Abstract
The study sought to assess the role of information professionals in the provision information about the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa with the views of recommending best practices of disseminating public information. The qualitative approach was utilized to collect data from information officers. The researcher found that the majority of the public were not utilizing the information centre because of lack of awareness of information resource centre preserved by an information resource centre. The review found that information resources were not providing access to information centre effectively due to staff who lack appropriate skills and knowledge on public health awareness. It also appears that inadequate budget allocation to conduct public health awareness was lacking. Public awareness should be conducted in the Mpumalanga Provincial government. The research findings shed new lights on the perspective that information professional plays an essential role in promoting public health awareness.
TopIntroduction
Information Resource centre provides a rich source of reliable and verifiable primary resource about any events and health issues. This means that information management discipline involves the process and control of the creation, maintenance, use and dissemination of information to various stakeholders. Effective dissemination of public information requires codification of information to ensure that sensitive information or information with personal information is not disseminated to the public in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act 14 of 2013 (POPIA 2013). Due to the spread of COVID 19 pandemic, information professionals are facing the challenges of providing online resources, increasing access to health records and providing health information while adjusting to a limited budget, limited skills on information and communication technology. In the context of COVID 19, promoting equitable access to benefits and opportunities to all particularly among the disadvantaged member of society, the concept of user perspective is critical during this pandemic. The research conducted by Yousuf (2020) state the following during this pandemic what the librarians can use during this time of COVID 19:
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To promote public health awareness by creating and disseminating information relating to preventive measures.
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To support research team, researchers and faculty by providing information regarding the latest developments, research and to meet the core needs of regular information users.
The research revealed that researchers, academics, community activists visited information institutions to conduct research, learn about their health issues found gaps in health-related information. This implied that information institutions were faced with the challenges to raise public health awareness (Ngoepe and Ngulube 2011). It is the responsibilities of the information resource centres to develop a platform of researchers to access public health information during this pandemic. This is because the rationale for the right to information is rooted in the concept of open and transparent government (Adams 2006). Access to information provides citizens with a statutory right to know and ensure that government become accountable to people. This chapter sought to assess the role of information professionals in South Africa on the provision of information during COVID -19 through analysing their level of skills and competencies, and collaboration with various stakeholders.
TopBackground
Information professionals have the knowledge, skills and experience to play an important role in the fight against misinformation during the spread of COVID 19. This means that information professionals ensured accurate, relevant information should be available, understood, accepted and applied. It is worth bearing in mind that since the start of democracy in South Africa in 1994, information professionals have played a leading role in the information provided to the public (Setume 2015). However, most of the information professions were trained on management of paper-based records. This means that they were not trained in digital management to use information communication technology to provide information to the public. Government authorities should take understanding, evaluating and using information into account when informing the public about COVID-19 and adapt the information to the digital literacy of professionals (Van den Broucke 2020). Bin Naeem and Bhatti (2020) alluded that there is a need to develop mechanisms to prevent and counteract the spread of fake information. The researcher is of the view that the spread of COVID – 19 has had an effect on the information professionals in South Africa with the lack of provision of information to previously disadvantaged groups, particularly black communities, especially in Mpumalanga Province. The spread of COVID 19 highlights the current challenges confronting the information professionals and the urgency of embarking on public health awareness. The literature reviewed based on a transformation of communities, Professional Information officials skills and competencies to provide access to health information, collaboration and resources allocation
Key Terms in this Chapter
LIS Transformation Charter: This is the recapitalisation programme in South African government to transform library and information services from the apartheid system to the democratic state. The Charter aimed to establish national norms and standards for the library and information sectors concerning governance; education and training: investing in people, protecting the most disadvantaged people with disabilities, access and participation and establishing a culture of reading and the transformation of national culture.
Benchmark: It is a process of measuring the performance of a service or processes against those of another organisation considered to be the best in the industry. Benchmarking is to identify internal opportunities for improvement.
Knowledge Management: It is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organisation. It is the multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by utilising the best use of knowledge.
Information Resource Centre: It is a library institution that provides a range of information service to the community. They encourage people to use the information in the resource centre.
ICT Facilities: Information and Communication Technologies refers to technology that provides access to information through telecommunications such as the internet, wireless networks, social media, cell phones and other communications mediums.
Data Analysis: It is the process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming and modelling data to discover useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision- making.
Internal Planners: These factors relate to what is occurring inside the organisation. This includes how the organisation is changing to deal with new methods of working or new demands made on me, such as the introduction of new products or services.
Web 2.0: Websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability for end-users.
Intergovernmentalized: It is an interacting network of institutions at the United State of America federal, national, local levels created and refined to enable the various parts of government to cohere in a manner more or less appropriate to the institutional arrangement.
COVID-19: It is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus discovered in China.