| Claudette Fay Durrant | |
| Professor of Library and Information Studies | |
Department of Library and Information
Studies
Faculty of Arts and Educational Studies
University of the West Indies
Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica
Phone (876) 927 2944; Fax: (876) 970-9340
Curriculim Vitae
Fay Durrant (Prof)
Head Department of Library and Information Studies
University of the West Indies
Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica
Phone (876) 927-2944, Fax (876) 970-9340
Email : [email protected]
Name, Qualifications, and Where Obtained
Claudette Fay Durrant
MLS 1988 (Syracuse University School of Information Studies)
BLS 1968 ( University of Toronto School of Library Science )
BA 1966 (University of the West Indies Spanish (Hons.))
Details of Present Position
Title : Professor and Head of the Department of Library and Information Studies. Faculty of Arts and Education, University of the West Indies , Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica .
Awardee Mona Research Fellowship 2004/2005 – 2005/2006
Nature and Scope:
following areas:
Date of Appointment August 1 2000 : on contract to July 31 2006 .
Scholastic and University Record
Regional Information Systems.
1968 BLS General studies in Cataloguing and Classification, Bibliography and
Reference, Management of libraries and Computers in Libraries.
Latin American History.
School
Professional qualifications and affiliations
Library and Information Association of Jamaica (LIAJA) Executive Member 2001- and First Vice President and President Elect 2004 -
Association of Caribbean University , Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL)
Executive Council Member; 2002-2004
Co-chair Local Organizing Committee ACURIL XXXII. 2002.
Details of Previous Positions
1997 - 2000Director, Association of Caribbean States. At the newly established Secretariat, I was responsible for coordinating the work of the Special Committee on Science, Technology, Health, Education and Culture; and the Special Committee on Budget and Administration. I also had overall responsibility for the development of the information systems and the implementation of the electronic communication system for interaction between the Secretariat and the Member States . I obtained extra-budgetary funding from the Caribbean Development Bank for language training for OECS Government Officials; from UNDP for budget and administration consultants; and from the Cisneros Corporation for computer equipment for some Member States and for a regional analysis of the telecommunications infrastructure in the region.
1989 - 1997Senior Program Specialist for Information Sciences at the , International Development Research Centre ( IDRC). I was responsible for providing technical assistance to institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean including UWI, and for administering funding of approximately 1 million Canadian dollars per year for research and development projects in the region. My particular areas were the development of regional information networks, the introduction of electronic mail and the Internet and research into the role of information in social policy making. My projects included institutional support for the Department of Library and Information Studies, and Research on Information for Decision Making with the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
1984 - 1989Independent consultant. I worked under contract mainly with the FAO, IDRC, Unesco, UNECLAC, Commonwealth Secretariat, and the CARICOM Secretariat, to design evaluate and implement national and regional information systems. Under contract with CARICOM and UNECLAC I prepared in 1988, A regional information systems strategy for the Caribbean to the year 2000 which was published by IDRC in 1989. This strategy was presented in 1988 to the CARICOM Heads of Government, and has been used as the basis of the harmonization of the regional information systems.
1979 - 1983 Library and Information Training Officer United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean . This involved holding training sessions for librarians in the methodologies and techniques for participation in CARISPLAN, a regional network of 18 countries. I prepared the CARISPLAN Indexing manual and the CARISPLAN Abstracting manual, which were used during the training sessions, and which continue to be used by libraries in the region. I travelled to all 18 member countries of ECLAC to consult with Directors of Planning and with the National Librarians, to hold national and regional workshops and to provide technical assistance in the development of national documentation centres. Over 200 librarians, and participated in seminars, and were trained during this period.
1981 Awardee Unesco Fellowship to participate in the University of Sheffield Dept of Library and Information Studies Summer School for lecturers in Library and Information Studies
1975 - 1979Assistant Librarian Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat Cataloguer and Indexer, with responsibility for cataloguing and development of indexes to the CARICOM documents.
1973 - 1975Assistant Librarian University of the West Indies Law Library Cave Hill , Barbados . Selection of materials. I undertook a pilot project for the indexing of Caribbean judgments. This pilot project provided the framework for this resource which has been continued by the Law Library.
1968 - 1973Assistant Librarian University of the West Indies Main Library, Mona Jamaica. Responsible for Government Serials. I initiated the indexing of the Ministry Papers of the Jamaican Parliament, and collaborated with the Dept of Government in providing information sources for Readings in Government and Politics edited by Trevor Munroe and Rupert Lewis and for postgraduate seminars. Awardee Government of the Netherlands Fellowship to methodologies for developing collections of the United Nations and related agencies.
