Elsevier Foundation Grant Trains Scholars in Nigeria
Strengthening Usage skills at the University of Port Harcourt
In October 2009, a "Train the Trainer" HINARI workshop was held at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Not a "one off", the training represented a special collaboration between two Elsevier Foundation grants and Elsevierʼs Research4Life commitment facilitating everything from computers, to a permanent training space with 24 workstations to the e-learning course and free access to the journals themselves. In 2007, Port Harcourt University received an Elsevier Foundation grant of $25,000 to establish a permanent Elsevier E-Library Training Room and deliver training on using Research4Life resources to all four major universities in the densely populated Niger delta region of Nigeria.
"Today is an exciting day for us because we are training the trainer who will go back at the end of the day to train thousands of students and lecturers in the use of electronic resources," noted Henriette Otokunefor, Port Harcourtʼs Automation Librarian who successfully steered the project through university strikes, a long delayed opening of the new library and frozen grant funds.
South African based ITOCA (Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa) conducted the Port Harcourt training workshop aimed at librarians, researchers, clinicians and government officials. They provide over 20 workshops a year at Universities throughout Africa. Their training is based on upgraded and new material developed by the "E-Library Training Initiative", a project funded by the Elsevier Foundation grant to the Librarians Without Borders/Medical Library Association (USA). HINARI is part of Research4Life, a key partnership of UN agencies, universities and publishers which provide free or low cost access to 7490 STM journals in the developing world. Elsevier is one of the founding publishers and the largest contributor of journals to the program.
"Since we have had access to Research4Life," states Henrietta Otokunefor, Automation Librarian at the University of Port Harcourt Library in Nigeria, "the researchers, and especially the clinicians at the College of Medicine, University of Port Harcourt, have been able to engage more with the global science community. Iʼve seen a growth in published research from our students as well. It is great to see that Nigeria has made progress in this area as increased scientific developments can lead to improved health and economics, and in the end, a better quality of life."
