Dominic's Library

Access to scientific publications has become one of the ultimate wishes of most people who find themselves in knowledge-producing industries. Researchers, lecturers, students and librarians, particularly those in developing countries go through a lot in order to have access to these publications. Most academic and research institutions however, have libraries that facilitate access to these resources, mostly through what has become known as institutional subscriptions. In an effort to reduce the gap in knowledge production and knowledge accessibility, most international stakeholders like the WHO, UN, INASP, USAID and a host of them have undertaken initiatives to compel “big publishers” to make their products available for free or at a lower cost to researchers in low and middle income countries. For instance, in order to help achieve its SDGs, the UN through its various agencies came out with the Research4Life programme to provide expensive and extensive scientific publications in

Follow the instructions given to complete this assignment.     Topic: Smartphone and medical related App usage among medical students of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho INSTRUCTIONS You can use any academic database for this assignment. (Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, etc)  Download five free full-text articles that relate to the topic above Create a folder in Mendeley with the name First_Article In the folder, build a library with your downloaded articles Create a sub-folder with the name Chapter_One and download a sixth article with bibliographic details given under No. 6 below:  Payne, K.F.B., Wharrad, H., & Watts, K. (2012). Smartphone and medical related App use among medical students and junior doctors in the United Kingdom (UK): A regional survey.   BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making ,   12 (1), 121. Take a screenshot of your Mendeley Library showing the main and sub-folders. Save the screenshot as a PDF document with the n

TREASURE HUNT FOR MY INFORMATION RETRIEVAL STUDENTS Answer the questions below. This forms part of your assessment for this course. Clue: Answer question one in order to answer the rest Answer these questions on sheets of papers with your index numbers. Submission date: 21/02/2017 1.       There is a building in Pretoria that used to be known as “Oom Jochemus’s Place”. Who was the architect? 2.       This architect designed another building: a cottage for the curator of which park? 3.       Who was this park named after? 4.       This person introduced the first coins in South Africa. When the coins were minted, the die broke and this gave rise to two varieties of coins. What were they named? 5.       The feature referred to above, is also the part of the name of a type of lizard. What is the genus name of these lizards? 6.        These lizards originate from which country? 7.       Who is this country’s largest export partner? 8.       What is the official loc

Over the years, there has been a tremendous increase in research output by researchers particularly those in Africa. The reasons for this phenomenon could be attributed to various factors. Firstly, it could be that African researchers have woken up from their slumber and have started working. Furthermore, this sudden rise in research output could also be ascribed to the “publish or perish” mantra in most academic institutions. This has emanated as a result of a string attached to promotion in most academic institutions. Faculty is required to publish a number of articles as one criterion to qualify for promotion. And as humans, everybody wants to attain a level of self-actualisation and so are forced to embark on a research agenda. This, perhaps might be a key reason for the increasing research output in Africa. Another reason that comes to mind is “funding”. This, conceivably, is the major reason. It is evident that most funding agencies have developed interest in Africa and f

Over the years, there has been a tremendous increase in research output by researchers particularly those in Africa. The reasons for this phenomenon could be attributed to various factors. Firstly, it could be that African researchers have woken up from their slumber and have started working. Furthermore, this sudden rise in research output could also be ascribed to the “publish or perish” mantra in most academic institutions. This has emanated as a result of a string attached to promotion in most academic institutions. Faculty is required to publish a number of articles as one criterion to qualify for promotion. And as humans, everybody wants to attain a level of self-actualisation and so are forced to embark on a research agenda. This, perhaps might be a key reason for the increasing research output in Africa. Another reason that comes to mind is “funding”. This, conceivably, is the major reason. It is evident that most funding agencies have developed interest in Africa and for

I am so passionate when it comes to issues of library. This is because I was a victim of “lack of libraries in my vicinity” during my formative years. As a young chap growing up, I remember I could read well. I had the zeal to learn new words and understand new phrases. However, this zeal was challenged as I found myself in an environment where the culture of reading was reserved for the elite. After more than 20 years of primary school, I can still remember the titles of some chapters of some of the books we read in school. I remember “this is Ama” in primary two, “Mr. Kuma” in class three, “The hawk and the hen” in class four, “When Aku was ill” in class five and many more. Haaaa, these chapters always come with a sense of nostalgia. I remember I always wanted to be in the reading class because I believed I could read. However, my reading prowess always ended in the classroom. I had no reading book at home and to add salt to rub salt into my wound, I didn’t know of a library. Yes

Ranganathan has been a celebrated personality in the field of library and information sciences. Indeed, he was a great philosopher who could see library science today from his days. Among the many works that he did, the particular one that catches my attention this morning even as I sit and doze off behind my laptop is his proposition of the five laws of library sciences. These laws have been able to stand the test of time and their relevance in today’s library practice and theory can never be underestimated. Accordingly, Ranganathan stipulates the following laws as the principal guideline for librarianship: ·          Books are for use. ·          Every reader his [or her] book. ·          Every book its reader. ·          Save the time of the User. ·          The library is a growing organism. Many established laws and principles have had to go through various stages of revision in order to remain relevant solely because of the advent of technology. However, thes