Synergies for Libraries in the Least Developed Countries: the Technology Bank in Pursuit of Sustainable Development

Without rapidly building up capacities in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will remain a distant dream for the nearly one billion people living in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The creation of the Technology Bank (TechBank) was included in SDG 17 and in December 2016 the UN General Assembly formally established it. The overarching objective of the TechBank is to help the LDCs build the STI capacity that they need to promote the structural transformation of their economies, eradicate poverty and foster sustainable development. As the TechBank’s Strategic Plan envisions, one area of its work will be on Digital Research Access and Networking, including a component for promoting National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) and a related area of work on Digital Access to Research (DAR). The NREN Facilitation is expected to promote high-speed connectivity between institutions, campuses and scientists from LDCs and development partners and facilitate onward global connectivity among other goals. DAR should leverage the existing Research4Life partnership to increase online access to scientific journals, books, and databases and provide information access training for librarians and other relevant constituencies. The unique juxtaposition of these two elements: enhancing data-communication networks and connectivity and ensuring the access and capacity to use content delivered via that connectivity is a synergy that will be explored in this paper.