The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) Library staff have undergone a two-day Retreat as part of plans to transform the Library into a directorate easily recognised for its responsiveness and professionalism.
Themed “Creating a Responsive Library Organisation in a New Public University: Opportunities and Challenges,” the Retreat of January 18-19, 2023, was deliberately organised for participants to tap the experiences of some of the best Librarians and other experts in the country for use in their work towards achieving the objectives of the Library and for that matter, the mandates of the University.
Among them were the venerable Dr. Mac Anthony Cobblah, Librarian of the University of Cape Coast (UCC); Dr. Isaac Oduro Marfo, Acting Internal Auditor of AAMUSTED; and Dr. Chris Owusu-Ansah, Acting University Librarian of AAMUSTED.
Some of the topics treated were ‘Creating a Responsive Library Organisation in a New Public University: The role of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana,’ ‘Getting the best out of electronic resources: Access options and search strategies,’ ‘Marketing library services in the era of Google, Social Media, and AI,’ and ‘Cultivating a positive work ethic for a strong library organizational culture.’
Others were ‘Improving productivity in a new public university: The role of work ethics,’ ‘Optimising the new Library Webpage for enhanced library service delivery,’ ‘Library Asset Management and ICT Resources,’ ‘A glimpse of the new organizational structure of the University Library,’ and ‘The role of professional development in enhancing the Library organization: Seminars and conferences; Charterships; Research and Publications; Further Education.’
On behalf of the Vice-Chancellor of AAMUSTED, Prof. Frederick K. Sarfo, the Director of Research, Innovation and Development (DRID) at AAMUSTED, Prof. Ebenezer Bonyah, officially opened the Retreat on January 18, 2023, with a call on the library staff to conduct their services with finesse to make it attractive to their various stakeholders.
The Director of DRID observed that library services were central in the operations of a university, a reason its staff must offer their best at all times and take advantage of every available opportunity to add professional value to themselves and keep pace with the changing trends.
He emphasised AAMUSTED Management’s commitment to support the Library to evolve among the best in the country and beyond, and stressed its expectation of the Library to make a meaningful impact on the overall positive image of the University.
He hoped that the participants would optimise the Retreat by assimilating enough of the new things taught. Also, he encouraged them to take advantage to establish positive social bonds for their future benefits and the University.
He drew their attention to the investments that the University is making to resource the Library and cited the TURNITIN software acquired recently as something every Library staff must be abreast of to maximise its use to benefit the University.
For his part, Dr. Mac Anthony Cobblah assured the participants of his joy to play a role in the evolution of the AAMUSTED Library into a great organisation. He said he would gracefully share all the experiences he had gathered over the years with them and help to map up workable strategies to support the expeditious development of the AAMUSTED Library. Therefore, he called for the cooperation of participants to achieve a successful Retreat.
The Acting Director of the AAMUSTED Library, Dr. Owusu-Ansah, was optimistic that the performance of staff at the Library would see a marked improvement beyond the Retreat. He was thankful for the Management’s support toward the development of the Library and assured it of staff readiness to offer dedicated services to make AAMUSTED great.
