The Helping Africa Foundation, a New York-based public charity dedicated to improving health, education and social welfare conditions in Sub Sahara Africa has donated varied sets of textbooks to the Sam Jonah Library of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
At an official ceremony to present the books to the University, the president of the Foundation Dr. Deborah Rose indicated that the donation formed part of the foundation’s resolve to ensure continuity in education.
She, therefore, said the donation will help furnish the library with the necessary learning materials that are resourceful for students learning.
Aside from the donation, Dr. Rose indicated the Foundation’s presence in the university is to pay a visit to the library.
“Libraries are the heart of an education. I’m so glad you believe in books, not cell phones or computer screens. Again, with my partners on this trip, we are inspecting our five-year plan. So, if we review your plans carefully you’ve made some suggestions, but there are so many ways in which we could be valuable”, she said.
The University Librarian, Dr. Mac-Anthony Cobblah in a presentation on the Sam Jonah Library said the library has seen significant improvement over the years.
These include the creation of a research commons for graduate students, Knowledge Commons for undergraduate students, Social Knowledge Commons, and Video Conference room for online teaching and conferences among others.
Dr. Cobblah maintained that the library seeks to embark on the creation of a transformative use of information and communication Technologies (ICTs) in the empowerment of students.
To this end, he said there is a ten-year agenda of modernising the library.
“The library was put up in 1992. What was lacking was its modern learning facilities to support 21st-century teaching and learning research. So, what we are doing is modernising the indoors to ensure that we have modern facilities” he continued.
Another project is also to establish a 50-seater laboratory learning resource centre. It will be fitted with computer-assisted learning systems. We are also concerned about access to the library. Want to have control access so that those who come here are known. We may have to introduce electronic assert systems”.
Dr. Mac-Anthony Cobblah further indicated that another project yet to be executed is to establish a learning space for the visually impaired and persons with disabilities.
“We have a facility to support the visually impaired and those who are deaf and dumb. We have over 100 visually impaired students. But the facilities that we have, most of the equipment are moulded. We’ve seen that there is some modern equipment that will make them what we have”.
The provost for the College of Education Studies, Professor Ernest Kofi Davies who received the donation on behalf of the Pro-Vice Chancellor said libraries play a vital role in the delivery of high-quality education and the role of books in positioning libraries as spaces that are fit for purpose.
He also expressed the university’s gratitude for the donation and assured that the university will do everything possible to protect it for generational use.
He continued saying “These books will contribute immensely in helping the university to achieve its vision of training the 21st century graduates. We assure you that the books will be put to good use and will keep the books very well for generations of students to assist about 5000 students who visit this facility in a day”.
Read more news here
Source: Eric Sekyi/ATLMFMNEWS
