Electronic Support Unit 2011 Annual Report

Abstract

The Electronic Support Unit (ESU) of the Balme Library continues to play a leading role in the technological development of the Balme Library and the University of Ghana Library System in general. During the year under review it initiated and partnered with other units/departments in the library to execute a number of projects. On the University front, the ESU collaborated with the ICT Directorate and PMISD in the areas of E-Learning (ICTBased Distance Learning) and campus-wide network infrastructure development. This report of the Electronic Support Unit covers the activities of the unit spanning the period January to December 2011. During the period, the unit sought to minimize book theft by installing security cameras and book detection systems at all the major entry and exit points in the library. Digitization as a core component of library was also aggressively pursued. Different types of scanners were installed. Training was provided to ESU and some library staff to operate and maintain the scanners. The Millennium integrated library system (ILS) offers libraries the most complete and continuously evolving solution on the market and we at ESU are delighted to be working on these systems. ESU Staff continue to evaluate the system and carry on to add the appropriate modules to increase the power of the ILS. As a result a few modules were added in the year. A key component of Millennium, Course Reserves was brought on stream by adding and continuous to update the courses. By so doing students are able to search the library catalogue by course codes or instructors/Professor names. Institutional Repository (IR) is one project that witnessed a lot of preparatory work in the year under review. The library hosted two major partners; the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who organized seminars on IR. EZProxy is remote access proxy software that was research upon and became dear to the heart of researchers who reside or who for some reason had to do their work outside the University of Ghana campus. This proxy enabled them to access all the paid –for online resources of the University wherever they are. The second (2nd) floor of the West Wing of the library has been adopted by the National Information Society Agency (NIA) of Korea to establish an Internet Access Centre in the University of Ghana in an attempt to bridge the digital/IT gap between the IT knowledge poor and the rich. The Electronic Support Unit and the ICT Directorate are providing technical support to the contractors and the Korean counterparts on the project. Staff members of the unit benefitted from capacity building training of various kinds by engaging in seminars, local and international training programmes, user group conferences and study tours. Staffs are better equipped to man the unit.