9 May 2025 – To better manage, preserve, and share environmental knowledge was the aim of a virtual training for Tuvalu aimed at enhancing national capacity in using the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Virtual Library, a vital resource for environmental information in the Pacific region.
On 29 April 2025, participants from across Tuvalu, including representatives from the University of the South Pacific (USP) Tuvalu Campus, the Tuvalu Parliament Library, the Tuvalu National Library, and Library and Information Studies students took part in the training. The session was developed in response to a need raised during the Clean Pacific Roundtable Conference in Tuvalu in August 2024, where local librarians called for targeted support in managing and accessing environmental information.
The training included a comprehensive tour of the SPREP Virtual Library, a platform that houses more than 47,000 bibliographic records, and over 4,000 publications by SPREP and its partners. The platform also includes digitised audiovisual materials, with ongoing efforts to make these accessible to users anywhere and anytime.
Participants engaged in practical activities and hands-on navigation, giving them the chance to explore the system in real time. The SPREP Knowledge Management team shared information on the collection, with participants learning how to filter, locate, and download key environmental resources.
“I have learned a lot from this training,” said Ms. Moepeti Timo from the USP Tuvalu Campus. “It opened my mind to new ways of thinking and inspired me to improve how I store and organise my collection similar to the SPREP Virtual Library. This approach will help me manage information more efficiently and make it easier to share knowledge with others.”
The training also brought to light the practical challenges faced by Tuvalu’s information practitioners. Slow internet speeds, frequent power failures, and sporadic connectivity in the outer islands significantly affect how effectively digital tools can be used especially during regional virtual programmes like this one.
Ms. Logise Paka, welcomed the hands-on guidance provided during the session.
“I was grateful that I learned a lot from this training,” she shared. “It helped me develop my skills in managing a library and especially gave me ideas on how to improve our office’s online presence. It was an eye-opening experience, full of opportunities for librarians to learn how to share knowledge and manage digital resources.”
For SPREP, such targeted sessions are important for improved access to information for long-term environmental stewardship.
Ms. Miraneta Williams-Hazelman, Manager, Knowledge Management at SPREP, emphasised,
“The SPREP Virtual Library is a one-stop shop for environmental records and documents which can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, and at any time as long as they have access to the internet. These trainings are essential to help Pacific libraries access and manage environment information and disseminate that knowledge.
The tools and insights gained will not only strengthen local libraries but also ensure that Tuvalu’s information professionals are better equipped to access and share environmental knowledge to their communities and the wider Pacific.
The SPREP Information and Knowledge Management Centre / Library is located at the SPREP Campus in Vailima, Samoa. You can visit our virtual library collection through the following link, https://library.sprep.org.
For more information, please contact Ms Miraneta Williams-Hazelman at miranetaw@sprep.org or the SPREP Knowledge Management team at sprep_km@sprep.org