Interdisciplinary Seminar:
Women and the Information Society
Convener: Pieke Hoekstra, the Netherlands

Towards Implementing WSIS Agenda: Implications for Women Librarians in Nigeria
Halima Sadia Egberongbe, Nigerian Association of University Women

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is an initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations specialized agency. The summit was organized in two phases, one in 2003, one in 2005. It called for a partnership between governments, UN bodies, international/governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, civil society and the private sector to contribute to, and actively participate in, the intergovernmental preparatory process of the summit and the summit itself (UN/IYU, 2005).

The outcome of the two Summits consists of broad-based principles and action plans for harnessing the relevant public goods in ways that would lead to the development of an inclusive information society, recognizing the critical role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in such a society’s evolution.

An international library coalition under the leadership of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) used the window opened to civil society to contribute to the outcome. The effort of librarians in Nigeria, especially the Association of Women Librarians, in reaching out to various sectors of society to embrace ICT is highlighted in a discussion of the impact of the Information Society on women in Nigeria. Although Nigeria experienced radical growth in ICT facilities between 2000 and 2004, and although the President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has enumerated a number of actions already taken , there is still poor understanding of the IS and its global implications for well over 98% of the population in the country of more than 130 million people.

Halima Sadia Egberongbe, Principal Librarian and Head of Reader Services at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, holds a B.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Science and Technology, Ghana, a Post Graduate Diploma in Librarianship from the University of Ghana, and a Masters degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos. She is a past Treasurer of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria, and current Secretary of the Nigerian Association of University Women, Lagos Chapter.