Librarians from sixteen countries of the commonwealth gathered in Jamaica recently for an international workshop on Information Literacy for Public Librarians across the Commonwealth. The workshop was organized within the framework of UNESCO’s information for all programme in collaboration with Commonwealth Library Association (CPMLA) as well as the University of the West Indies (UWI). COMLA’s project, written by Charles Bathambuze of Uganda and Mona Campus.
Librarian, Norma Amenu-Kpodo, was one of the 24, from a field of 502, selected by UNESCO for funding. It is the first in a series of capacity development activities relating to information literacy and was hosted by the University of the West Indies Library at Mona. The 35 participants were drawn from the Caribbean and from as far away as Botswana, Malawi, South Africa and Fiji.
The workshop aimed to help librarians to develop information literacy programmes for their users; equip librarians with skills to make innovative use of the web; and lobby and advocate for the inclusion of libraries into national plans to benefit from universal access funds. During the workshop, librarians were given the opportunity to start the schematic designs of web pages for public libraries, where they do not exist, and were encouraged to move these projects forward on return to their respective communities. Thematic workshops at regional library conferences to assist librarians lobby and advocate for inclusion of libraries in national plans are also planned.
A series of post workshop activities, such as development of a manual, resource kit, as well as workshop proceedings on multimedia CD-ROM, will be undertaken by COMIA for distribution