Browsing by Author "Mnzava, E. E."

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Contribution of East Africa region to open access literature: The case of OpenDOAR
(2017-11) Chirwa, M. N.; Mnzava, E. E.
This paper is based on the findings of a study that evaluated the initiatives taken by East African countries to embrace the open access movement. Specifically, the study analysed the position of East African countries in disseminating open access literature in Africa and globally; determined the contribution of each East African country to global open access literature; identified the type of document as well as Open source software they used. Moreover, the study analysed the subject content of OARs and identified the language for the archived items. The study first used literature review to determine current status of open access in East Africa, then the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) were accessed to get the required data. The results revealed that East African counties make only a miniscule contribution to Open Access literature of about 0.022 percent of items found in global OARs and 1.2 percent by number of repositories. The study concluded that East African countries with a slight exception of Kenya lag far behind in open access literature. The study, therefore, recommends more efforts to be made by individual East African countries to make necessary arrangements required to adopt and use OA repositories to enhance free access to knowledge and information and, consequently, boost socioeconomic development in the region.
The role of libraries in promoting health literacy for combating non-communicable diseases in Tanzania
(ISDS LLC, Japan |, 2017) Mnzava, E. E.; Katabalwa, A. S.
Health literacy is an important aspect to every individual in the society. This is due to the fact that a health literate person understands his/her health status, take prevention and control measures of various diseases. The purpose of this paper was to discuss how health literacy for prevention, control and treatment of non communicable diseases can be conducted by libraries in Tanzania. The researcher reviewed several literatures and found out that libraries have a big role to play to ensure that community recognize their information needs, search for relevant information and make use of the information to make informed health decisions. The study concluded that because non communicable diseases impose a double burden to the government and her people a call for immediate actions from various stakeholders’ such as health libraries is required.
Usage of Sokoine University of Agriculture Institutional Repository among academic staff at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Science in Tanzania
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018-09) Mnzava, E. E.; Chirwa, M. N.
Purpose – This study aims to investigate the use of Sokoine University of Agriculture Institutional Repository (SUAIR) among academic staff at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Science (CVBMS). Specifically, the study looked at awareness of, attitude, self-archiving and challenges the academic staff face when using SUAIR. Design/methodology/approach – The study used survey method. The data were collected using selfadministered questionnaire with the results analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings – The study found that although there was more than one source of raising awareness on SUAIR, the university’s library, the internet and meetings were the major sources. Majority of the respondents were not aware of how to deposit their scholarly output in the institutional repository. As a result, the majority of academic staff had never deposited their scholarly work in SUAIR. Generally, the respondents had a positive attitude towards using SUAIR. Apart from lack of skills and knowledge on how to deposit research outputs, the study established that lack of time, fear of plagiarism and lack of awareness of existence of the SUAIR were significant barriers to the effective utilisation of SUAIR. Originality/value – This is the first time such a study has been undertaken focussing on the use, awareness and attitude of SUAIR in Tanzania. As such, the study findings can be used to assess the attitude of academic staff at Sokoine University of Agriculture and other universities in Tanzania and Sub-Saharan Africa with similar operational characteristics.