1967 Awardee CIDA Scholarship to study at the University of Toronto School of Library Science
Gender Equity, Information and Communications Technology and ConnectivityPaper presented to the Mona Academic Conference on Gender in the 21 st Century: Perspectives, Visions and Possibilities: Bridging Epistemologies, Constructing New Paradigms August 2003 Accepted for publication..
Knowledge management in the context of Government Caribbean Journal of Public Sector Management.) 2002. NOTE: This article is a revised version of the presentation to the Caribbean Regional Ministerial Consultation and High Level Workshop on E-Government, Information and Communication Technologies in Public Sector Management, Montego Bay , December 10 -14, 2001.
E-government and the Internet in the Caribbean : an initial assessment. Published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag), August 2002.
Telecentres in Jamaica : report prepared for the Jamaica National Commission for for Unesco. November 2001.
Report on the establishment of two multipurpose telecentres : prepared for the Jamaica National Commission for Unesco. February 2002.
Language issues in the Association of Caribbean States. Chapter in Association of Caribbean States. 1999.
Strategic alliances and information networking in the Caribbean . Paper presented to the 14 th CANTO conference and Trade Exhibition 1998 and chapter in Association of Caribbean States – Trade Transport and Tourism, December 1998.
Information for Policy Formulation: Latin America and the Caribbean. In McConnell, P ed Making a difference: measuring the impact of information. Ottawa, IDRC Books 1995
The role of information in the process of policy formulation: proposals for Latin America and the Caribbean. In Morales Gomez, D and Mario Torres, eds. Social Policy in a Global Society, Ottawa , IDRC Books, 1995.
Information technology and Government in the Caribbean (editor) Commonwealth Secretariat, 1990
A regional information system strategy for the Caribbean to the year 2000 . (IDRC Manuscript Reports) Ottawa , 1989.
Mona Research Fellowship - The research will identify, document and analyze the factors which have contributed to the advances in access to information in the Caribbean, with emphasis on the period from 1980 to 2005.
The role of community telecentres in Jamaica in providing access to the Internet: a set of case studies. Grant received from UWI Research and Publications Fund.
Two special courses on research methodologies for librarians were mounted for librarians at the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology , Jamaica . The courses were taught along with Dr Cherrell Robinson. Both courses employed web-based electronic discussion groups, and the course for St Augustine and Cave Hill was taught via UWIDEC.
Global Forum on Evidence Based Governance , (organized by the International Records Management Trust and the World Bank) Johannesburg , September 8-13, 2002
eGovernment: State of the Art and Perspectives (organized by University of Linz ) Aix-en-Provence , France , September 2-6 2002 .
Caribbean Regional Ministerial Consultation and High Level Workshop on E-Government, Information and Communication Technologies in Public Sector Management, Montego Bay, December 10 -14, 2001. (organized by CARICAD)
Small islands in the third millennium : Sharing solutions to common problems International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA) Islands of the World VI Conference, Isle of Skye , 16 - 20 October, 2000 . ( Paper presented in absentia.)
Changing Models for ICT enabled Public Library Access & Usage: from Internet Access to digital libraries Presented to Jamaica Internet Forum II, May 2004
Assessing digital library software with special reference to Greenstone digital library software. Presented to ACURIL XXXIV, Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago , May 2004 (Paper presented in absentia)
Developments in egovernment Presented to ACURIL XXXIII, San Juan , Puerto Rico , May 2003
Egovernment for development Presented to Jamaica Internet Forum , February 2003
Expanding Horizons: librarians and knowledge management. Presented to ACURIL XXXII, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, May 27 – June 1, 2002.
Educating librarians in the Caribbean Conference on the Living Library The Library Association of Trinidad and Tobago , Port of Spain , November 7 – 9 2001 .
Regional Information Systems in the Caribbean , Keynote address at the Opening Session of the Eighth Meeting of the Caribbean Information Action Group (CARINFO), May 7, 2001, Wildey, Barbados http://www.caribank.org/Secretar.nsf./pages.eighth.
“Creators, providers and users : Library Services, Publishing and the Media, “ Jamaica Library Association Conference, Managing Knowledge, Convergence in a Global Economy, Kingston, November, 9-10, 2000.
Telecommunications policies facilitators of access to information in the Caribbean . Paper presented to ACURIL XXX Nassau, The Bahamas, June 2000.
Strategic alliances and information networking in the Caribbean . Paper presented to the 14 th CANTO conference and Trade Exhibition, Puerto Plata , Dominican Republic , May 1998.
