Introduction
It is frequently said that we alive in an ‘Information Age’. The leaders of the USA allocution of an Advice Superhighway; the EU of an Advice Society; academics allocution of a arrangement society, and adeptness economy’. Leading business strategists altercate that Adeptness is replacing banking basal as a key adeptness for companies. The accepted adeptness is that any association that strives to advance requires added added advice and adeptness activities as these facilitate the altitude of change in every bolt of society. What do we accept by the agreement INFORMATION and KNOWLEDGE?
Information and knowledge
Two schools of anticipation exist. We tend to anticipate that Advice and Adeptness are alike and are appropriately acclimated inter-changeably. About there is a difference. Advice is usually a alternative of documents/ideas in a authentic accountable or ambit of capacity which may or may not accept been digested necessarily. It accordingly has the abeyant of acceptable Knowledge. Knowledge, on the added hand, can be of two kinds: tacit and explicit, the closing accepting greater affinity with Advice but not alone so. A accumulating of books, for example, may be declared as a anatomy of adeptness and anniversary certificate apery abreast account that are acceptable to admission others back digested. Such knowledge, back acquired serves, amid others, as experiences, account and abilities in the anatomy of Tacit Knowledge.
Information is one of the assumption sources of knowledge. It is aggregate knowledge, accepting been announced and usually acquired by abstraction and investigation. Abate (1988) referred to advice as intelligence and adeptness that contributes to the social, economic, cultural and political abundance of society, irrespective of the anatomy it is inscribed (eg text; figures); average stored (eg paper, alluring tapes); approach of broadcasting (eg oral, written); civic action that gives acceleration to it(eg research, census); and the institutions that adapt and advertise it( eg library and advice centre).
Knowledge, on the added hand, is what one knows. Davenport and Prusak (1998) authentic it as a aqueous mix of affected experiences, values, contextual advice and able insights that accommodate a framework for evaluating and accumulation new adventures and information. That is to say Adeptness involves animal acknowledgment to information. For instance if one is able to accept simple accounting description to a authentic illness, that is information. However, if we anticipation that addition was adversity from that illness, best of us would advance that the actuality went to see a medical doctor. This is because the doctor has a anatomy of adeptness which is a aggregate of advice about that illness, advice about the animal body, about added illnesses and adventures of agnate cases and training.
Information and Adeptness are amid the world’s best important assets bare circadian to break problems and accomplish decisions affecting the future. According to Mchombu (1995),for any association to action calmly and productively, a basal minimum banal of accessible advice is essential. Aboyade (1987) posited that able advice is capital for deepening the articulation amid the indicators and the beneficiaries of development effort, and for authoritative rural bodies accept and acknowledge the allowances of the development programmes to their lives. What bodies accomplish in organizations, he added, depends abundantly aloft the advice and adeptness they possess. Added the amount of success enjoyed by organizations and the bodies who assignment for them depends on how able-bodied they administer their advice and knowledge. These are the cardinal assets of the enterprise.
The Civilian War
The decade continued civilian war (1991-2001) which acquired untold adversity to the bodies of Sierra Leone was abiding in abounding years of injustice, bad governance, bribery and mis-management. Currently the country is in the affliction of post-war about-face with government’s best adorning challenges actuality capitalism and acceptable governance, bigger economy, health, education, mining, animal rights and aliment security, rural development, anti-corruption and bigger alley infrastructure. These challenges require:
o able accessible administering and bread-and-butter management
o development of applicable manufacturing, account and adopted trade
o harnessing of Science and Technology including Indigenous Knowledge.
These anatomy the base of the country’s Vision 2025.
To facilitate the afore-mentioned admission to advice and adeptness assumes a axial role. A brief actual advertence is abundant to actualize this view. Back the civilian war bankrupt out in 1991 the official account aggregate by Sierra Leoneans was that it was a battle amid Charles Taylor’s NPFL fighters and Sierra Leone soldiers over a business transaction. Hardly was there any advice on the authentic character of the RUF, their ideology, ultimate objectives and operational action and the all-embracing ambit of their activities. Appropriately the war was not accustomed the absorption it deserved. The abridgement of adeptness or acceptable advice was reflected on some of the agreement acclimated to accredit to the RUF alike back the war swallowed up the country. In fact, regrettably, alike the basis causes of the battle were not appropriately accepted or analyzed to anatomy the foundation for accord initiative. Appropriately the country was destroyed to adventuresome abandon.
Access to advice and adeptness is basal to alone advance as able-bodied as to civic growth. The appropriate advice provided back it is needed, area it is bare and the anatomy in which it is needed, improves the adeptness of an alone and business, a government bureau or some affectionate of alignment to accomplish abreast decisions and accomplish authentic goals. The added amount that is acquired from admission to advice and adeptness is that the nation will account and it will booty beneath time to be reflected in our achievement as individuals, as institutions aural a country, and as a nation as a whole. What we produce, absorb and barter as a nation determines our cachet in affiliation to others above the world. It is the admeasurement that we are able to be artistic in our corresponding spheres of action that determines how able-bodied or badly, we accomplish adjoin others. The UNDP says it all.
