Stakeholders' View Of Ghana's University Libraries

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Franco (1995) in a study of human resourcesin the library system of the Pontifical CatholicUniversity of Chile (SUBC) made several ob-servations that confirm some of the findings in this study. On the socio-cultural dimension she also found out that there was a negative impactof historical weaknesses of public libraries andschool libraries on university library development in Chile, exacerbated by poor reading habits ofthe young. Like this study Franco (1995) also found the positive or negative effects of monetaryexchange policies and the markets on the biblio-graphic materials acquisition budget of her uni-versity library. She highlights stringent customslaws and regulations and their negative impacton collection development of SIBUC.This study has also supported results in researchon planning in developing countries, for exampleas regards several factors that differentiate theplanning environment in developing countriesfrom that of developed countries as identified byFlores (1972), Adegbite (1986), Fubara (1986) andMrema (1987). Such factors include the absence oftechnology required to systematically monitor theexternal environment and collect needed data, ahighly unstable economic and political environ-ment, the absence of technological infrastructureand the lack of political will for information-re-lated development.The findings of the present study also supportthe findings of management research in the trans-ferability of management theory and practicesdeveloped in western economies to other coun-tries. The findings of Kiggundu, Jorgensen andHafsi (1983) that managerial activities concerninghow the organisation relates to its environmentwere difficult to transfer from western economicsto developing countries are corroborated by thisstudy. The findings of the survey on the externalenvironment from the major stakeholder perspec-tive developed further the character of strategicdecision-making in Ghana and university librar-ies in particular. It is evident that the economicand political factors were the most dynamic andmost hostile of all the five environmental seg-ments of political, economic, socio-cultural, tech-nological and international.The perceived high level of environmental un-certainty in the political environment in thisstudy is centred primarily on government regula-tions and interventions. This however has beenthe norm in the history of the universities inGhana but the present university workers havealways opposed every new policy of the presentgovernment. What is new here is the degree ofuncertainty that the libraries are encountering inother areas – uncertainty as to closures of librariesbecause of a striking pressure group, uncertaintyas to the future balance between national anduniversity interests as government attempts torevamp the economy, uncertainty as to continuouscompetition between libraries and other depart-ments of the universities for limited resources and

Macroenvironmental Analysis for Strategic Management273the gradual erosion of the powerbase of the librar-ies that prevents them from competing effectivelyfor these resources.

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