Halland, YMniki, N2009-04-302009-04-302009-04-30Halland, Y. & Mniki, N. 2009. Connecting people and information: how an African special library is building bridges. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3346 .http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3346SLA 2008, June 15-18 2008, Seattle, USA“Connecting People and Information” takes on a whole new meaning when there is a 6 000-10 000 km distance between the publishers of information and the users and where an even greater chasm exists between the currencies and economies of “distant” lands and those of Europe and North America. Although physical distance has become largely insignificant with the advent of online information resources, the cost gap still looms very large. This is indeed a sizable “bridge” to build. The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), one of Africa’s leading scientific research organisations, experienced a gradual but significant decline in its collections over the last twenty years mainly due to spiralling costs. A major organisational reconfiguration exercise provided the perfect opportunity for the CSIR Information Services to turn this trend around and reconnect the CSIR researchers to global science and technology information. The turnaround process is described and the authors report on the current measurement of the value added and the impact this has had on the organisation. The authors also describe new projects such as the bridge being built to connect the world to the organisation’s own research output and an exciting initiative to connect scientists with scientistsenInformation servicesOpen access resourcesSpecial librariesInstitutional repositoryElectronic information resourcesAfricaNetworkingSLA 2008Information deliveryCSIR Information ServicesCSIRISConference PresentationHalland, Y., & Mniki, N. (2009). Connecting people and information: how an African special library is building bridges. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3346Halland, Y, and N Mniki. "Connecting people and information: how an African special library is building bridges." (2009): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3346Halland Y, Mniki N, Connecting people and information: how an African special library is building bridges; 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3346 .TY - Conference Presentation AU - Halland, Y AU - Mniki, N AB - “Connecting People and Information” takes on a whole new meaning when there is a 6 000-10 000 km distance between the publishers of information and the users and where an even greater chasm exists between the currencies and economies of “distant” lands and those of Europe and North America. Although physical distance has become largely insignificant with the advent of online information resources, the cost gap still looms very large. This is indeed a sizable “bridge” to build. The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), one of Africa’s leading scientific research organisations, experienced a gradual but significant decline in its collections over the last twenty years mainly due to spiralling costs. A major organisational reconfiguration exercise provided the perfect opportunity for the CSIR Information Services to turn this trend around and reconnect the CSIR researchers to global science and technology information. The turnaround process is described and the authors report on the current measurement of the value added and the impact this has had on the organisation. The authors also describe new projects such as the bridge being built to connect the world to the organisation’s own research output and an exciting initiative to connect scientists with scientists DA - 2009-04-30T08:21:06Z DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Information services KW - Open access resources KW - Special libraries KW - Institutional repository KW - Electronic information resources KW - Africa KW - Networking KW - SLA 2008 KW - Information delivery KW - CSIR Information Services KW - CSIRIS LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2009 T1 - Connecting people and information: how an African special library is building bridges TI - Connecting people and information: how an African special library is building bridges UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3346 ER -