mail us before that:

As librarians -- what services would you like to have harmonized? Which services do you think that you need at your own campuses? What services do you think ought to or could be administrated centrally?

The campus librarians will have a meeting with the team leaders shortly, where the questions above will be discussed.

Veronica Trépagny and Marguerite Umubyeyi, Team Leaders

Learn more about anti-plagiarism

In Rwanda you have access to the database ERIC* (the Education Resource Information Center) which is available in the EBSCO Host Research Databases.

ERIC is a good place to start if you want to find information on Academic Integrity (AI) and the work done within higher education to prevent students and staff from plagiarizing. The prevention is both a pedagogical issue and a punitive one, see for instance the article by Griffith, below.

Gunnarsson et al have published an article (not yet in ERIC) which describes how an anti-plagiarism component has been integrated in a Research methodology course. The article can be found in a journal which you in Rwanda have access to through the Research4Life** program.

Griffith, J., 2013. Pedagogical over Punitive: The Academic Integrity Websites of Ontario Universities. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 43(1), pp. 1–22.

Gunnarsson, J., Kulesza, W.J. & Pettersson, A., 2014. Teaching International Students How to Avoid Plagiarism: Librarians and Faculty in Collaboration. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(3–4), pp. 413–417.

*ERIC contains over 1,3 million records - but remember that not all of them are accessible in full text.
** Research4Life provides developing countries with free or low cost access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content. online. Research4Life is the collective name for the programs HINARI, AGORA, OARE and ARDI.

/Anna Stockman

Open Access

With ever more journals being available on-line, the challenges of credibility and quality, has made at least one leadning directory tighten its control. Please check out this Nature International Weekly Journal of Science article on the topic.

Veronica Trépagny, Team Leader at SSLIS

Anti-plagiarism

At the Annual Review Meeting of the UR-Sweden Programme for Research, Higher Education and Institutional Advancement, the question of plagiarism was raised and discussed. The library will have an important role to play in the extensive work to be done to avoid plagiarism at the University of Rwanda (UR).

This question will be addressed at many different levels:

• Creating expertise in plagiarism at the library of UR
• The library team to recommend an online anti-plagiarism tutorial which can be used by both students and staff
• Plagiarism, academic writing and research ethics to be a part of education at all levels
• Policy for dishonesty to be developed for the university
• Plagiarism checking software to be purchased
• Creating awareness among UR staff on the importance of checking for plagiarism

/Anna Stockman, BTH

 

Research related blogging

The Library at the University of Borås has a blog called Forskningsrelaterat focusing on research related issues.

As decribed in the blog:

The primary target group is the researchers and PhD students, other research interested staff and students at University of Borås. However, the research-related topics are quite universal and therefore we welcome other readers and visitors as well.

Please read, discuss and think of how the issues raised there relate to our common library sub programme within the UR-Sweden Programme for Research, Higher Education and Institutional Advancement.

Do you know of any other blog on the subject? Please share with us. 

Veronica Trépagny, Team Leader at SSLIS

Annual Review Meeting Grand Opening

As some of you participate in the short courses organised at the University of Rwanda (UR) College of Business and Economics, the team leaders present, evaluate and review the UR-Sweden programme in the Annual Review Meeting (ARM) of the UR-Sweden Programme for Research, Higher Education and institutional Advancement, here in Kigali.

Programme for the ARM

Basic technology short course

The aim of the short course starting Wednesday 22nd of October is for participants to acquire basic skills used to design and publish content on the web. Tuve Nordius, Lecturer at SSLIS, will give an introduction and overview of key technologies used in content management systems for publishing on the web.

Introductions will be held, after which the participants will work individually with supervision and help. 

As with the other short course, participants are expected to be librarians working with the course content professionally -- even if in a very basic way. 

Remember -- if you are not on the list now, you will most probably have the possibility to take one or both of these courses later.

Venue: CBE ICT Labs

Welcome! 

Veronica Trépagny, Team Leader at SSLIS 

Annual Review Meeting 20-23 October 2014

For those of you who follow our cooperation, it might be of interest to know that the UR-Sweden Programme for Research, Higher Education and Institutional Advancement, of which we are part, organizes its Annual Review Meeting (ARM) in Kigali at the Nobleza hotel between Monday 20th and Thursday 23rd October. During that meeting, team leaders from both Rwanda and Sweden meet and evaluate the passed year in their own specific groups (sub programmes or areas) as well as with representatives of Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency)/the Swedish Embassy and the University of Rwanda management and coordinators.

Library Management Short Course at the UR

The realisation of the academic year's first short courses is approaching. Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd three days facilitated and taught by Professor Elena Maceviciute from the Swedish School of Library and Information Science will be devoted to Library Management. Tuve Nordius will then teach Basic Technology from Wednesday 22nd to Friday 24th.

Those of you whom are not on the list this time -- we have planned for the teachers to come back in a year.

Study visit in Sweden by Berthilde Uwamwezi

Below, Berthilde Uwamwezi, the first doctoral student of our cooperation, blogs about a short trip he did last week.

