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This is an email announcement from the Gates Foundation: “Computers and the Internet are powerful tools that provide opportunities for people to improve their social and economic well-being. Worldwide, just one person in six has access to the Internet. This means that more than five billion people miss out on chances to pursue education and employment, access government services, learn about valuable health information, conduct business online, and exchange information and ideas. The Access to Learning Award encourages new, innovative ways to provide computer and Internet services to people without access, and promotes greater development of public access technology programs around the world.

The Access to Learning Award honors innovative organizations that are opening a world of online information to people in need. The foundation’s Global Libraries initiative invites applications from libraries and similar organizations outside the United States that have created new ways to offer these key services:
-Free public access to computers and the Internet.
-Public training to assist users in accessing online information that can help improve their lives.
-Technology training for library staff.
-Outreach to underserved communities.

Please note:

-Applications are open to institutions outside the United States that are working with disadvantaged communities.
-To be eligible, the applying institution must allow all members of the public to use computers and the Internet free of charge in a community space.

Applications for the 2010 Access to Learning Award must be submitted via an online submission process by October 31, 2009. The application form is available only in English and must be completed in English to be eligible for consideration. However, while applications must be submitted in English, the foundation does offer informational brochures in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. You may find these and additional information on eligibility requirements and the process of selection at: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ATLA“

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The Nigerian Library Association began the process of election her officers with the announcement of the Time Table for the exercise.

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First Open Announcement and Call for Papers

The 1st International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives (ICADLA-1) will be held from 1 to 3 July 2009 at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The main theme is Connecting Africans to Their Own Resources/Developing Policies and Strategies for Africa’s Digital Future.

Rationale: African countries are lagging far behind in the global drive to build digital libraries and archives.  As a group, they have not engaged in any significant discussions and dialogue on strategy and policy for preserving and accessing their cultural heritage and scholarship in digital forms. There is urgency to these policy discussions as major digital initiatives involving African content are currently being undertaken by non-African organisations without widely accepted protocols and agreements on issues of ownership of intellectual property rights, local African access rights, and long term sustainability.

Objective: The aim of this conference is to bring together key African and international stakeholders to discuss critical policy issues and explore approaches and challenges facing them in relation to the development of digital libraries, archives and related knowledge and heritage resources; and to create an opportunity for programme managers, project leaders, policy makers and technical experts working in this area to seek ways of strengthening, coordinating and forging stronger links between their various initiatives, networks and projects, so as to deliver greater development outcomes in Africa.

Sub-Themes & Issues: Knowledge as the basis of development effectiveness; Knowledge audits of African development strategies; How best to put knowledge on Africa’s development agenda; Re-orientating development policy in Africa for the information and knowledge age; Regional and national policies and strategies for developing digital libraries and archives in Africa to improve access to knowledge for development, including e-government, e-health, e-commerce, and e-learning; National perspectives, case studies and best practice projects and programmes involving the digitisation and online use of African heritage and scholarship; Access to knowledge in Africa: challenges and current technological innovations; Institutional repositories: policies, strategies, technological options, standards and best practices; Capacity building in context: necessary institutional and personal capacity for critical and sustainable digital libraries and associated services.

Format of the Conference: The first day of the conference (1 July) will take the form of a Strategic Roundtable with key African regional and sub-regional organizations to advocate for the inclusion of significant library, information and other knowledge input elements in African development strategies and programmes. The event, which is being held pursuant to IFLA Presidential theme, is titled Building on Knowledge: IFLA Roundtable with Intergovernmental Organisations on Putting Libraries on the African Development Agenda. The second and third days will be devoted to the main conference theme Connecting Africans to Their Own Resources/Developing Policies and Strategies for Africa’s Digital Future.

Who should attend? We invite participation from all African countries, private and public international development organizations, and other countries aiding Africa to tackle its development challenges. It is open to Librarians, Archivist, Researchers, Knowledge Management Professionals, Information Management Professionals, ICT Specialists, Policy Makers, Programme Managers, and Representatives of Institutions and Universities working in the development field.

