My Burkina Journal: Networking, libraries and library services

This past Sunday at the "English church" (IBF) I was introduced to a woman named Elizabeth (Liffy) from SIM who apparently once worked in their library here in Ouagadougou and is currently training her replacement, so I thought it good to make her acquaintance and make a field trip to that library at some point. SIM, once known as the Sudan Interior Mission, founded in the late 19th century, has over the years morphed with a number of like-minded organizations and is now a multi-faceted Christian organization worldwide.

There I also met a young Burkinabè English teacher named Joshua, who was interested in learning about all my forays into libraries and library services here in the country, and he was particularly interested in Friends of African Village Libraries and their work. Or so it seemed. He has since texted me about interest in an English conversation class so I think he had me confused with someone else, but after much texting back and forth, I saw that he got the information he needed. . .

And I now feel vindicated for pushing for the online database. A visiting linguist from SIL-Mali came by the library and told me how much she really appreciates having the library's holdings online because knowing whether certain materials are available remotely makes a huge such a difference to her. The only negative she voiced was that she couldn't materials she wanted online herself, which is currently not a realistic option.

the documents for Thomas Bearth on tone in the Bissa language

And Lukas Neukom, who used to work here at SIL, now in Switzerland, just sent me an email requesting scans of documents he found by using our catalog remotely for a linguist friend working on a language in the Côte d'Ivoire, so I'm glad they're finding what they need. . . It's amazing how technology has simplified and speeded up the access to information. Lukas now has scans of the two articles he requested within hours of his initial request. That's a pretty amazing turnaround when you think about it, especially since we're continents away. . . And the scanner that we bought with NPC funds is getting a good workout. . .

Damien repairs the library's Internet connection

I have spent much time emailing various contacts about library software and our website and got some good news on the library web-software front. I learned that the one we currently use is more adaptable than I thought. In addition, I also managed to have a few related problems taken care of by taking the time to share them with a person who just happened to have the right skill set. A shout-out to Doug Higby for solving a few of them. . . Doug was the person who originally got our library catalog up and running on our website. Although I met him once or twice in person, all of my dealings with him have been through email, so I have no idea where he is actually based at the moment. . . Michigan, possibly. I also found some helpful people at ResourceMate, who were willing to share information about their web software, which we are using, even though it is no longer supported.

We do have to get those English-language buttons fixed which is a little more difficult. . . I tried submitting what I thought were correct-size replacement ones and they turned out to be 3-times too large!

In addition, I met with our IT person, Damien Kaboré, and his two friends who are Web designers. They sound competent enough and their trial product looked interesting, but I'm afraid it's more than what we need, and was loathe to ask the price they wanted for their services. I thought it interesting that no one brought up the apparently taboo subject of pricing. I did let them know that I wasn't the one making the final decision, though. . .

And on another note, Fina has shown interest in Simon Nacoulma's ICCV-Nazemse because she wants to expand her work with children, so we visited the library, clinic, women's cooperative, primary school and restaurant in the Cissin district. His holistic approach to community development serves as a prototype for an organization which seems to work well, and is definitely worth emulating. Even though Cissin is on the complete opposite side of Ouagadougou from the Dassasgho district where SIL is located, our visit there was time well spent. The librarian at ICCV-Nazemse, Safia Yerbanga, was pleased to see me again, and one of the books that I brought with me this time, Rafara, turned out to be a staff favorite!

new space for computer access in the library

group of young children in the library

these children learn about ripe and unripe tomatoes

visiting the medical clinic--this is new since last year

outside the women's cooperative

upper elementary school classroom

restaurant La Jardinière

I think Fina felt her meeting with Simon productive, and she picked up new ideas along the way. She was especially encouraged because he had a few contacts for her in the Saaba area just west of Ouagadougou proper where she lives, and Simon's success owes much not only to his natural creativity, but to an ability to network and make things happen.