"Librarians Without Borders®" Trains Librarians in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Providing Critical Online Research Skills Training
The Medical Library Association and Elsevier first teamed up in 2007 with the launch of "Librarians Without Borders®" to provide critical online research skills training to librarians in Africa, Asia and Latin America. An initial seed grant of $80,000 from Elsevier was followed by a $35,000 Elsevier Foundation Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries grant in 2007 and a $72,000 grant in 2009.
Since launch, "Librarians Without Borders®", has equipped hundreds of information professionals and researchers in dozens of developing countries with the necessary skills to exploit the resources available through the three Research4Life initiatives: HINARI, OARE and AGORA. Combined with over 20 onsite training workshops since 2007, the online distance learning courses and materials developed through the E-Library Training Initiative have enabled universities and research institutes in the world's poorest countries to continue boosting scientific scholarship.
According to University of Florida Emeritus Librarian Lenny Rhine, coordinator of the E-Library Training Initiative, "To effectively utilize the Internet in developing countries as a tool to access current health information, users need legal access to biomedical information, sufficient hardware and bandwidth, and training to identify, filter and use the e-resources. Via the Research4Life program and our training initiative, two key variables to facilitate the optimal use of Internet-based health resources are being put in place."
As Ahmed Manjang of the Medical Research Council in Gambia noted to Lenny after attending one of his workshops in 2008, "Attending your HINARI and authorship course was a great experience and the effect it has on my academic life is immense. I used to struggle digging out relevant and recent articles but not anymore and you know what I just cannot stopping searching... Please tell HINARI the only way this very important tool can be use to maximum is training people, before this training I found it very difficult to find my way. Thank your once again for empowering me and my colleagues."
