Library Project
May 2021 - Donation of Books
FBC AA UK donated nearly 700 books to the library which was presented to Professor Lawrence Kamara, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, FBC and Dr Tonya Musa, Director Alumni Affairs / International Directorate.
Appreciation to both and their teams regarding the hospitality they accorded our executives, Mr Kweku Djang, External Relations Committee Lead, Sierra Leone, Mrs Henrietta Oladuni Harding, Constitutional & Governance Lead and
Mr Alfred Syl Turay, Public Relations and Communications Lead during their campus visit and accompanying handing
over ceremony.
This sentiment is also extended to Reverend Oliver Louis Harding, Prof Miriam Conteh-Morgan, University Librarian, University of Sierra Leone and Dr Sallyanne Decker, former secretary and trustee, FBC AA UK who initially took a sample of books to Freetown in November 2019 and had a dialogue with Professor Conteh-Morgan about the relevance of the texts
The books were donated courtesy of Sierra Leonean, Mr Daniel Rogers, an Information Professional at the House of Commons and efficiently shipped and cleared at the port in Sierra Leone by Leone Freight based in London.
We are grateful to Mr Rogers for his generosity and magnanimous spirit.
FBCAAUK executives meeting held with the FBC authorities to handover donation of books
Professor Lawrence Kamara
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, FBC
Dr Tonya Musa
Director Alumni Affairs / International Directorate.
FBCAAUK Executives and Students
Brief overview of the ongoing Library Bindery Project
May 2021
Archiving Collection of Newspapers Project
Phase 1:
1. Archiving of the Sierra Leone collection of Newspapers which houses materials of archival value.
2. Purchase of a Tablet (for the Library) to capture the records using an installed pdf scanner which could be downloaded for free.
-
Records: in two sensitive units in the college are in a terrible state due to the high acidic content and if nothing is done, more would be lost. Particular reference is made to students’ records (transcripts, registers etc) in the Registry and materials in the Sierra Leone Collection in the Library.
-
Sierra Leone Collection: materials in this collection are generally not 'weeded out' because they form part of our national bibliography. Newspapers which contain vital grey literature date back to the 1950s.
-
The Registry: It is challenging to access transcripts of students in the 1970s and 1980s because of the considerable damage done to the papers.
-
Recommendations: Since the college is losing vital information on its heritage, electronic versions of what remains of these documents would preserve them for the future.
Phase 2:
Purchase of MICROFILM SCANNERS (Microfiche) – to be used to provide e-version of newspapers and books.
-
A long term plan could be the purchase of scanners to capture electronic copies of these documents.
-
Cost could also be reduced if final year students from the Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies (INSLICS) at Fourah Bay College are posted on internship to both the Library and the Registry after a short training to commence the exercise after they would have completed their second semester examinations. A small honorarium could be set aside for them.
Newspapers
Concerns & Risks:
-
Newspapers were not useable in the current state.
-
Door needed to provide access to stairs (Fire / any other disaster exit)
As a result of a series of discussions by Library Project Lead, Mrs Henrietta Harding and Mr Kweku Djang with Reverend Oliver Louis Harding, Chief Librarian and after observations had been made, it was agreed that the immediate priority would be centred on an archiving and storage mechanism and the need for a structured approach to storing and displaying current and historical papers for preservation and accessibility.
A Zoom Fundraising Campaign was initiated and led that raised approximately £2,000 for our Library Project.
October 2021
Meeting with the Library authorities
Present with us were:
-
Professor John Kargbo (Dean of the faculty of Communications, Media and Information studies and also Assistant to the Deputy Vice Chancellor)
-
Mr Francis Davies (Estate Officer)
-
Rev Oliver Louis Harding (Senior Librarian)
Handing over the cheque to Professor John Kargbo for the install of the required shelving to house the hard copies of the Newspapers
*Cost of shelving – Le11,000,000 (Eleven million leones)
Purchased and Handed over iPad Tablet to the library to capture the information on the Newspapers (as an e-version) using an installed pdf scanner which could be downloaded for free.
*Cost of Tablet – Le3,500,000
(Three million, five hundred thousand leones)
February 2022
Using the funds generated, the FBC AA UK is now implementing:
-
A near term project of shelf construction to store the Sierra Leone collection of newspapers.
-
Computerised storage (a tablet was purchased and donated to the FBC Executive Administration to support the transfer of data (newspapers) to available computers as a form of archiving ensuring the protection and retrieval of this vital source of information in future years as and when required from the library as a resource unit.
Improvements
-
Shelves have been positioned strategically so that the door is again being used to access the security steps in the unfortunate outbreak of fire or any other disaster.
-
Researchers can now use these steps to access the library from each floor.
Kweku Djang & Henrietta Oladuni Harding
(On a visit to the Library) - February 2022
Kweku Djang, Revd Oliver Louis Harding
& Bamikole Roberts
(On a visit to the Library) - May 2022
July 2022
A consignment of Strawboards, book cloth and Gold foil shipped out to FBC in July to progress the binding of the Newspapers.
The Bindery work
-
Photos below provide an overview of the work being carried out.
September 2022
Francess Fode and Henrietta Harding on a visit to the library to see progress of work.
Henrietta Oladuni Harding and Francess Fode
(On a visit to the completed Tunde Cole building) - September 2022
.jpeg)
Francess Fode - September 2022
.jpeg)
Francess Fode, Henrietta Harding with Revd Oliver Louis Harding
- handing over a donation for the team as a Thank you from FBCAAUK
(On a visit to the Library) -September 2022
With some members of the team that are carrying out the bindery work
- September 2022
April 2023
Fatumata Gassama & Kweku Djang
(On a visit to the Library) - April 2023
May 2023
Kweku Djang & Henrietta Oladuni Harding
(On a visit to the Library) - May 2023
NEXT STEPS
-
Replacement of the Guillotine Machine
-
Replacement of the Letterpress Machine
-
Guillotine - a paper guillotine is a mechanical device used to cut or trim large stacks of paper or documents at the same time
-
Machine being used was installed in 1965.
-
Not currently functional
-
Letterpress Machine- a Letterpress printing is most commonly used to print monochromatic text.
-
Machine being used was installed in 1965.
