Ng ren consortium

ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT OF E-

LIBRARY FOR LIBRARIANS IN PUBLIC TERTIARY

INSTITUTIONS

LEVERAGING ON ASSOCIATION/CONSORTIUM: A

NEW CHALLENGE FOR DIGITAL LEARNING - THE

NUC-NgREN EXAMPLE

Dr. Joshua Atah

National Universities Commission,

26, Aguiyi Ironsi Street,

Maitama,

Abuja

What is e-library?

The e-Library (electronic Library) is also referred to asDigital or Virtual Library

A Library that gives Access to a wide range of informationresources through the computer and telecommunicationequipment.

A Library without walls; users enjoys the euphoria of beingin distant libraries without being physically present.

INTRODUCTION

1

Benefits of e-library over traditional libraries

i. Access to a Wider range of resources;ii. Ease of storage & manipulation of resources locally;iii. Longer Preservation of Resources;iv. Unlimited opening hours. The e-Library has no closing

hours;v. Remote access to information. The users do not need to be

physically present in the location where the content ishosted before they can access the content;

vi. Service to non-traditional Students;vii. Ease in Searching;

INTRODUCTION

2

Benefits of e-library over traditional libraries (2)

vii. Significant Time Saving;viii. No Physical building and seating Space required;ix. Less Manpower Requirement;x. Multiple Access. Millions of users can access the same content

at the same time;xi. Resource Sharing. It is easier to share the electronic resources;xii. Ease in migration; etc.

e-library may not replace the traditional library completely

there is no institution that is ‘worth its salt’ in the 21st century thatcan do without the e-library

INTRODUCTION

3

Meaning of ‘Consortium’

• An association of two or more individuals,companies, organizations or governments (or anycombination of these entities) with the objective ofparticipating in a common activity or pooling theirresources for achieving a common goal

• Library Consortium is an association of a group oflibraries to achieve mutually, the commonobjective.

CONSORTIUM

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Reasons for consortium in e-libraries

i. The explosion of information in recent years andthe limited number of libraries

ii. the high cost of electronic resources and thelimited funds available to the libraries

iii. To avoid duplication of expensive resources e.g.almost all Nigerian Tertiary edu institutions willbuy the same text books/journals in the GeneralStudies disciplines or computer science

iv. Economies of scalev. Diversity of users’ needsvi. Impossibility of self-sufficiency.

CONSORTIUM

5

Advantages of consortium

i. Signification cost reduction through group

purchasing (economies of scale)

ii. Better bargaining power

iii. Creating opportunities for joint advocacy,

marketing, and fundraising for libraries

iv. Increase in the ability to advocate for the needs of

libraries through collaboration

CONSORTIUM

6

Advantages of consortium (2)

v. Improving the capacity and expertise of themembers by providing professional developmentprograms for library staff

vi. Sharing of resources like content, technology,expertise, and funding among consortiummembers

vii.Carrying out innovations of importance common toall the members e.g. digitization, technologyimplementation, information sharing, etc.

CONSORTIUM

7

A CONSORTIUM EXAMPLE

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THE NIGERIAN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK (NgREN)

A National Research and Education Network (NREN)

• is a specialised ISP dedicated to supporting the needs of the researchand education communities within a country;

• provides the basic nationwide connectivity platform, linkingparticipating institutions, on which a host of e-services are providedand shared amongst participating institutions/members;

• employs ICT to drive inter-institutional communication, collaboration,and shared access to knowledge across national and internationalboundaries;

• is usually distinguished by support for a high-speed backbone network,often offering dedicated channels for individual research projects;

NIGERIAN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK (NgREN)

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• is a private network that connects education and research institutionsdirectly to:

i. each other,ii. other RENs, andiii. the “Commercial” or “Commodity” Internet.


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University of

PH

University of

Abuja

University of

Lagos

Bayero

University,

Kano

Other

Nigerian

Universities

Chinese

REN

Kenyan

REN

American

REN

South African

REN

Commodity

internet

Nigerian

REN

Nigerian

Polytechnics

Nigerian

COEs

Research Institutes;

Teaching Hospitals; etc

11

Today’s economies are increasingly driven by their knowledge capital andwhat sets the Most Competitive Economies apart is their ownership of activeRENs.

