PROBLEMS & CONSTRAINTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS  AND SERVICES

PROBLEMS & CONSTRAINTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS  AND SERVICES

The most important obstacle to information systems and service building is the inadequacy of financial and material resources available for information activities . The cause of the inadequacies is low priority attached to the information systems by decision -makers which work against developmental aspirations.

At the present Sudan has no overall functional information policy or legislation governing, regulating, guiding the information activities. Therefore, there is no mechanism for the coordination of information activities at the national level with necessary powers of decision making, implementation and monitoring specific programs and projects.  Even in the sectors where such structures exist, their responsibilities and tasks are not properly defined or they lack the authority or the capacity to formulate implement realistic policies at national level.

          A  legislative framework does not exist  to guide to the creation and development of infrastructure. Along with scarcity of space, equipment and qualified  personnel, inadequacy of legal deposit legislation or its applications have impediments to the organization of national bibliographic control.

          There are often no set of standards for printing, numbering and circulation of the government publications and lack of application library and documentation techniques to government documents to ensure their effective utilization.

          Equally lacking is reliable information on the sources of information sources of information.

In many cases where trained personnel are managing libraries and documentation centres, they have been trained in schools of library sciences with traditional approach to librarianship. While there is practical training on using technologies in the techniques of librarianship are essential system

 Approaches for Discharging the Information Systems and Services smoothly:

¨      Institutionalize information functions within sectoral development systems so as to ensure that information services are sustainable together with plans and projects

¨      Ensure the presentation of Chief Librarians and Information Specialists at strategic planning levels. Emphasis should be given to promotion and marketing of information services

¨      Identification of  nodal points for institutional capacity building on existing information services

¨      Training on Intranet/Internet, multimedia tools as well as reviewing the circulation and the organization of existing systems of information

¨      Building of a national web including specialized databases

¨      Upgrading and Computerization of libraries and  information centres is to be  supportive institutions

¨                  Establishment of information windows for the different categories of users