PKP Workshops were held in Nigeria at two locations, Kaduna and Ibadan.

Kaduna Workshop

This workshop was held from the 3rd - 4th April 2007 at the Computer Laboratory of the Library of Kaduna State University in Kaduna.

Attendance

1st day was 48: consisting of Librarians (11); Lecturers/Researchers (30); IT Personnel (6).

2nd day was 49: consisting of Librarians (13); Lecturers/Researchers (30); IT Personnel (6).

Participants were from 4 Universities and 4 Research Institutes.

There was a breakaway session on the second day that enabled participants to bring up and discuss issues related to online scholarly publishing and the use of the PKP software. Outcomes of the breakaway sessions were discussed in a plenary session.

Ibadan Workshop

This workshop was held from the 10th - 11th April 2007 at the Computer Laboratory of the Library of the University of Ibadan in Ibadan.

Attendance

1st day was 46: consisting of Librarians (11), Lecturers/Researchers (30); IT Personnel (5).
2nd day was 42: consisting of Librarians (11); Lecturers/Researchers (25); IT Personnel (3).

Participants were from 7 universities and 1 Research institute.

There was also a breakaway session on the second day at this workshop and the purpose was the same as for the Kaduna Workshop.

A summary of the recommendations of the two workshops are as follows:

• PKP Project should link up with the National Universities Commission of Nigeria for policy related action on online scholarly publishing since it is an umbrella organization for universities in Nigeria.
• A report of the workshop should be given to the heads of the Institutions that attended the workshop.
• Participants at the workshop should organize a meeting in their institutions to brief their colleagues who could not attend, about the workshop and its outcomes.
• Institutions should have IT Policy
• Need for portals to enable local content to be digitized as a matter of urgency.
• Institutions should look at the possibility of adopting online publishing using Open Journal Systems, since they present several advantages.
• Need for PKP to organise another specific training for the different groups who will be involved in online journal publishing.
• PKP should do a further feasibility study on the state of readiness of institutions to start online journal publishing.
• PKP should establish permanent linkage with all participants of the workshop.
• PKP should go beyond sensitization and assist in looking for funders for hardware and ISPs for the Institutions.
• Need for the creation of more awareness of the PKP software and possibly for it to be used in other parts of Nigeria and in Africa.

General Comments

Based on comments indicated on the evaluation forms, the workshop was seen as very timely and useful:

"Stimulating, productive and academically benefiting."
"Perfect teaching, demonstration and interaction."
"Informative and enlightening."
"Workshop encouraging us to publish online."
"Good, need for another workshop after participants have tried their hands on the software."
"Very enriching workshop."
"PKP is a timely and relevant intervention, it needs wide publicity for its use."
"Enlightening on online publishing."

Back to the Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities page.