| dc.description.abstract | INTRODUCTION
Rural health workers in sub-Saharan Africa face an
extremely demanding work situation. Their relatively brief basic training is usually ten to twenty years
past, resource constraints are severe, and they are
isolated in remote villages and towns with little or
no effective supervisory support. Opportunities for
post-basic training are poor, professional communication with colleagues is rarely possible, and access
to up-to-date medical books and journals is extremely
limited.
Self-taught learning with the help of a local library
is an increasingly attractive option, particularly for
mid- and low-level workers who can not afford to
purchase professional literature for themselves.
Kenya, with a population of about twenty-one million and a gross national product of $340.00 per capita,
has a health infrastructure encompassing 269 hospitals, 299 health centers, 1,555 dispensaries, and several hundred mission clinics. Public libraries, which
have small collections of health material, exist in all
eight provincial capitals and in eight of forty-two
district capitals. This article describes the library situation at seventy-seven rural Kenyan health facilities
on the basis of a survey conducted in 1988.
METHODOLOGY
The survey covered forty-seven provincial, district,
and mission hospitals in all parts of Kenya, six rural
health training centers (RHTCs), four nursing schools,
twelve government health centers, and eight dispensaries.
Data were collected by two librarians. Methods included questionnaires combining open and closed
questions, direct on-site observations, and structured
interviews with library staff and a sample of users.
Six hundred sixteen questionnaires were distributed,
and a total of 85 doctors and 405 paramedical staff
who were physically present and available at the time
of the librarian's visit responded. Topics covered included the purposes for which the collection was used,
adequacy of available material, demand for services
by different user groups, user expectations, and library organization. Interviews and observation took
place simultaneously at all facilities visited. | en_US |
