A CILIP in London meeting, Sekforde Arms, 09/02/2010
Speaker: Shane Godbolt, Director of Partnerships in Health Information
Examples of how librarians in the UK can work with those in the developing world.
UK is an international hub for the study of librarianship. Many institutions also encourage international exchanges, for example Middlesex University offers Commonwealth fellowships, hosting visitors in their library. PHI (Partnerships in Health Information) was established in 1992 to maintain the contacts forged through encounters such as these. Collaboration between libraries in the developing and developed world are particularly important as reliable information and evidence based medicine are key to the provision of effective health care. The Crisp Report looked in to what the NHS could do for Africa. Crisp concluded that “Africa will solve Africa’s problems”, that it was important to work in partnership with Africa rather than impose western standards on them. One of the ways he identified to do this was through librarianship.
Shane Godbolt then listed a number of collaborative initiatives currently running within the information world:
- HINARI: A database of medical journals provided free of charge in developing countries.
- IFLA: International Federation of Library Association and institutions, and their FIFE (Freedom of Information and Freedom of Expression) initiative. Trying to combat silence of misinformation on key issues, especially AIDs. Provide factsheets and slides for librarians in developing countries to use to educate their clients.
- INASP: International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications. Run PERii, ICT training.
- Tropical Health & Education Trust: Encourages institutional partnerships
- PHI: Strategic, collaborative work, locally tailored training for information professionals.
Godbolt ended her talk by suggesting we all try to forge links with libraries in the developing world.
