| back to main menu | |
|
|
|
| Kenya "Training of Trainers"graduation, July 2000 |
Internet Training Workshops
Sabre’s efforts to make Internet training available to individuals and groups from developing and transitional societies have achieved impressive results this year. Sabre already has trained more people in 2000 than it has in any previous year. Importantly, Sabre’s increased focus on training individuals who will go on to train others, exemplified by the Kenya "Training of Trainers" workshop in July, extends the potential impact of this program far beyond those able to attend a Sabre workshop themselves.
Notable recent developments in Sabre’s Internet Training (IT) Workshops Program include:
Sabre’s first training workshop for an African partner. Robert Amoako, Executive Director of the Ghana Book Trust, attended a week-long workshop in June. Robert focused on enhancing his book distribution activities by creating an inventory control database and website for the Ghana Book Trust (www.ghanabooktrust.com).
Since returning to Ghana, Robert has conducted training sessions with a number of colleagues to share his new skills. Among those Robert has so far trained are representatives from the Kenya Book Foundation and the Tanzania Book Support Trust, two of Sabre’s newest partners in Africa.
| A continued focus on training
librarians. The number of requests
for training by librarians has increased significantly over the past year.
Fifteen years of donating books overseas has solidified Sabre’s position
as an organization devoted to library development, including the training
of library personnel and library needs assessments.
In October, a two-week workshop for Algerian librarians was held at Sabre’s Cambridge training center. An outgrowth of Sabre’s efforts to form a partnership with an Algerian non-profit organization, this workshop was made possible by the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, which seized an opportunity to fund the travel of four librarians to Sabre. The Algerian librarians received training in Internet searching, accessing library catalogues and databases, and creating library websites. Each is now well positioned to assist his or her individual library as Internet access becomes more widely available. Ms. Valentina Bannerman, a librarian from the University College of Education of Winneba, in Ghana, trained at Sabre for two weeks in November for similar reasons. She anticipates a day when her library is connected to the Internet and she wants to be able to assist library patrons and her colleagues in retrieving and evaluating Internet information. |
 |
| IT Workshop for Algerian librarians, October 2000 |
Workshops for Fulbright scholars. Sabre is currently offering training to Fulbright scholars in the Boston area. Selected by the Fulbright Program of the U.S. State Department to conduct intensive research projects at American colleges and universities, usually several months or more in duration, Fulbrighters are often overwhelmed by the wealth of information resources available to them in the United States. Some scholars with whom Sabre has worked have never used the Internet in their own countries while others seek training in a specific skill area pertinent to their work. Sabre’s trainers have helped some Fulbrighters learn basic Internet search skills and others to build electronic databases.
Sabre is currently scheduling training for Fulbright scholars from Bulgaria, Malaysia, and Thailand.