Submission of Abstracts: Pertinent and original policy/strategy-oriented papers are invited for oral presentations. Individuals and organisations are invited to submit proposals for papers in the form of abstracts - about 300 words long. Abstracts should briefly outline the focus of the paper, including the description of issue(s), methodology of analysis, policy and strategic frameworks, summary of the findings if applicable, and recommendations. Proposals and abstracts should be submitted by email as MS-Word97-2003 compatible file attachments to:

Mr. Felix Ubogu
Chairperson, ICADLA-1 International Organizing Committee
University Librarian, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag X1, PO Wits 2050, South Africa
email:         felix.ubogu@wits.ac.za;  Tel:  +27 11 717 1940; Fax: +27 86 553 3438

Mrs. Michele Pickover
Organising Secretary, ICADLA-1 International Organizing Committee
Curator of Manuscripts, Historical Papers, The Library, University of the Witwatersrand,
Private Bag X1, PO Wits 2050, South Africa
email:         michele.pickover@wits.ac.za;  Tel: +27 11 717 1940; Fax: +27 (0) 86 553 3438

and

Mr. Abraham Azubuike
Chairperson, Local Organizing Committee
Chief Librarian, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa,
P.O. Box 3005, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
email:         aazubuike@uneca.org;  Tel. +251-11-5443667; Fax: 251-11-5514416

Deadlines:
Submission of paper titles and abstracts:  15 April 2009.
Notification of acceptance of paper: 30 April 2009.
Final submission of full paper or extended abstracts:  8 June 2009.
Registration: 17 June 2009
Exhibition Registration: 17 June 2009

Conference Fee and Sponsorship: No conference fee will be charged. However, delegates and participants are responsible for their own travel, accommodation and other costs and are encouraged to seek funding from their own institutions, or other sponsors. Subsidized attendance may be available to presenters of papers adjudged core to the theme of the conference, on early application.  However, such funding might well be limited.

Exhibition: Companies, universities, institutions, libraries and information centres working in this or related fields are welcomed to display their products and services at the Exhibition. The space is limited therefore allocation is on a first come first served basis.  Fees for exhibition booths are US$250 for single booth (3mx2m) or US$450 for double booth (6mx2m).  For more information on the exhibition please contact us at the address below.

Organisation: ICADLA-1 has been made possible with seed funds from the IFLA Action for Development through Libraries Programme, and co-organized by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Africa Section, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa; and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

To download the preliminary programme, registration form and a list of recommended hotels please  http://www.uneca.org/icadla1/home.htm.

For submission of completed registration forms and for more information please contact:

Mrs. Frehiwot Fekadeselassie
ECA Library, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
P.O. Box 3005, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
e-mail: ffselassie@uneca.org; Tel.: 251-11- 5443058; Fax: 251-11-5514416

This announcement and conference site can be accessed at: http://www.uneca.org/icadla1/home.htm

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The Nigerian Library Association, Information Technology Section in Collaboration with Dei-Carina International Limited and with support from EBSCO HOST is organizing a 2-day workshop on EResources and EBooks: Access and Usage.

Date: Wednesday 6th to Thursday, 7th May, 2009
Venue: America’s Best Hotel (formerly Gateway Hotel) Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Course Fee: N35,000.00

Please find the invitation letter and brochure for more details.

• E-Resources Workshop Brochure
• E-Resources Workshop Executive Summary and Topics
• E-Resources Workshop Invitation

The workshop would seek to achieve the following:

• Expose participants to the criteria for setting up a digital library resource as well as the right attitude to choice of database services and e-books.
• Help participants gain in-depth understanding on how to manage a virtual library for efficient service delivery.
• Expose participants to current database links and integration.
• To help participants build competency at work by combining librarianship and information technology.
• To help participants appreciate the need for selective dissemination of information using appropriate database tools.
• Highlight the importance of research databases in times of economic down-turn.
• To keep them abreast on the various dominant databases and the vendors.
• Participants that are currently using EBSCO host databases would have an in depth training on how to maximize their use/access to EBSCO host databases.

All enquiries should be directed to:
Mrs. B. Omotayo
Secretary
NLA, IT Section
08034088424
nlaitnews@yahoo.com

OR

Mr. Emeka Anochirionye
Dei’Carina International Limited
08023066389, 07025166737, 08068314662
emekaanochirionye@yahoo.com

We look forward to seeing you in Ota.

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Kindly download CALL FOR PAPERS and INVITATION LETTER for NLA National Conference/AGM tagged “PACESETTER 2009″.

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