The Ag. Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Paul Shiundu, has urged University academicians and researchers to collaborate and set-up TU-K journal. He was speaking during the grand opening of the University’s library e-resource center, and launch of the MyLOFT - My Library on Fingertips.
“This is an appropriate challenge, because starting a journal might be easy, however, sustaining it requires a team effort,” he said “Nonetheless we must remember that even reputable journals had humble beginnings. Therefore, we must work together, to achieve this goal,” he echoed.
Prof. Shiundu further stressed that the journal will enhance academicians’ capacities to publish their research findings and also improve University’s webometric rankings.
In addition to setting up the journal, the VC was impressed by the transformation of the library e-resource center and the resources it provides its users.
“The learning landscape is now dominated by electronic devices and this e-resource center will play a pivotal role in making the University a research-intensive institution,” he stressed.
“Furthermore, the e-resource center will go a long way in training TU-K staff in e-resource literacy and promote exploitation of e-resources,” he added.
The VC further stated that he was humbled to officiate the launch of the e-resource center and thanked members of staff, particularly Mr. Harrison Amwayi, a Senior Technologist in the Directorate of Information and Communication Technology and seven Industry Based Learning (IBL) students who worked under the leadership of the Director, Library and Learning Resource Service, Dr. Sarah Kibugi. The team worked together in networking the computers, refurbishing and mobilizing resources to not just give the lab a magnificent outlook but also ensure that it had all the valuable resources it needs.
“It has been a long and tedious journey, and each one of us has the potential to achieve what has been achieved in this lab,” he said.
During her opening remarks, Dr. Sarah Kibugi said there had been a growing demand for unconventional learning and access to information. And despite the availability of a ton of online resources, unfortunately not every student and staff had access to laptops get this information. To bridge this gap, the e-resource center is ‘a world of discovery to millions of information resources.’
To furnish the library, Dr. Kibugi emphasized that they leveraged on partnerships and donations to supplement the limited resources. Key among the partners was the Kenya Library and Information Services Consortium whose support had enabled library users to access resources available in other university libraries across the country.
“We further sourced for a donation of 105 computers and 10 projectors from World Communicators for Change, USA and shared the computers with other departments at the University. So far, we have given out 45 computers and 7 projectors,” she said.
“At the same time, the library sourced for donation of books from “Textbooks for Change, Canada,” where we received 24,000 books. About 1,591 books have been distributed to different schools within the University to establish or enhance departmental libraries,” she added.
MyLOFT Representative (Off Campus Access), Mr. Sila Too, said their resources also cater for low bandwidth users who may not have access to the internet, allowing them to still have access to these resources at their convenience.
Prof. Paul Wambua, Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Institutional Advancement and Enterprise said when a section of the University shines, the whole University shone. He further urged research to leverage on partnerships to achieve institutional milestones.
Prof. Alfred Orina Isaac, Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Research and Technology Development said that one of the most valuable resource for academicians was to sit quietly and read which the library had achieved.
