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Income‐generating activities: a viable financial source for African academic libraries?

Income‐generating activities: a viable financial source for African academic libraries? Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the current state of financial support of African university libraries, and explore non‐traditional methods of providing funding for them. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a comparative look at the funding pattern of library and information services in Africa, particularly academic libraries, over the past two decades. Findings – The paper finds that the national governments, the main financial providers, are usually held liable for the continuing inadequacy of the financial support and are, therefore, seen as having ignored their financial responsibility toward libraries. This financial neglect negatively impacts the quality of services provided by the university libraries and, consequently, the quality of teaching and research programs at the universities served by them. Originality/value – As a possible way of breaking away from the complete and absolute reliance on government funding which has proved to be unreliable, alternative ways of funding are suggested. These include information consultancy and brokerage services and other income‐generating activities. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Bottom Line Managing Library Finances Emerald Publishing

Income‐generating activities: a viable financial source for African academic libraries?

Benzies Y. Boadi
The Bottom Line Managing Library Finances , Volume 19 (2): 14 – Jun 1, 2006
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References (16)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0888-045X
DOI
10.1108/08880450610663609
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the current state of financial support of African university libraries, and explore non‐traditional methods of providing funding for them. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a comparative look at the funding pattern of library and information services in Africa, particularly academic libraries, over the past two decades. Findings – The paper finds that the national governments, the main financial providers, are usually held liable for the continuing inadequacy of the financial support and are, therefore, seen as having ignored their financial responsibility toward libraries. This financial neglect negatively impacts the quality of services provided by the university libraries and, consequently, the quality of teaching and research programs at the universities served by them. Originality/value – As a possible way of breaking away from the complete and absolute reliance on government funding which has proved to be unreliable, alternative ways of funding are suggested. These include information consultancy and brokerage services and other income‐generating activities.

Journal

The Bottom Line Managing Library Finances – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jun 1, 2006

Keywords: Academic libraries; Financing; Economic conditions; Entrepreneurialism; Fundraising; Africa

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