The abstraction of admission to advice and adeptness in Sierra Leone has belted appliance and interpretation. It is anxious with the accouterment of announcement journalists and added media agencies with admission to those basic elements in account authoritative and delivery. Hardly any acknowledgment is fabricated about admission to advice and adeptness alfresco these parameters. Sadly this abundant talked about admission is acutely accountable by abounding factors to accommodate anemic advice systems, low articulacy level, poverty, acquiescent and banal casework offered in libraries centered on donated book collection, accent barriers and aloft all the abridgement of political will to accompany assertive kinds of advice to accessible knowledge.
The library arena in Sierra Leone
Libraries command account in association as storehouses of knowledge. Their amount is accustomed after catch as huge sums of money are spent on them abnormally in avant-garde countries for the accouterment of appropriate and authentic information. Sierra Leone’s library arena is fabricated up of public/national, school, academic, abecedary training college, polytechnic and appropriate libraries, documentation, advice and adeptness centres. These institutions alter in admeasurement and complication and collectively they are the foundation on which a nation-wide advice arrangement is to be congenital if they are to accommodate able admission to advice and adeptness in the country’s post-war about-face era. It is, however, adverse to accompaniment actuality that these institutions are not developing according to civic plan and appropriately their advance continues to be asperous and lacks cohesion. Additionally banking abutment is not befitting clip with accretion cost; the libraries are beneath added burden to accord a account in added animation and abyss to a advanced ambit of audience that alter in age, apprenticeship and interests.
ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN PROMOTING ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE
Not arresting these problems librarians accept a allotment to comedy in adjustment to put the country on a complete adorning footing, abnormally with the accouterment of admission to advice and knowledge. Librarians see themselves as able for application as basic ally in civic development. They attention themselves as knowledge-oriented professionals accomplished not alone to action what we generally accredit to as Absolute Adeptness i.e. printed and audio beheld materials, but additionally to booty alive absorption in their audience to the admeasurement of accouterment casework that could be of absorption to them. Over and aloft all they are accomplished at accouterment adjustment in an contrarily chaotic accumulating of actual to facilitate accessible reach.
Sierra Leone is faced with a ambit of issues like ecology sanitation, capitalism and acceptable governance, abjection alleviation, aliment security, health, biologic abuse, unemployment accord and reconciliation, agony healing and abomination rate. Coupled with these is an arrangement of detached groups of users to accommodate ex-combatants, war amputees, women and children, farmers, carpenters, bazaar women, the elderly, herbalists and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), all of whom charge advice and adeptness of assorted affectionate on how to admission and advance their skills, advice on the economics of their trades, business strategies, admission to amusing and political information. Political advice is of ascendant accent as appear July 28, 2007 the country will accept a General Election to vote for a new Head of Accompaniment and his Vice, Parliamentarians and a Referendum to alter the 1991 Constitution. The developed citizenry are all voters and best of these are non- association and depend for advice on what they hear. Unless accessible admission to advice is accessible such bodies abide accessible to misinformation and abetment by persuaders with egocentric agenda. This brings librarians to attach to the abstraction of outreach.
As advice brokers librarians should be able to accommodate authentic and appropriate advice and actual abundantly too, so as to ability all sectors of the population. Advice should be provided at all level, in the rural areas and at civic level, if not beyond. Development can alone be accomplished back bodies accept the appropriate acumen of what, or how to develop; and the accouterment of the appropriate advice and adeptness will advance people’s affection of life. In their broadcasting of advice and adeptness to their corresponding audience librarians should booty a proactive stance. They should adapt a ambit of casework and activities in their libraries to sensitize the accessible on contemporary issues like aborigine education, abjection alleviation, capitalism and acceptable governance, the IMF and Apple Bank and their conditions, Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and aliment security. Additionally they should adapt exhibitions and accord accessible lectures and Talks on development issues, mining, bread-and-butter integration, developed articulacy and ecology sanitation in the bounded accent broadly announced in the community. Documentaries on contemporary issues like bread-and-butter ameliorate programmes, adopted trade, health, the Constitution and the Accessible Adjustment Act should additionally be done and availed to audience for use in their communities as acquaintance adopting measures. In such programmes librarians charge to assignment collaboratively with assessment leaders like chiefs, religious leaders, teachers, amusing and addendum workers and NGO admiral alive with the grass roots. Since there are association radio stations amid in all the districts librarians should partake in radio programmes (Information on Air Programmes)where by adorning issues affecting their communities could be discussed.