Examples:

SWITCH (Switzerland), 1989; SingAREN (Singapore), 1997; FUNET (Finland),1983; DFN (Germany), 1984; Internet2 (USA), 1995; SUNET (Sweden), 1980;HARNET (Hong Kong), 1985; SURFnet (Netherlands), 1986; SINET (Japan), 1987;JANET (UK), 1983; UNINETT (Norway), 1987; TWAREN (Taiwan), 1998; QFREN(Qatar), 1995; CANARIE (Canada), 1993; Forskningsnettet (Denmark), 1988;ACOnet (Austria), 1980; Belnet (Belgium), 1993; REANNZ (New Zealand), 2005;Ankabut (UAE), 2009; and SARInet (Saudi Arabia), 2011; AARNet (Australia) -1989; CERNET (China) - November, 1994; KENET (Kenya) - 1999; TENET (SouthAfrica) - 2000; RNP (Brazil) - 1989; HEAnet (Ireland) - 1983

RENs IN LEADING WORLD ECONOMIES


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❖ The NUC is the Quality Assurance agency responsible for the developmentof university education in Nigeria

❖ The NUC recognises the need to ensure that our educational institutions areat par with standards worldwide, to ensure the production of graduates andresearch outputs that will be globally competitive.

❖ The production of highly skilled graduates and high impact research outputsin any nation is driven by its university system.


NUC’s DRIVE FOR A NIGERIAN REN

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❖ We recognise the tremendous benefits of establishing a REN in a growing

economy like ours

❖ In line with these goals and the tremendous benefits of establishing a REN, the

Nigerian University System has decided to take the lead in the realisation of

this vision

❖ Thus, the NUC, in collaboration with the Universities and the CVC, decided to

establish NgREN.


NUC’s DRIVE FOR A NIGERIAN REN (2)

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❖ Nigeria made history on Tuesday 08 July 2014 when the Nigerian Research

and Education Network (NgREN) was commissioned.

❖ Until 08 July 2014, Nigeria was the biggest country in the World that was yet

to formally commission a REN;

❖ NgREN is the first REN to commence operation in the whole of West and

Central Africa;

❖ With NgREN, Nigeria is on the verge of making a giant leap into 21st century

teaching and research.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NgREN


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❖ This first phase has connected 27 universities, the NUC and the CVC

Secretariat (see appendix 1)

❖ These 27 older Federal Universities has over one million students and staff

❖ Capacity of the core transmission is 10gbps

❖ Capacity to each university is 155mbps dedicated link, a capacity nearly 20

times bigger than the average capacity amongst these institutions at the start

of the project.


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THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NgREN Cont’d

❖ EXPANSION OF ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION

● Over 1 million students & Staff connected in phase one.

● Over 3 million students can be targeted as we strive towardsconnecting the remaining Universities, Polytechnics, CoEs,and Research Institutes (RI);

● Nearly a million Academic and non-academic staff are alsoimmediate beneficiaries of the services of the NgREN;

● Total of about 4 million beneficiaries at completion

● NgREN can complement efforts in tackling poverty and youthrestiveness through access to education currently hamperedby carrying capacities of our institutions;


IMMEDIATE STRATEGIC BENEFITS OF THE NgREN

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❖ EXPANSION OF ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION Cont’d

• 1.6 million candidates sat for JAMB this year

• Whereas, total carrying capacities (no of applicants that canbe admitted per session) in all the Nigerian Universities atpresent is only about 400,000.

• RENs have been used to bridge this gap elsewhere. Forexample; ABU Zaria, University of Ibadan, and UNN have onlyabout 50,000, 35,000, and 25,000 student populationsrespectively. In contrast, University of Buenos Aires(Argentina), NA University (Mexico), UNISA (South Africa)and Cairo University (Egypt) have 316,050; 314,557; 250,000;and 200,000 total student populations respectively.



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❖IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY

• Improvement in quality and consequently reduced failurerate (eg WAEC, NECO, JAMB, etc) are possible through accessto teaching and learning resources.

• The Video Conferencing facilities can be used to engageexperts locally and internationally to improve the currentlypoor Staff to Student ratios in the country. For example,NOUN has a ratio of 1:363 while University of Abuja andLagos State University have ratios 1:122 and 1:114respectively. In contrast, Harvard University has a ratio of 1:4while MIT, Yale and Cambridge have ratios 1:9, 1:4 and 1:3respectively;



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❖ IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY Cont’d

• Improvement in quality of research.

Consolidate on the achievements of the STEP-B Centers ofExcellence and the 10 approved African Centers of Excellenceby providing them a platform to collaborate and link withindustry, thereby refocusing research to national needs whichwill translate to economic growth;

• Monitoring and inspection.

Can provide visual data to monitor and ensure quality ofeducational delivery of connected institutions;



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❖ IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY Cont’d

• Quality assurance of education can also be achieved throughcentralised database of education sector that will allowmonitoring of academic performance of students over agiven period.