Society catching up with the technology: Assessing the impact of information and telecommunications on policy formulation . Paper presented to INET 96, Montreal , Canada , 25-28 June, 1996. http://www.crim.ca/inet96/papers/h3/h3_4.htmOR http://www.isoc.org/isoc/whatis/conferences/inet/96/proceedings/h3/h3_4.htm OR http://infolac.ucol.mx/document os/politicas/02.pdf
Assessing the impact of information on policy formulation Paper presented to FID / INFO'95 Workshop, Havana , Cuba , October 1995.
Strategies for increasing visibility and access to information in the Caribbean , Paper presented to ACURIL XXV, San Juan , Puerto Rico , 1995.
Towards strategic use of information? A review of information management in the Caribbean 1993. ACURIL XXIII Barbados 1994.
Board of the National Library of Jamaica and Chair Collection Development Sub-committee 2004 –
Jamaica Library Service Board of Management 2004 –
Advisor to the Jamaican Delegation to the Special Meeting of the UN General Assembly on Information and Communication Technologies for Development. June 17 – 18 2002 .
Member, Management Board of the Jamaica Sustainable Development Network. 2002 -
Member , Jamaica Advisory Committee on the National Information System 2001 -
Library and Information Association of Jamaica (LIAJA) Member, Executive Committee and Member, Information Technology Working Party
Jamaican National Commission for Unesco, and the Information for All Advisory Committee, and Chair of the Copyright sub-committee
Member, Caribbean Information Action Group (CARINFO) 2000 -
Trinidad and Tobago , National library and Information System Board 1999 -2000
Member, Mona Campus Council 2001 – 2002
Chair, Mona Campus Committee on the UWI/WIGUT Productivity Incentive Scheme.
Member, Mona Campus Finance and General Purpose Committee
Member Mona Campus Committee for developing the strategic plan 2002 – 2007.
CAN $44,000 Grant to develop an advanced programme on Access to Informtion and Records Management at Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels.
US $10,000 Unesco Project for a survey and assessment of telecentres in Jamaica and the establishment of two multipurpose telecentres.
J$200,000 UWI Research and Publications Fund – Research into the impact of eights telecentres in Jamaica on access to the Internet.
Caseta Nelson As study of the information needs and information seeking behaviour of farmers in Portland . (Submitted 2004)
Delbert Morrison (MA) Knowledge Management practices in selected institutions in Jamaica (Submitted 2004)
Thelma White (MA) Faculty status of librarians at the University of Technology , Jamaica (Submitted 2004)
Claudette Valentine ( MA) Globalization and the information profession : special librarians use of the Internet in Jamaica . (Submitted 2002)
Christine Chan A Shing (MLS) Librarians and knowledge management in Trinidad and Tobago . (Submitted 2003)
June Johnson (MA) User education at the Hirman S. Walters Resource Center of the Northern Caribbean University. (Submitted 2003)
Independent studies (LS69B)
Jacqueline Howell-Nash Information Rich and Information Poor : challenges for the Caribbean for access and availability of information. 2004
Yulande Lindsay ( MLS) (Libraries as Facilitators in the modern Information Society. 2002
Arnel Grant (MLS) Information access : trends and issues and Caribbean
Implications. 2001
In recognition of the convergence of the elements of the information sector I have begun to incorporate the concepts and techniques of Knowledge Management into the curriculum. This has been done in courses including LS65B, LS60B, in LS37F and in the research for MA/MLS papers. Initial consultations have been held with funding agencies with a view to obtaining extra resources for extending the curriculum.
The first project has been supported by the Government of Canada and will enable the Department in collaboration with the University of Toronto to offer two courses Internet based courses by distance in Records Management and Access to Information.
With a view to increasing opportunities for interaction with students in the classes which I teach, I introduced electronic discussion groups which have permitted students to ask questions or to make comments between sessions, and to interact extensively with the other members of the class. I have also encouraged and assisted other academic staff in the Department to establish similar groups for their classes.
Evaluation of the Information Sciences Projects supported by IDRC in the Caribbean . 1989.
Caribbean Agricultural Technology Information system - system design (FAO) 1989.
Regional consultation for the development of a regional information system strategy for the Caribbean to the year 2000. 1998 . National Agricultural Research Institute ( Guyana ) - Information System Design, (FAO) 1988.
A national information system for Aruba . Paris, Unesco. 1988
Establishment of the OECS Information Network (OECS / IDRC) 1987.
Consultation regarding a National Information System for Saint Lucia (UNECLAC) 1987
Feasibility study for the development of OECS INFONET 1985. (IDRC)
July 20, 2004