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THE IDEP LIBRARY
Introduction
The Institute's Library was established in 1963 to meet the information needs of its training and research programs in line with its mandate and mission. It therefore provides information and documentation services to trainees, faculty members, conference participants, researchers, visiting scholars, governments and the general public. The library plays a leading role in serving as a liaison center for the UN and partner organizations. It also serves as a repository for the World Bank and IMF publications in Senegal.
As IDEP endeavors to capture potential synergies in the nexus between research, training and policy making, through the recourse to the state-of-the-art knowledge and in full cognizance of the African development context, its library resources become key elements in achieving its priorities.
Collection
The Library collection consists of books, journals, pamphlets, CD-ROM databases and publications from the UN System Agencies, the World Bank, the IMF and the OECD. Other resources include bibliographies and Internet-based on-line databases. Given IDEP's mission and challenges, its library is working to become a premier center of information and data resources. Setup Located on the ground floor of the eastern wing of IDEP main's building, the Library offers ample space for about 50 readers. In addition, 5 single study carrels are available upon demand.
Staff
The library staff consists of the Chief Librarian, two full-time Library Assistants and one Library Clerk. Given the planned expansion of the library services and the rapidly growing training and research programs, it is envisaged that the present level of staff will be raised to meet the resulting demand for information.
Objectives
The library is required to constantly provide timely and relevant information to its users. To do this, it should develop an increased organizational capacity to provide anticipated fundamental services and respond to the evolving needs of information users.
It carries out the essential services of acquiring electronic and print materials and processing them for easy retrieval. These services and activities are essential to the very nature and function of the Library.
Therefore, the core objectives of the Library Services are to:
a) Systematically collect and maintain comprehensive holdings and collections of information resources and publications;
b) Provide information to policy makers, leaders, academics, and researchers inter alia on the African continent;
c) Process documents and provide complete bibliographic access to information while serving as a bibliographic gateway/mediator to the records, publications and documents;
d) Ensure the timely dissemination of such information resources to both internal and external users and partners.
Functions
The primary function of the Library is to provide prompt, user-friendly, and high quality service to its users. In this regard, it performs multiple functions most of which support the information needs of researchers, scholars, trainees and staff in the area of classroom assignments, independent learning and public service.
The Library is currently expanding into a multimedia repository of records, information/data and documents. Vital to the Library's success are service innovations geared towards providing information to support the teaching and research missions of the Institute.
Users
Users comprise IDEP trainees and the faculty members, as well as external researchers and scholars. More than 2,000 users visit the library each year, including 1,200 scholars and researchers while the rest come from the public sector. The number of users is bound to increase significantly during the implementation of IDEP's Medium-term Strategy and Work Program (2002-2005).
Services
The provision of Library services requires constant monitoring of user satisfaction. Therefore, the regular feedback from users provides information on areas of achievement vis-à -vis new areas of improvement.
Currently, the library provides basic services which include the following:
a) Reference and information services
At IDEP, this service is provided through literature searches, current awareness, document delivery, Internet access and bibliographic database searches;
b) Online/ Electronic Information Resources
IDEP Library is in the process of building up links to its own and partners' online information resources. These consist of:
Journals: Periodicals published regularly and covering different subject areas.
Books: They cover the main areas in Economics and Economic Development
Databases: Most of them cover specialized fields in the area of economic development.
Policy Documents: Briefs, discussion papers, policy papers of UN and other related specialized agencies.
Publications: Mainly from the World Bank and the IMF and cover various fields of importance to economic development.
Newsletters/Magazines: IDEP's as well as other Institutional regular Newsletters and Bulletins.
United Nations Treaty Collection: Treaties/conventions executed by the UN over the years.
c) Library Cooperation and Networking
This service enables the Institute's community to access materials that it does not possess. Collaborating with partner institutions and organizations enables the Library to access numerous data resources for in-house use. The acquisition policy is to emphasize the establishment of library cooperation and networking with other institutions.
Recognizing its role and status as the only Pan-African institution of higher education and aware of the importance of its contribution to African development, IDEP has set the target of housing one of the premier economic research (data and information) libraries in Africa within five years. The acquisition program will cover different categories of data/literature and will include the following:
Revitalized Country Profile Collection
Work is in progress to acquire a comprehensive collection of data, documentation and records relevant to the socio-economic development of African countries. The collection includes official Government literature produced by departments and specialized government institutions.
Core Books and Periodicals: Bibliographic and Factual Databases
Concerted efforts are being made to acquire and maintain core books and periodicals on major program areas. Parallel to this, the library acquires and disseminates databases, electronic/digital libraries, data and literature produced by institutional partners working in the field of economics, finance, agriculture and other relevant areas. The aim is to build information resources relevant to the core activities of the Institute. Information products such as accession lists, indexes and subject bibliographies will be generated and circulated.
Standard Reference Collection in Economics and related Fields
One of the priorities is to upgrade the general as well as the sector-specific collections in key program areas. Some of the reference information sources are to include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks and manuals, directories, etc.
Resource Expansion
Efforts are being made to increase the Library information resource base through increased direct purchases, gifts and exchange. As an initial move, contacts are continuously being established with major sources of information and benevolent foundations for support. Secondly, IDEP's partners are being solicited to donate, in cash and in kind and also in terms of materials. Thirdly, funds for the renewal of the collection are to be raised through levies and membership fees.
The Chief Librarian
IDEP BP 3186 CP 18524 Dakar, Senegal
Tel.: +221-823-1020
Fax: +221-822-2964
E-mail: micnageri@unidep.org
© 1998-2005 United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning