A list of useful materials, including materials relating generally to resource centres, and those relating more specifically to individual sections of the resource centre manual.

Please note that all links to external websites on this page will open in a new browser window.

Section 1 Planning a resource centre
Section 2 Management and finance
Section 4 Space, furniture and equipment
Section 5 Organising the information
Section 6 ICT - Computers, electronic communication and databases
Section 7 Information services
Section 8 Making links and promoting the resource centre
Section 9 Monitoring and evaluation

General

BAIRD, Nicola
Setting up and running a school library
London : VSO : and : Harcourt Education, 1994, 137 p ill.
ISBN: 0 435 92304 8
Practical guide to setting up and running a school library. Designed for teachers and untrained librarians.
Note: Translated into Hindi in 2001, but these translations no longer in stock
(ISBN: 0 435 99928 1).
Available from: Heinemann International Division, Harcourt Education, Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8EJ, UK E-mail: international@harcourteducation.co.uk
Internet: http://www.internationalschools.co.uk Fax: +44 1865 314 290
Price: £5.50

CENTRE FOR HEALTH EDUCATION TRAINING AND NUTRITION AWARENESS (CHETNA)
How to manage a user-friendly documentation centre : a training module
Ahmedabad : CHETNA, 2002, 56 p.
A training manual for resource centre or information managers. It includes the basics of setting up a resource centre. The first section presents a number of training exercises, and the second section provides 2–3 pages of bullet points and explanations on each topic, including identifying an appropriate location, ordering, cataloguing and classifying materials, using a database, labelling/signposting, shelving, circulation, and finally promoting the centre.
Available from: Centre for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA), Lilavatiben Lalbhai's Bungalow, Civil Camp Road, Shahibaugh, Ahmedabad 380 004, Gujarat, India
E-mail: chetna@icenet.net
Internet: http://www.chetnaindia.org Fax: +91 79 2866513 / 2113005
Price: Rs50 US$5.00

CHIWARE, Elisha and HADEBE, Bonani (Eds)
A manual for rural libraries in Zimbabwe
Bulawayo : Rural Libraries and Resources Development Programme, 1992, 72 p ill.
ISBN: 0 7974 1059 7
A useful manual intended for rural libraries in Zimbabwe, but applicable to all small resource centres and libraries.
Available from: Rural Libraries and Resources Development Programme (RLRDP), PO Box 439, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
E-mail: rlrdp@samara.co.zw
Fax: +263 9 75337

DREYER, Libby and KARLSSON, Jenni
Ulwazi : for power and courage. A guide to starting a resource centre
Durban : Media Resource Centre : Pietermaritzburg : Community Resource Centre Training Project, 1991, 80 p ill.
ISBN: 0 86980 831 1
This book is a good introduction to anyone wishing to set up a community resource centre. It provides practical information on how and why, plus a resource list of organisations, including training providers, publishers and other resource centres.
Available from: Media Resource Centre, Department of Education, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa
Fax: +27 31 261 6880

INTERNATIONAL WATER AND SANITATION CENTRE (IRC)
Organizing local documentation services for the water and sanitation sector : guidelines
(Reference Series No. 9.)
The Hague : IRC, 1994, 97 p.
Guidelines for the development of local documentation centres which can be maintained with minimum effort, and provide useful information on water and sanitation to colleagues and the local community.
Available from: IRC International Water & Sanitation Centre, PO Box 2869, 2601 CW Delft, The Netherlands
E-mail: general@irc.nl
Internet: http://www.irc.nl
Fax: +31 15 219 09 55
Price: EU€9.00

INTERNATIONAL WATER AND SANITATION CENTRE (IRC)
The Streams of Knowledge toolbox
Draft
Delft : IRC, Oct 2001, 30 p.
This set of tools forms the draft Toolbox on Streams of Knowledge (SoK). It is a work in progress. It uses results in learning among partners in the SoK coalition that work together to strengthen resource centres’ contributions to improved water and sanitation delivery. The learning process emerged from the project Study into Resources and Management (STREAM) of drinking water supply and sanitation centres in four continents. This brought together IRC's long standing partners and new ones in a joint learning process of what makes effective resource centres.
Tools include:
1. Diagnostic study
2. Understanding the resource centre concept
3. Assessing the potential of a resource centre
4. Gender scan guideline
5. Consolidating resource centres
6. Electronic information services
7. Evaluating effectiveness of resource centres and their partners
8. Self-assessment guide
9. Improving management & control functions
10. Quality assurance
11. Impact Assessment.

