Assignment question : Discuss giving examples how one of the following

international and regional organizations have helped advance the development of libraries in

the region

(a) INASP
(b) BOOK AID INTERNATIONAL
 a) INASP

According to the International Science Council (2021), the INASP is an international development
organization based in Oxford whose work supports Southern research and knowledge to transform
lives in emerging and developing countries.It was established in 1992 by the International Council for
Science (ICSU), the organization is as a charity institution in the UK (United Kingdom) in 2004. This
thoroughly researched essay aims to show INASP's function and how it helps libraries grow in
developing nations like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Botswana, and other Southern African
countries. INASP’s aims include supporting higher education and learning so that university graduates
can produce and use evidence more effectively in their professional, civic and private roles, supporting
the use of evidence in policy and practice so that civil servants, public officials and parliamentary staff
can make better use of evidence and public agencies to make informed decisions, to support
individuals and institutions to produce, share and use research and knowledge to transform lives as
well as to improve access to, and production and use of, research information and knowledge for
sustainable development.

To begin with, the organization has spent more than twenty years supporting research and knowledge
systems as well as numerous components of the research communications cycle. They strive to improve
the availability, use, and accessibility of international research information to researchers in developing
nations as well as the production, caliber, accessibility, and dissemination of research outputs from
those researchers. They concentrate on the issue of accessibility as well as on raising the standard of
communication and research publications.

Secondly, INASP is playing a critical role in promoting evidence-based policymaking to enhance the
delivery of public services this including librarianship and the efficiency, effectiveness, accountability,
and transparency of governmental organizations to the general public. INASP promotes the use of
evidence in policy and practice in order for public agencies to find and apply a variety of rigorous and
pertinent evidence as well as for civil servants, government employees, and legislative staff to use
evidence more efficiently. The INASP collaborated with the Strengthening Evidence Use for
Development Impact (SEDI) program, which targets decision-makers in Ghana, Pakistan, and Uganda,
to accomplish this (Hayter, 2021). Through their affiliated local associations, by implementing policies
based on solid research, INASP has made a substantial contribution to the development of libraries in
underdeveloped nations. Organizations like the International Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions (IFLA), Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), and African Library and Information
Associations and Institutions (AfLIA), for instance, are encouraging African libraries' successes and
expanding the roles that libraries play in development around the world by putting their codes of ethics
and pertinent policies, like collection development policies, into practice (IFLA, 2015; AfLIA, 2019).
In addition, the mission of the INASP is to support people and organizations in producing, sharing, and
using research and knowledge in order to transform lives. Their vision is to place research and
knowledge center for development. The International Science Council (2021) highlighted two key
points in support of this role: (1) Southern research communities can publish their own research,
increasing visibility and credibility for this work; and (2) a more diverse group of universities and
research institutions can participate, produce, and publish research, enhancing their teaching and
learning. This clearly demonstrates how the INASP has made it necessary to build libraries, particularly
in developing African nations like Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia, so that researchers can conduct
study and publish their own research in local languages that are accessible to a wide range of audiences.
This has been demonstrated by the Journals Online project of INASP, which strives to increase the
accessibility and exposure of research from developing countries. The Journals Online make it simple to
find the diverse range of journals and research being created by offering a cost-effective and secure
platform for online journals, together with guidance, resource guides, and access to the best
technologies and hosting companies. In order to increase the quality of their collection, libraries in poor
countries can now access online journals on a budget thanks to the INASP, which has had a significant
impact on the growth and development of libraries in such countries.

Moreover, INASP's promotion of the availability and accessibility of research publications online plays
a significant role in the development of libraries especially in developing nations. To help close the
digital divide, INASP launched the AuthorAid project. The AuthorAID project aims to boost both the
visibility and impact of research in developing countries as well as the success rate of researchers from
developing countries in obtaining publications. AuthorAID accomplishes these goals through
collaboration, access to resources, education, and mentoring (INASP, 2021). Several academic libraries
have been able to maintain their relevance in poor countries as a result of networking, training library
employees and students on the new LMS, and the supply of information resources in various formats
through AuthorAid programmes. Therefore, by giving scholars more opportunities to publish, the
INASP significantly aided the growth of libraries in underdeveloped countries.

