Search results

University libraries are not only crossroads of scholarly communities but are also now connecting business proprietors to places, institutions, and resources that support business growth. Therefore, through creating new formal and informal partnerships, university libraries can create friendly environments where external users like small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can work together to access and use research and innovation (R&I) information for the sustenance and growth of their business ventures. Vibrant and reengineered university library partnership programs can go a long way in engaging national, regional, and international business growth activities.

This chapter reports on a study carried out on Ugandan university libraries and how they can serve SMEs with their university’s research output. The purpose of the study was to investigate the need for restructuring university library partnerships in order to serve SMEs better through their R&I information services. The study used an exploratory research design and used questionnaires and interviews to collect data. This chapter reports on available formal and informal innovative university libraries’ partnerships with different organizational levels of SMEs; the communication and organizational structures between university libraries and SMEs; shared visions, missions, standards, and policies of Ugandan university libraries and SMEs; and the roles and collaborations with professional library bodies such as the Consortium of Ugandan University Libraries (CUUL), Uganda Library and Information Association (ULIA), and the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL), among others.