• The database can also be used to do comparative analysis ofquality of graduates from different universities, therebyinstigating healthy competition amongst the universities.



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❖ INTERNATIONALISATION OF EDUCATION AND RESOURCESHARING

i. With the Video Conferencing facilities deployed and thepossibilities for the integration of mobile devices andapplications, remote teaching, collaboration, meetings, etchave been ongoing. When other universities are connected,the scope of these activities will simply multiply;

ii. Remote PhD supervision/ Joint supervision is now possible toboost advanced capacity development at reduced costs;

iii. Research collaboration for shared access to data, analyticaltools and impacts metrics;



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❖ INTERNATIONALISATION OF EDUCATION AND RESOURCESHARING Cont’d

iv. Engagement with Nigerians in the Diaspora to reverse braindrain losses into cumulative gains for the economy. e.g theAssociation of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas haverecently indicated interest to use the NgREN platform tobuild capacity in Telemedicine in Nigerian Universities.

v. The REN can be an interim solution to dearth in qualityteachers in remote locations (especially in primary andsecondary schools) as a teacher can teach millions of peopleat the same time in diverse geographical locations

vi. Telemedicine, remote consultation and post surgery followup (Between tertiary hospitals and primary health carecentres)



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❖ IMPROVEMENT IN RANKING AND VISIBILITY

i. Webometric rankings will improve through more and betterlocal content made available to the international community;

ii. Digitisation of resources for anytime, anywhere access bylearners in and out of school.



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❖ COST SAVINGS

i) Bandwidth cost savings through economies of scale. At the

moment, NgREN has made it possible for a cost reduction of

bandwidth from about $1,260/mbps/month to

$129/mbps/month. When the NgREN is fully completed, this

cost will further go down to below $30/mbps/month;

ii) Localisation of national traffic. All the institutions on the

network will keep their communication within the network,

except for data that needs to go outside the network



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❖ COST SAVINGS Cont’d

iii) Capacity building cost savings through online and remote

training modules;

iv) Availability of shared resources thereby reducing total cost of

teaching and research;

v) Overhead cost savings enabling optimal use of available

finances;

vi) Logistics cost savings e.g. meetings, reduction in the need for

travels, etc.



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OPPORTUNITY TO REACH THE YOUTHS (STUDENTS) AND STAFF OFTERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

i. Video conferencing to directly interact with the academic

community whenever necessary;

ii. Opportunity to communicate Government’s efforts and vision

for a virile and progressive nation to members of the academic

community.



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LIST OF UNIVERSITIES ALREADY CONNECTEDUsmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto University of Abuja

University of Maiduguri Federal University of Technology, Owerri

Bayero University, Kano University of Calabar

Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna University of Benin

Federal University of Technology, Minna University of Port Harcourt

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria University of Uyo

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

National Universities Commission, Abuja Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun

National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike

CVC Secretariat, Abuja University of Lagos

University of Agriculture, Makurdi Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

University of Jos University of Ilorin

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife University of Ibadan

Federal University of Technology, Akure


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• RENs worldwide exist as consortiums fully owned and

managed by education and research institutions for the

promotion of their interests

• NgREN is a project that is cross cutting in nature.

• No single institution can connect itself to another on a

broadband network.

• The institutions that are currently connected on the NgREN

network came together to form a consortium that led to the

establishment of the NgREN.

THE CONSORTIUM APPROACH TO NgREN


29

• Established as a Private entity Limited by Guarantee on the

21st of February 2012, NgREN is owned by fee-paying

members and all proceeds are for reinvestment to sustain

services.

• It has its own Governing Board comprising representatives

of Stakeholder organisations.

• There are six Vice Chancellors on the founding Board and

provision does exist for expanding its membership

THE CONSORTIUM APPROACH TO NgREN (2)


30

• It currently has the following services categories:

1. Available Services: Up to 155 mbps of Internet bandwidth to eachmember, IP telephony platform, video conferencing services.

2. Planned Services: hosting of web sites, DNS, IPLC to London,repositories setup, access to resources from other NRENs, storageservices, high performance computing, Identity Federation(authentication, authorization, access control), Managed services,Level 2 and Level 3 Network support, Internet Exchange, IPv4 & IPv6infrastructure, BGP peering. subscription to Ebsco host e-journals andeBooks, subscription to Science Direct e-journals

3. Security services: (antivirus, anti-spam, Intrusion Prevention, Denial ofservice protection, web filtering, etc.)

THE CONSORTIUM APPROACH TO NgREN (2)


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THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

www.ngren.edu.ng


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Documents

Ng ren consortium