Council On Libraries And Information To Be Set Up

A national Council on Libraries and Information is to be set up to provide an integrated, harmonised and innovative library and information system to compete favourably with ICT-based information providers.

“The ultimate goal is to achieve library, archives and museums convergence,” the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has said.

“The aggressive competition from rival information providers made possible by the advent of ICT and the decentralisation of the Ghana Library Board (GLB) services and staff to the district assemblies ...have compelled my ministry to take a second look at library and information services in Ghana”.

He was speaking at a stakeholders conference on the establishment of the National Council on Libraries and Information in Accra.

The event is on the theme: “Harmonising and Harnessing Our Information Resource for National Development”.

Mr Tettey-Enyo said the meeting was an important step to place library personnel and services on a more progressive footing in the country by having a council to co-ordinate and regulate affairs.

Since 1998, he said, there had been concerted efforts to see libraries in Ghana have a body to co-ordinate and regulate their affairs and to streamline the provision of library services and personnel.

He said those efforts had been made by the Ghana Library Association, Ghana Library Board and some librarians and archivists towards the establishment of a National Library Service.

Mr Tettey-Enyo said in early 2009, the Ministry of Education was consulted on the need to have a national library and a council that would provide leadership and seek the welfare of library personnel and also upgrade the services of libraries in the country.

“This request was considered and a committee of experts was put together and inaugurated in December 2009 to produce a report.

This report was presented to me in March 2010,” he said, and that although it was a comprehensive report “there is still the need to receive additional inputs from stakeholders to enrich it, he stated.”

Considering the country’s economic conditions, he said, the ministry was inviting the participants to examine the Committee of Experts Report and the proposals to establish either a separate Ghana Library Board or a stand alone National Library.

Mr Tettey-Enyo said the government was interested in providing very good library services at all levels of the country’s educational system and local communities.

That, he said, was to ensure that the citizenry had access to information facilities that would enable them source information to enhance the quality of their lives and also participate meaningfully in the country’s democratic governance.

The Chairman of the Council of State, Prof. Kofi Awoonor, who chaired the function lauded the move by the ministry to set up a council.

He expressed the hope that it would be set up next year.