BLDS partnerships in mobilising knowledge for development

Helen RehinDeputy Librarian

British Library for Development Studies

British Library for Development Studies

• Based at the Institute of Development Studies/ IDS (Brighton, UK)

• Contains the largest collection of economic and social development materials in Europe

• Over half of this collection originates from the

global South

BLDS International programme3 strategic goals:• Increase access to information for development

practitioners

• Increase the profile of research published in developing countries

• Develop the capacity of information intermediaries to provide access to, find and use information

Mobilising Knowledge for Development

• Improved access to credible research knowledge through profiling and synthesis.

• More effective platforms for sharing research knowledge globally

• Improved capacity of intermediaries to stimulate demand for research knowledge

BLDS Partnership work

• Increasing access to development information

• Developing an information literacy programme

Improving access to quality research for those in the South

• Publications exchange partnerships• Document delivery partnerships• Global reach partnerships• Metadata exchange partnerships• Digitisation partnerships

Exchange programme

• Programme has been in existence for over 20 years.

• We exchange IDS Bulletin for printed series produced by partner organisations.

• 125 regular partners.

• Plans: to ensure we have an exchange agreement with at least one research organisation in each developing country

Document Delivery

• Partnership with Global Development Network (GDN) which allows us to supply free document delivery to Southern users.

Global reach

• Partnership with Research4Life – enabling access to and searchability of development journals available through the HINARI & OARE & AGORA programmes.

Metadata exchange

• Partnership with Open Index Initiative / Indira Ghandi Institute of Development Research to increase the profile of Indian research in our collection.

Digitisation

• Partnerships currently being established.

• We plan to digitise those materials publishers / copyright holders would like more widely available and disseminated.

• Will make available online through creative commons.

Developing an information capability programme

• to improve the pedagogical and facilitation skills of trainers who are running information literacy courses

• to incorporate more monitoring and evaluation into information literacy courses

• to recognise the institutional context in which course participants are working, and to work on some of the barriers that limit demand for research

Information capability Information Training Outreach Centre for Africa –

ITOCA - developing an ‘Information Literacy Educators’ Programme

INASP – intended collaboration on a programme for the University of Zambia

Association of Commonwealth Universities and INASP - discussing ways of influencing the institutional context in which research is accessed and used in African universities.

Web addresses:

• BLDS - http://www.blds.ids.ac.uk• Research4Life: -http://www.research4life.org• Global Development Network (GDN) - http://www.gdnet.org• ITOCA - http://www.itoca.org• INASP - http://www.inasp.info• IDGIDR - http://www.igidr.ac.in• Open Index Initiative (OII )- http://oii.igidr.ac.in• Association of Commonwealth Universities - http://www.acu.ac.uk

Thank You

Helen RehinEmail: h.rehin@ids.ac.uk

British Library for Development Studieshttp://www.blds.ids.ac.uk