___

On 2-3rd October 2014, I visited the libraries at the Linnaeus University in Växjö and the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Karlskrona in order to learn from their experiences.

The Linnaeus University buildning.

Some recent photos

Waiting for the short courses and the Annual Review Meeting that all the Rwandan and Swedish Sida-UR team leaders attend in October, it is about time to share some of the pictures taken during a team leader's visit to Rwanda in September. 

Team at the College of Business and Economics Library

Reminder -- The University of Borås Library Blog

During our workshop the Modern Research Library, we talked about blogs and Ola Pilerot showed you the Library blog on the University of Borås Library web site.

The Library blog covers a wide range of subjects of potential interest for you, librarians at the University of Rwanda. From local information on how users in Borås can get support and help with information retrieval, to how to identify predatory publishers and bibliometrics.

By visiting the blog, you might get some new ideas on the one hand and insights in certain subject areas on the other.

Veronica Trépagny, SSLIS Team Leader

Information Research -- an international electronic journal

Talking of available electronic resources, some of you from time to time need to remind others of the fact that not everything is available for you, not even through the 33000 e-resources provided by the Sida-UR cooperation and INASP. For those of you who wish to keep updated in the field of information research, however, there is one online scholarly journal accessible for all of you, that we wish to advertise here: Information Research .

 

Upcoming short courses October 2014

We are in full preparation of the short courses to be offered this year and we will be presenting the outline of the courses to be delivered and work shops to be organised shortly. The content and level of the short courses is based on the survey done in connection with our workshop the Modern Reseaerch Library and with the follow up web/e-mail intreviews.

In October 2014 two short courses will be offered by SSLIS: Basic Technology for Digital Librarians and  Basic Management Issues (the names might be changed, though). They will be consisting of around 3-4 half days  and 1-2 full days with possible extra seminars and assignments to send in after. Assignments must be completed for the participants to get any proof of participation and it is our wish for all of you to be able to practically work with the skills just gained, in order to build upon your capacity and experience.

We are also analysing and planning for another training session with BTH, and its content will be announced here as well.

Congratulations and welcome back with applications

After the University of Rwanda selection process two of the applicants for the Masters Programme Digital Libraries and Information Services have successfully been admitted to the University of Borås. Congratulations!

We had many applicants and are happy to announce that there will be a new call in the beginning of 2015. Welcome back with your applications and better luck next time.

For those of you in Kigali -- the Swedish team leader is here until Wednesday 3rd of September. Please feel free to contact me.

/Veronica Trépagny, SSLIS team leader

First program received

We are happy to see that the first program for teaching of information literacy has been sent in to us. Thank you Odette!
Each workshop participant will get individual feedback on the programs we get.
Kent and I will have some vacation the next few weeks, but we will give comments to all the programs as soon as we possibly can.

REMINDER Information Literacy Workshops

This is another reminder to participants in the Information Literacy workshops with UR librarians organized in Butare in December 2013 and Kigali in March 2014 and facilitated by Kent Petersson and Anna Stockman.

An aim of the workshops was for the participants to produce an own programme for teaching of information literacy, related to their own contexts and where learning objectives and content are combined.

UR E-resources harmonization

Dear Directors,

It has been reported that some of you are not having access to INASP subscribed E-resources, one reason being a wrong Public IP address. I would like you to check with your ICT department if the public IP you provided to the system is the correct one. After this I will make sure that all colleges and campus appear as University of Rwanda so that no body will say that only CASS (former NUR) have access only.

Below is the information that you provided to the system, where there is A & B means that you provided only two IPs, where there is A to B means that you provided a range of IPs. of course Nyagatare did not provide any IP.

UR College/Campus	Public IP Address
CAVM/BUSOGO	197.243.41.142 &      154.68.127.18
CMHS	197.243.32.122
CMHS/SPH	197.243.40.150
CBE	197.243.40.138
CE	41.197.41.0 to 41.197.41.29
CST	154.68.126.0 to 154.68.126.254
CAVM/NYAGATARE	No IP

After this exercice, we will check and assess your access. you should be appearing as University of Rwanda all of you.

 

It is finally here! The call for applications for schoarships for doing the distance mode master's programme "Digital Libraries and Information Services" at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS), University of Borås.

Quiz for information literacy

Bernard Pochet, a Belgian librarian, has a blog where he recently published an information literacy quiz, in French. This quiz may be used, and changed according to the CC license he has given to the resource.

Creative commons

When you have created something you want to share on the web, you may want to give this a Creative commons license (CC license).
The CC license describes how others can use your material.
There are four conditions which can be combined in different ways.

You can read more about CC licenses in Wikipedia.

Reminder: Information literacy workshops - Program for teaching

One of the long term goals for the UR library is to reach out to all UR students before they write their thesis.
This is closely connected to the workshops on Information literacy which Kent Pettersson and I facilitated in 2013 and 2014.