Web location: http://www.streamsofknowledge.net/toolbox.html
Available from: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, PO Box 2869, 2601 CW Delft, The Netherlands
E-mail: general@irc.nl
Internet: http://www.irc.nl, http://www.streamsofknowledge.net
Fax: +31 15 21 929 39
Price: Free

KANNAPIRAN, C
Documentation for change
WORLD HEALTH FORUM Vol 11 No 3. 1990, p 313–317.
Discusses the role and function of health documentation centres, with reference to the experiences gained by the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI).

KANNAPIRAN, C and MUNJAL, S and KAPOOR, A and MALHOTRA, K
Basics of documentation
New Delhi : VHAI, 1988, 90 p.
Available from: Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), Tong Swasthya Bhawan, 40 Institutional Area, South of IIT, New Delhi 110 016, India
E-mail: vhai@sify.com
Internet: http://www.vhai.org
Fax: +91 11 6853708

KENYA MINISTRY OF HEALTH Library Development Project of Continuing Education Programme and African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF)
Basic health libraries : an information management handbook
Kenya : Ministry of Health : AMREF, 1994, 140 p.
Covers basic health library management for rural health libraries. Each chapter includes objectives and review exercises.
Available from: African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), AMREF Book Distribution Unit, PO Box 30125, Nairobi, Kenya E-mail: jireri@amrefhq.org
Internet: http://www.amref.org/publications.htm
Price: Ksh450

MATERIA, Enrico (et al)
Making a start with district health libraries
WORLD HEALTH FORUM Vol 15 No 1. 1994, p 89–92.
Discusses the pilot project to establish and develop 30 district health libraries in Tanzania and Uganda. It includes a useful set of guidelines for establishing, developing and promoting district health libraries.

MCINTYRE, Peter
Streams of knowledge : the role of water and sanitation resource centres in closing the gap on unmet needs
Delft : IRC, Mar 2000, 24 p.
This is an account of how resource centres around the world are playing a crucial role in helping people to secure safe water supplies and effective sanitation in an era of rapid population growth and social change. Outlines some of the lessons learned by IRC in its experience of developing resource centres.
Web location: http://www.streamsofknowledge.net/booklet.html
Available from: International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), PO Box 2869, 2601 CW Delft, Netherlands
E-mail: general@irc.nl
Internet: http://www.irc.nl, http://www.streamsofknowledge.net
Fax: +31 15 21 929 39
Price: Free

PHILIPPS, Eva
Documentation made easy : a library manual for nongovernmental organizations specializing in appropriate technology and rural development
Wiesbaden : Vieweg & Son, 1990, 205 p ill.
ISBN: 3 528 02054 7
This is the work of a practitioner who is well acquainted with her subject, and who gives those in charge of documentation in development associations many examples and tools as well as a general filing layout for the small libraries of grassroots organisations. The manual is aimed primarily at readers with no previous experience in librarianship and documentation.
Web location: http://www5.gtz.de/gate/publications/G28doe.pdf
Available from: German Appropriate Technology Exchange (GATE), Information Service, PO Box 5180, 657 26 Eschborn, Germany E-mail: gate-id@gtz.de
Internet: http://www.gtz.de/gate
Fax: +49 6196 797352
Price: US$15.25

POWELL, Mike
Information management for development organisations
2nd ed.
(Oxfam Development Guidelines.)
Oxford : Oxfam, 2003, 294 p.
ISBN: 0 85598 483 X
The book is about managing information in the workplace rather than in a resource centre or library. It is aimed at managers of community groups and non-governmental organisations in developing countries and elsewhere. It aims to help them to think critically about what kinds of information they, their staff, and their project partners need. It discusses how they can access such information, manage it, and communicate it in the most effective and equitable way. It includes some practical tools and exercises to help readers to relate the ideas to their own situations. In this second edition, discussions of knowledge management, capacity building, institutional learning, evaluation and impact assessment, research, information products, and evidence-based work have been added, or considerably extended, together with a number of new case studies.
Available from: Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK, or in southern Africa: Anglia Book and Freight Consolidators, PO Box 140, Sedgefield 6573, South Africa
E-mail: publish@oxfam.org.uk, info@anglia.co.za
Internet: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/publications
Fax: +44 1865 313 713, +27 44 343 3066
Price: £10.95

