It is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s (BA) commitment to recapture the spirit of the Ancient Library of Alexandria by being a center of excellence in the production and dissemination of knowledge, a meeting place for minds, and a place for learning and understanding between cultures and peoples. The BA aims to be a center of learning and a leading institution of the digital age, with special regional focuses, among which is Africa.
We are proud to provide the BA Information for Africa (BAIFA) for African countries with the aim of promoting research and enhancing the role of information services to support development. The BAIFA information services will include full access to two of Elsevier’s databases, ScienceDirect and Scopus for eligible researchers and research institutions who are unable to access information and meet BAIFA membership criteria. The services also provide diverse training programs, including information literacy and library professional development courses, in addition to other courses in collaboration with Elsevier.
In October 2013, the BA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Netherlands on the relocation of a large number of book and journals at the BA. Similarliy, in December 2013, the BA signed a memorandum of understanding with Elsevier to provide 150 free passwords to fully access two of Elsevier’s databases: ScienceDirect and Scopus. The aim of this agreement is to collaborate on research capacity building to address the needs of the Virtual Knowledge Community (VKC), previously provided by the KIT Library.
Through BAIFA and based on the two memoranda of understanding, the BA is capitalizing on a former effort paid by the library of the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherland (the KIT Library) together with Elsevier for the best interest of researchers and research institutions in least-developed and low-income countries around the world. The BAIFA will focus on developing countries in Africa, in addition to active members in the KIT’s VKC. The BA will not only work on keeping the KIT’s resources frequently updated, but will also strive to develop other information dissemination tools to fulfil the scholarly needs of the BAIFA members.