Interview with Agnes Comfort Daru, Country Coordinator, The Capacity Project about the Juba Teaching Hospital Resource Center
When did the resource center start?
The Resource Center (RC) opened on May 17, 2008, and is housed at the Juba Teaching Hospital in the special wing. Based on the success of the Juba RC, the USAID Capacity Project is now in the process of opening the second RC at the Wau Teaching Hospital, in Western Bahr el-Ghazal. We procured a space for the second RC and recently completed the renovations. Francis Tombe, librarian for the Juba RC, will co-ordinate the activities of the two RCs and continue mentoring the manager of the Wau RC. Now, the staff at the Wau Teaching Hospital will have access to health information and be able consult information through the Internet.
Who supports you?
USAID is the RC’s main source of support. After opening the RC we received donations of books, CDs and electronic resources from Ann Burgess, St. Mary Hospital, UK-Juba Link, Dr. David Southall, the World Health Organization and Teaching-aids At Low Cost (TALC). Strategies for
Hope Trust-UK assists us by processing book shipments to the RCs.
What materials and equipment do you have?
The materials available include medical textbooks, journals, magazines, novels, videos, DVDs and CDs; there are 862 resources in the current collection. There are also six computers in the Juba RC, and we provide free computer skills instruction and Internet services.
Who can use it?
RC users include hospital staff, medical students, Ministry of Health personnel and staff from various non-governmental organizations. Users have access to electronic materials, library services, free Internet access and free computer skills training.
What plans do you have for the future?
There is a funding constraint since the Capacity Project ends in September 2009. The Project will hand over the two RCs to their respective hospital administrations. However, the need for these types of RCs is very high and we hope to replicate them in an additional eight state hospitals.
How many people have used the Juba RC?
To date, the Juba RC has attracted a total of 3,179. RC users can now search for health information through the library website and the Internet. Furthermore, the RCs services have helped users to become more information literate!
Thank you, Agnes
The Juba Teaching Hospital Resource Center opens from Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 12:45pm and from 2:00pm to 5:00pm.
To access the list of available books and other materials visit. http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jubath. For further information contact Francis Tombe on tel: 0477216408 or e-mail: [email protected].
