Preparing Library and Information Science Students for Orally Based Communities
I.M.N. Kigongo‐Bukenya · 2010
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) proclaims that every human being has a right to seek information. Notwithstanding this Universal Declaration, many people in the world are still deprived of information because of poverty, illiteracy or lack of infrastructure. This paper explores the hypothesis that production of information professionals with orientation to serve the orally based communities is one of the solutions to accessing information services to orally based communities who happen to be deprived of this right in developing countries for example 31% of Ugandans were still being deprived of this right through illiteracy (Peoples Daily On-line, 2005). It is ironical that information provision is hardly guaranteed in the rural areas where the majorities who participate in agriculture - the major contributors to the National GDP- do reside. Through literature analysis, focus group interaction, and unstructured interviews with colleagues at the East African School of Library and Information Science (EASLIS), the Departments of Library and Information Science of the Uganda Christian University (UCU), Kyambogo University, and major LIS employers in East Africa, the article revisits the definition of “orally based communities”. It further explains the elements/aspects that should be considered during the information provision process to the orally based communities; the type of knowledge and competencies required by the Information Professionals (IPs) to serve the orally based communities; the required curriculum content, and other pre-requisite issues required to implement such curriculum. Finally the challenges to the provision of information to the orally based communities and the strategies to surmount them are discussed.