PRADHAN, Mohan Raj (Ed)
Health libraries and information networks in Nepal
(National Seminar in Health Library/Information Networks.)
Dharan : B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, 1995, 98 p ill.
Contains papers contributed to the seminar, representing the situation and development of health libraries in Nepal. The development issues have an emphasis on the use of IT.
Available from: B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Ghopha, Dharan, Nepal
E-mail: ihs@bpkihs.edu
Internet: http://www.bpkihs.edu
Fax: + 977 25 20251
Price: US$10 Rs300

Resource centres : building living libraries [whole issue]
CONTACT No 134. Dec 93, 18 p.
Discusses the principles of running successful resource centres, including involving the community. It also provides examples of resource centres that are already in action around the world.

SUPE, Gaby
Health information centre for young people
[In: Hands on! A manual for working with youth on sexual and reproductive health / ROLLIN, Julika GABRIEL, Annette (Eds)]
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), 2002, 14 p.
Sets out the principles which led to the creation of the Health Information, Education and Communication Centre for Youth Sexual Health (CISJEU). Highlights the process the project team went through to deal with issues such as location of the centre, developing appropriate services (including a education activities and a counselling unit), human resources and financing, and involving young people and their parents in its management.
Web locations: http://www.gtz.de/srh/download/HO_2.5%20Health%20Information%20Centre%20for%20Young%20People.pdf, http://www.gtz.de/srh/english/biblio/biblio1.html
Available from: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Dag-Hammarskjold-Weg 1–5, 65760 Eschborn, Germany
E-mail: christina.neckermann@gtz.de
Internet: http://www.gtz.de/srh
Price: Free

TOTTERDELL, Anne and HORNSEY, Alan and PULLEN, Lyn
Library and information work primer
2nd ed.
London : Facet Publishing, 2001, 216 p.
ISBN: 1 85604 420 3
Provides a practical, educational underpinning to Library Information Service (LIS) work for a broad range of new and recent entrants to the profession, for individuals working towards UK NVQ and City and Guilds qualifications and first-year undergraduate LIS courses. The book looks at the key areas of competence necessary for the efficient and informed practice of a wide range of jobs in the LIS sector. Replaces The basics of information skills teaching 3rd ed 1996.
Note: See http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk for list of distributors in Singapore, Australia, USA, Europe and Japan.
Available from: Bookpoint Ltd, Mail Order Department, 130 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4SB, UK
E-mail: facet@bookpoint.co.uk
Internet: http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk
Fax: +44 1235 400454
Price: £19.95 plus £2.50 postage and packing

WEBB, Sylvia P
Creating an information service
3rd ed.
London : Aslib, 1996, 134 p.
ISBN: 0 85142 360 4
Practical approach to setting up a library or information service, of particular relevance to those working in one-person libraries. Includes 'real life' examples, checklists, and useful contact addresses.
Available from: Aslib Books and Directories, Aslib/Europa, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK E-mail: sales.europa@tandf.co.uk
Internet: http://www.aslib.co.uk
Fax: +44 20 7842 2249
Price: £21.00 plus £2.50 postage and packing £16.99 Aslib members

WEITZEL, Rolf
Library services for primary health care
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE Vol 32 No 1. 1991, p 51–58.
The paper highlights the inadequate provision of library and information services for health care staff in developing countries. It identifies different types of information need and suggests how these could be met by simple and inexpensive means.

WENDELL, Laura
Libraries for all! : how to start and run a basic library
Paris : UNESCO, 1998, 115 p.
A practical guide for those interested in establishing and managing a library in a developing country, particularly of interest to those developing community libraries. Available in English, French and Spanish.
Web location: http://www.rtpnet.org/~wlp/publications/lfa.shtml