Greek academic libraries have followed a different development path from that of libraries in West Europe and North America; rather than steady development, they have stagnated for many years and then made marked leaps of progress. The situation changed in 1996, with the involvement of the Greek academic libraries in the EC's Second Community Support Framework (SCSF) programme, which helped them to modernise their services, implement new technology and employ qualified staff. This study seeks to investigate the ways in which the electronic library has affected Greek academic libraries and librarians. The study has four central themes: firstly it reviews the notion of the electronic library. Secondly, it investigates the impact that Information Technology (IT) and Electronic Information Resources (EIR) have on Greek academic libraries. Thirdly, it examines in depth the impact of IT and EIR on librarians and looks into their training needs. The last theme focuses on the view of institutional staff concerning libraries and librarians. The survey shows that even though the SCSF programme has helped libraries to improve services and implement new technology, there are still libraries that encounter problems with the use of technology and many have limited access to EIR. On the other hand, libraries that manage to provide quality services based on new technology, still encounter problems relating to a limited number of PCs and limited website development. Furthermore, library staff made limited use of the available EIR. From the survey it became clear that even though many librarians had attended a training programme concerning EIR, the majority of them mentioned that they urgently needed retraining. From the interviews with librarians and institutional staff, it became apparent that libraries and librarians have made significant progress and managed to change and improve library's environment and services. Additionally, they agreed that library staff have improved their profile and established themselves in the academic community as information providers. As a result the majority of academics trust librarians with the use of IT and EIR and most of them agree that they can be in the forefront in developing services such as building a digital library, that will affect the whole academic community. This is the only research which has documented the significant changes in Greek academic libraries with the advent of EIR. It has sought to understand the impact on Greek librarians and to explore their changing role in Greek universities, as there has been marked progress in the improved working relationship with academic staff and an improved status for librarians.

This study investigated the management of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at academic libraries in selected public universities in Ghana. The purpose for this study was to investigate the managerial processes and challenges in terms of conceptualization, policies, planning, implementation and strategies involved in ICTs adoption in order to formulate strategies for their management in Ghanaian academic libraries. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to review and explore the status and level of ICT diffusion in Ghanaian university; audit the procedures, processes and factors that influence ICT adoption and implementation in Ghanaian university libraries; establish the institutional policies, strategies and human resource that is in place and available for the adoption; determine the factors that hinder the adoption and management of ICTs in Ghanaian university libraries; and design a framework for effective and efficient management of ICTs in Ghanaian public university libraries. The study adopted mixed-method research design approach combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches through the pragmatic worldview to achieve the main purpose of the study. Adopting a survey study design, data was collected from five selected Ghanaian public universities by interviewing the five university librarians/directors, using questionnaires on 313 library staff and making observations within the five libraries. The findings of the study established that the managerial tools/instruments required for effective ICTs management in Ghanaian university libraries include the availability of library ICT policies, a library ICT strategic plan, library ICT installation and maintenance manuals, library ICT integration plans, and standard operations manuals. In addition, adequate funds, skilled manpower, adequate and standard ICT infrastructures among others. However, the study also revealed that there are absence of library ICT policies, lack of processes and procedure guidelines, inadequate funds, lack of management support, inadequate ICT skills among libraries and staff ICT training policies in the academic libraries in Ghana. The study recommends the formulation of ICT policies and strategic plans purposely for the comprehensive management of library ICT systems. Furthermore, the university top management should support their libraries by providing the required resources and motivation for the library managers including the development of stakeholder partnership and collaboration. To galvanise these recommendations, the study proposes a framework for the ICTs adoption and management in Ghanaian university libraries. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

The aim of the study was to examine the implementation of digital preservation practices in academic libraries in South Africa in the light of the rapid changing information environment. The study looked into the strategies, systems and tools being employed to support digital preservation programmes and the costs associated with the various digital preservation programmes. The study was guided by various digital preservation theories and models,namely Davies’ (2000) Policy, Strategy and Resources (PSR) troika model, Kenney and McGovern’s (2003) three leg stool, Corrado and Moulaison‘s (2014) preservation triad and the Carnegie Mellon University’s (1990) Digital Preservation Capability Maturity (DPCM) model and Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model by OCLC (2002), underpinned by the survey research design, triangulation of questionnaires and document analysis as data collection methods. Out of 27 questionnaires distributed to academic institutions, 22 (81.5%) were completed. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive analysis whilst content analysis was used for qualitative data obtained from document analysis. Findings revealed that academic libraries in South Africa were significantly affected by the changes to the digital environment. Most academic libraries face many challenges that hinder the effective implementation of digital preservation. The problems include: lack of funding, lack of skills and training and technology obsolescence. The study identified migration, bit preservation, replication and risk management approaches as the most widely implemented preservation strategies to address preservation challenges faced by academic libraries in South Africa. Although various preservation systems and tools are being developed to enable description, discovery, delivery and preservation of digital collections, there was expressed lack of awareness about digital preservation standards and preservation support organisations. The study also observed that, in some instances, the academic institutions were not fully involved in collaborative and partnerships with other institutions. By collaborating and partnering with other institutions, they would be exposed to new ideas, strategies and tools, and be able to acquire knowledge and skills needed to successfully preserve and manage their digital resources. The findings revealed that the implementation of policies and strategies, provision of adequate resources, sufficient funding and digital preservation knowledge and skills are some of the major factors influencing digital preservation sustainability in academic libraries. This study, therefore, recommends that these institutions can address some of the digital preservation challenges if they leverage on these factors. The study also made several recommendations on how digital preservation can be successfully implemented, and it further proposed a framework for preservation of digital resources in academic libraries, mapped to international preservation models and standards. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)