The participants of the workshops were supposed to produce a Program for teaching of Information literacy, related to their own context, where learning objectives and content are combined in a logical way.
Instructions and examples, as well as materials from the workshops, has been sent to the participants and we are now waiting for you all to submit your Programs.

We are looking forward to see your work and we will give you feedback as soon as we can.

Some news

I know that many of you are waiting for the call for distance studies in library and information science at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science, with residentials in Rwanda and one visit to Sweden. Please be patient. The call is soon to be announced at the University of Rwanda.

Since our last update, teacher Ola Pilerot, whom many of you have already met, has defended his doctoral theisis: Design researchers' information sharing : the enactment of a discipline. You can find the doctoral theisis in the University of Borås Digital Archive, BADA. (Please try the link.) Congratulations, Ola!

Our thoughts are with you

A lit candle in our Australian votive for our colleagues and friends in Rwanda, where the genocide started twenty years ago today.

Application information soon to be published

Master's Programme Digital Libraries and Information Services

The information below is copied from the University of Borås website and its information on the master's programme that is open to international students and which is included in our cooperation with two spots in September 2014, two in September 2015 and at least two in September 2016. 

Digital librarians are a part of the traditional library work and increasingly work with digital only libraries. Their major tasks involve management, leadership, digital collection development and website-related tasks. Digital librarians must be able to adapt to change and continue to learn.

Professional digital librarians are required to have more breadth and depth of knowledge and skills across the dimensions of traditional library knowledge, technology, and human relations. Because of the complexity of digital libraries and digital library projects, our  Master’s programme provides not only basic technology related and traditional library competence, but also emphasises management issues including project management issues. Practicing digital librarians are involved in the programme and share their experience with the students. The study programme also pays attention to the development of interpersonal and communication skills and integration of practical skills and experience with digital collection management and digital technologies.

Photos from workshop the Modern Research Library December 2013

These are only a few photos from the workshop organised in December 2013, which was repeated in March 2014. With the two workshops, we targeted all colleges and campus libraries within the  new University of Rwanda.

About the doctoral programme

The doctoral programme at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) at the University of Borås (UB) consists of four years full time research studies. There are compulsory courses, such as theories in library and information science and research methods, and the possibility for the doctoral students to choose courses benefiting their own more specific research areas. Doctoral students are assigned one supervisor and one co-supervisor.

On the content of the masters programme at SSLIS (distance mode)

We have planned to admit students to the international masters programme Digital Libraries and Information Services at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS), University of Borås. The first cohort, two students, is expected to start their full time distance studies in September 2014 and a call, together with information on the application process, is to be shared soon. After this, students will be admitted in September 2015 and 2016 and we are hoping for 2017 as well.

Students study in Rwanda and Swedish teachers coming for short courses to the University of Rwanda, will also teach the masters students while in the country. The students admitted will travel to Sweden for a residential period of one of the courses. Residentials last around one week. The plan is to add to that extra days for visits to different university libraries and/or job shadowing in connection with the visit.

PowerPoints from the workshop The modern research library

The workshop The modern research library has been run two times: in Butare in December 2013 and in Kigali March 2014. 

Apart from discussions and group tasks, the content of the workshop consists of an introduction and three presentations:

Introduction

1 - Functions of the University Library

2 - The Librarian as a Collaborator

3 - Information Access

/Ola Pilerot, Lecturer, the Swedish School of Library and Information Science, SSLIS

Snapshots from the workshop the Modern Research Library March 2014

Here are some snapshots from the workshop the Modern Research Library in Kigali March 2014. Photos from the workshop in Butare in December with  the other group, will also soon be uploaded.

Information literacy. Two workshops for UR librarians facilitated by BTH

Workshop in two parts for librarians from the UR libraries. Part one in December 2013 and part two in March 2014.

The theme of the workshops is learning objectives for Information literacy.
The aim is that the participants should produce a Program for teaching of Information literacy, related to their own context, where learning objectives and content are combined in a logical way.
The following presentations have been done:

Information literacy at UR, workshop 1 2013

Information literacy at UR, workshop 2 2014


Some of the articles discussed during the workshops are:

Dillon, C., 2005. Learning outcomes: making learning and teaching explicit. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 22(2), pp.156–159.
(which you can find in Wiley)

New blog for the library sub programme at the University of Rwanda

Dear university library friends at the University of Rwanda,

this is the blog for the Sida-UR library sub programme

"Countrywide Library Research Supporting Component as an Integral Part of Research Capacity Strengthening in Rwanda"

concentrated on the capacity building processes where the Swedish School of Library and Information Sciences (SSLIS) and the library of the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) are involved.

This is where we will share information on the capacity building processes consisting of:

• workshops;
• trainings;
• short courses;
• information on masters and doctoral training in Sweden.

Please do not forget that there are also going to be trainings organised by yourselves as librarians -- trainings with students, with fellow librarians and with members of staff. We are in this process of enhancing the development of the modern research library at the core of the University of Rwanda together. 

//Veronica Trépagny, Team leader, the Swedish School of Library and Information Science, SSLIS