A Discussion with Grace Ouedraogo, Consultation Library Administrator, CERCLE, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
With: Grace Ouedraogo Berkley Center Profile
July 14, 2014
Background: In July 2014, as part of the Education
and Social Justice Project, undergraduate student Hopey Fink interviewed Grace
Ouedraogo, administrator of the consultation library at the Center of Studies and Reflection for Students (le Centre d’Etude et de Réflexion pour Collégiens, Lycéens et Etudiants, CERCLE), a Jesuit-run
study center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In this interview, Ouedraogo discusses the role of
collaboration and discipline in the running of the library, as well as the
process of computerizing the center’s resources.
To begin, could you introduce yourself with your role here,
how many years you have been here, and so on?
I am Madame Ouedraogo La Grâce, and I have been here at CERCLE since the month of November. I have a master’s degree in professional management from a private university in Ouagadougou.
Concerning my role here, I oversee the running of the consultation library. At CERCLE, there are two libraries. One is for borrowing, and this one is just for consultation—we do not lend. My role is also to be able to be like an interface between the students and the administration. Regarding the documents that we have for the students here, there are some that do not respond to their needs. My role is to be able to ask the students what it is that they want us to provide for them in terms of documents and help in their work and research. I listen to them and bring their requests to the administration. It is what we have done for the past seven years, furnishing our library according to the demands of students. They propose documents themselves. I am like a bridge between the students and the administration.
What are some examples of these new documents that students request?
They need lots of new documents in physical sciences, in mathematics, penal and family law, management, and marketing. Those who study medicine also, they ask for such or such document. We try to buy them and provide them for consultation. We will be getting still others for the beginning of the next school year in September.
Are you here every day?
Yes, every day, all year. I work from 7 a.m. to noon, and then we close and open again at 3 p.m. I work from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and after me, there are several students who arrange to take over and continue working until 10 p.m.
Could you explain a bit how your role here is linked to the Jesuit mission of CERCLE ?
CERCLE is like a means to be able to educate young people. Concerning the library, there are documents that they propose that permit them to have a voice in their individual education.
Do the majority of students use the consultation library individually or in groups?
In this room, you must be silent.
Do you ever have problems with that?
We always have problems; for example, there are certain students who say no to the rule, but it is not recurring.
Is it part of your role also to support the rules like that of silence?
Yes, to be able to sensitize people to the rules of CERCLE is part of my role also. For example, when we say that the consultation library is a library for consultation only, there are some who still try to take the documents with them. It is my responsibility to tell the administration that there are documents that have not been returned, and those responsible must pay.
What type of system do you use to organize the documents?
When I first arrived, there was a system already in place; therefore, one of the challenges that I have discussed in meetings with Father Augustin [Some, S.J.] is the computerization of the library. Now, everything is done manually. When you are doing research, you must know what you are looking for. You find the code and look for the document. We would like for all of this to be digitized. We put a machine there, and you type the name of the document that you want to see if the document is there. You can then go look for the document. For the students, this way is much easier. We have already started; we are actually at the next phase [in the digitization process]. We have recorded all of the documents that we have in our library. And now we are at the notation phase.
With a computerized system, will your work also become easier?
Yes, of course!
What are the next steps now to realize the computerization process?
The first step is to collect each document that is at CERCLE. After recording all of them, they are entered into the machine. Now we need to decide whether to uses an existing notation system or develop our own.
Do you collaborate with the other library, the lending library?
Yes, in the lending library, there are some documents that also exist here. When a student wants a document here [in the consultation library] and wants to take it with him, he can go check if the same document is kept in the other library. The two libraries do not have the same hours of operation, and the other one is the only one that allows people to check out documents.
What is your biggest source of pride?
It is that CERCLE gives to students the keys that will bring them success. For example, I see students in terminale [the final secondary school level before one can take the baccalaureate exam] who come to consult documents here, and when they come back to see me they say, “Madame, I passed!” That makes me very content.
I am Madame Ouedraogo La Grâce, and I have been here at CERCLE since the month of November. I have a master’s degree in professional management from a private university in Ouagadougou.
Concerning my role here, I oversee the running of the consultation library. At CERCLE, there are two libraries. One is for borrowing, and this one is just for consultation—we do not lend. My role is also to be able to be like an interface between the students and the administration. Regarding the documents that we have for the students here, there are some that do not respond to their needs. My role is to be able to ask the students what it is that they want us to provide for them in terms of documents and help in their work and research. I listen to them and bring their requests to the administration. It is what we have done for the past seven years, furnishing our library according to the demands of students. They propose documents themselves. I am like a bridge between the students and the administration.
What are some examples of these new documents that students request?
They need lots of new documents in physical sciences, in mathematics, penal and family law, management, and marketing. Those who study medicine also, they ask for such or such document. We try to buy them and provide them for consultation. We will be getting still others for the beginning of the next school year in September.
Are you here every day?
Yes, every day, all year. I work from 7 a.m. to noon, and then we close and open again at 3 p.m. I work from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and after me, there are several students who arrange to take over and continue working until 10 p.m.
Could you explain a bit how your role here is linked to the Jesuit mission of CERCLE ?
CERCLE is like a means to be able to educate young people. Concerning the library, there are documents that they propose that permit them to have a voice in their individual education.
Do the majority of students use the consultation library individually or in groups?
In this room, you must be silent.
Do you ever have problems with that?
We always have problems; for example, there are certain students who say no to the rule, but it is not recurring.
Is it part of your role also to support the rules like that of silence?
Yes, to be able to sensitize people to the rules of CERCLE is part of my role also. For example, when we say that the consultation library is a library for consultation only, there are some who still try to take the documents with them. It is my responsibility to tell the administration that there are documents that have not been returned, and those responsible must pay.
What type of system do you use to organize the documents?
When I first arrived, there was a system already in place; therefore, one of the challenges that I have discussed in meetings with Father Augustin [Some, S.J.] is the computerization of the library. Now, everything is done manually. When you are doing research, you must know what you are looking for. You find the code and look for the document. We would like for all of this to be digitized. We put a machine there, and you type the name of the document that you want to see if the document is there. You can then go look for the document. For the students, this way is much easier. We have already started; we are actually at the next phase [in the digitization process]. We have recorded all of the documents that we have in our library. And now we are at the notation phase.
With a computerized system, will your work also become easier?
Yes, of course!
What are the next steps now to realize the computerization process?
The first step is to collect each document that is at CERCLE. After recording all of them, they are entered into the machine. Now we need to decide whether to uses an existing notation system or develop our own.
Do you collaborate with the other library, the lending library?
Yes, in the lending library, there are some documents that also exist here. When a student wants a document here [in the consultation library] and wants to take it with him, he can go check if the same document is kept in the other library. The two libraries do not have the same hours of operation, and the other one is the only one that allows people to check out documents.
What is your biggest source of pride?
It is that CERCLE gives to students the keys that will bring them success. For example, I see students in terminale [the final secondary school level before one can take the baccalaureate exam] who come to consult documents here, and when they come back to see me they say, “Madame, I passed!” That makes me very content.
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