The paper describes the evaluation findings from a pilot course on Openness run for AfLIA members in 2024, and demonstrates the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) framework for academic and research librarians developed by AfLIA and OER Africa, as well as how the framework will be used within a Community of Practice/Network set up by the two organisations.
A short course on Openness was piloted for librarians in February 2024, and 20 certificates of completion were issued. The participants found all topics (e.g. open licensing and OER) highly relevant and the duration (5 weeks) appropriate. Several recommendations for future courses were made, such as a clearer orientation, greater interactivity, and improvement of navigation in the Learning Management System (Moodle). AfLIA subsequently ran a second iteration of the course.
OER Africa has embarked on a process of developing frameworks for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for university professionals in Africa. A framework is a planning guide for CPD that supports the career development of professionals. Although CPD can be carried out in an ad hoc and informal manner, it is likely to be more effective if it is planned. Informed by the Openness course evaluation, AfLIA, on behalf of OER Africa, has developed a CPD framework for academic and research librarians consisting of ten domains. The domains are identified areas of expertise that are considered critical for African academic and research librarians to competently deliver information services that drive teaching, learning and research for quality and inclusive education. The domains are broken down into capability descriptors, comprising the essential competences that an academic librarian needs to attain. Each capability descriptor is supported by one or more carefully curated CPD openly licensed resources that can be used by individuals or an institution to assist with the development of its librarians. All the resources can be accessed from the OER Africa website, and form a unique resource of open knowledge.
In 2022, OER Africa and AfLIA set up a training network for librarians as a WhatsApp group. In response to demand from the group and the success of the Openness course in its second iteration, the two organisations plan to run self-directed learning interventions for its members based on key CPD needs of librarians as identified in the framework. The paper concludes with a demonstration of the CPD framework and its curated resources, and how these will be used in the training network.