Short Term Library Training and Consulting to Libraries in the Developing Nation of Ethiopia

Abstract

Libraries in Africa do indeed play a vital role in society to inform, educate and provide knowledge to users. It is a critical and essential role that libraries play in developing countries in Africa when there may not be other resources for its citizens to tap to gain information and knowledge in print or online formats.

Ethiopian libraries serve students from primary school to university level, researchers, and anyone interested in learning and having the benefits of a library’s resources. After a six month library fellowship sponsored by the United States Information Agency and the American Library Association in 1997, there have been a series of small volunteer trainings and consultancies in Ethiopia over two decades continuing on to 2017.

The first Ethiopia library consultant and training was initiated at the National Library of Ethiopia and then moved on to Addis Ababa University Libraries, to university libraries in rural areas and to private libraries open to the community. These short library workshops have been offered from a time period of one month to nine months as a volunteer librarian in the Horn of Africa region during sabbaticals or shorter research leaves.

Questions of how to provide customer training, help with cataloging, library security, the Library of Congress system, book repair were some of the topics that were asked for and discussed. After the training and discussions, librarians and library staff stated they felt more encouraged and confident as they continued their role in serving library users.