The horizon of information sharing at Makerere University : multimedia, audiovisual and the linked open data

Abstract

Makerere University has, in the recent past, climbed up the academic and research ranks, globally, and this has been supported by excellent information services, covering all available information resource formats and targeting users in the university community with varying information needs and information seeking behaviour. The metadata of such useful information resources is Machine-Readable. The major objective of this paper was to explore the level of data sharing at Makerere university library, focusing on audiovisual and multimedia collection. A semi-structured questionnaire (online and print) was administered to Library staff at Makerere University. The data were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed using simple percentages and recorded in tables and graphs. Of the 22 target respondents, a response rate of 81.8% (18) was realized. The results of the paper revealed that the majority of the librarians were not aware of the functionality of the LOD concept and the semantic web. Majority (88.9%) of the librarians were involved in data processing and entry for the general library collection, 18.8% of them are involved in data processing and entry for audiovisual and multimedia collection. It was further revealed that the data at Makerere university library is not linked to open data cloud and therefore not discoverable through the semantic web. The most prominent benefit of LOD cited by librarians was the opportunity to eliminate or reduce recreating existing descriptors already elaborated by other experts. The major challenges to linking data to open data cloud at Makerere university library were lack of skilled staff and lack of awareness about the concept of LOD.