More specifically, the INASP wants to raise the standard of communication and research publications
hence INASP launched Publishers for Development as an initiative to bridge the digital divide and raise
the standard of research publications and communication in order to accomplish this. The Publishers for
Development, according to the INASP (2021), is a venue for information and discussion about the
significance of access to information for development. It examines some of the particular difficulties
that libraries, scholars, and publishers deal with in developing countries. Additionally, giving publishers
a chance to stay informed and contribute to the efforts being made by everyone thus minising the digital
divide gap. As a result, by examining the particular difficulties encountered by libraries and scholars in
underdeveloped nations, they (INASP) have also privileged their development.

INASP also encourages the exchange of knowledge and best practices as well as the growth of the
demand for research data. Higher education is becoming more resilient thanks to innovation in digital
learning, as shown in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. According to Harle (2021), digital learning can help
open up access, serve learners better and make higher education more resilient and in Ghana, Kenya and
Nigeria many faculty members are quietly innovating giving rise to the demand for research
information. To foster best practices for the future, The INSAP urged decision-makers to invest in
digital infrastructure, collaborate with telecommunications companies to lower the cost of mobile data
for learning, address inequities in learning by focus area, maximize opportunities and incentives for
collaboration, foster dialogue to build trust around innovation and to encourage collaboration within and
between higher education institutions

Additionally, INASP played a critical role in expanding global research and knowledge networks.
INASP established a Global Platform for Equitable Knowledge Ecosystems to enhance research equity
and fortify pathways for resource sharing in order to guarantee that this should continue to occur. This is
where the Global Platforms for Equitable Knowledge Ecosystems (GPEKE) program of INASP,
financed by Sida, comes into play. GPEKE supports researchers in conveying their research and
strengthens the mechanisms that already exist in the South for exchanging research findings to assist
increase fairness in research and knowledge (Cumming, 2021). As it encourages resource sharing
through the IFLA, ALA, AFLIA, and other library associations in the developing world, the INASP
unquestionably becomes the cornerstone for library growth in Africa.

To support the above idea, Cumming (2021) has alluded to the following “As part of GPEKE, INASP
offers training courses for editors and their editorial boards via INASP’s Moodle platform. This training
is designed to equip editors to improve their publishing practices and meet the criteria set up by the
Journal Publishing Practices and Standards (JPPS) framework, which African Journals Online and
INASP launched in 2017.” Meaning, GPEKE is viable for library development through training editors
to improve the quality of publishing, there by improving the quality of library collection as well.

In conclusion, it is evident from the above in-depth discussion that INASP has significantly aided the
growth of libraries in developing nations through a variety of platforms including AuthorAID,
Publishers for Development, and Journals Online, particularly in Southern African communities in
accordance with their local associations such as AFLIA, ZIMLA, and BLA. Without a doubt, INASP
and BookAid International are there to deliver the growth of libraries in developing nations.
REFERENCES

African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA)., (2019). Accra Declaration.
Retrieved 18 September 2022, from https://web.aflia.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Accra-
Declaration.pdf

Cumming, S., (2021). Stronger National Journal Publishing Increases Research Relevance. Retrieved
18 September 2022 from https://blog.inasp.info/category/academic-publishing/

Harle J., (2021). Could Digital Tools, AI, And Social Learning Spaces Help To Reduce Inequity In
Knowledge Systems? Retrieved 13 Sept 2022. from https://blog.inasp.info/category/online-teaching-
learning/

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). (2015). Cape Town
Declaration. Retrieved 19 Sept 2022, from https://www.ifla.org/node/9767
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions ( IFLA), (2015). Libraries and
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INASP (2021). International Network for Advancing Science and Policy Retrieved 18 Sept
2022 from www.inasp.info
International Science Council (2021). International Network for Advancing Science and Policy.
Retrieved from https://council.science/. [Accessed on 13 September 2022]

Nobes, A., (2021). Developing Authoraid Towards A Community-Led Model. Retrieved 13

September 2022 from https://blog.inasp.info/category/research-communication/