Knowledge management in indigenous medicine: The expected role of Ghanaian university libraries

Introduction Indigenous knowledge is considered to be the knowledge held in the minds of people which is less developed but keeps the sustenance of the community. It is the basis for self-sufficiency and self determination and provides alternatives to western technologies. It has been noted that loss of traditional, cultural and customary gap comes about as a result of lack of the right procedures of indigenous knowledge management. The risk of losing what is in the minds of individual is high; hence to ensure continuity of indigenous knowledge, proper knowledge management is required. According to Davenport (1994), knowledge management is "the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organisational knowledge" on the other hand, it is the ways and means to notice, locate, disseminate or share an organisational or individual intellectual property. Indigenous medicine is an alternative medicine used in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of sicknesses in most societies. Specialists in this area include herbalists, traditional health attendants, and diviners amongst others. Unfortunately, some of the works of these practitioners are not documented. Although a great deal has been written about the importance of knowledge management, relatively little attention has been paid to how knowledge creation process of indigenous healthcare can be managed, hence the need for the university libraries which serve as a repositories of knowledge transmission to assist in the dissemination of knowledge on indigenous medicine. The library's interaction with the environment together with the means by which it creates and distributes information and knowledge should be critically looked at when it comes to indigenous medicine. Indigenous medicine management activities are part of the culture and tradition of the community. Indigenous medicine is not static; the contemporary orthodox medicine has influence on it (Cajete, 2000, Abbot, 2014 and Ebijuwa and Mabawonku, 2015, pp 58-67) believe that the documentation of indigenous knowledge could reduce the incidence of indigenous knowledge loss. In Ghana, most people depend on the use of various plant species and other substances to treat diseases. According to the World Bank (1998), indigenous knowledge in general faces extinction if it is not properly documented. University libraries need to be proactive as far as the preservation and dissemination of scientific, indigenous and cultural information are concerned (IFLA, 2008). Problem statement In Ghana, indigenous healthcare play a major role in health delivery, where medicinal plants, animals and charms are used to cure diseases. This treatment is sometimes complimented with physical, psychological and spiritual aspects. There is no society without indigenous knowledge in medicine; hence this form of knowledge is essential for socio-economic development. International Federations of Library Associations (2008) stated that indigenous knowledge is the basis for decision making, and that Adeniyi et.al (2013), also buttressed this statement by asserting that a greater part of the world population depends on indigenous medicine for survival. Unfortunately, as noted by Adeniyi et.al (2013), African indigenous knowledge is poorly managed as a result, some of the ideas vanish once the custodians die. It must be noted that in Ghana, culture is orally transmitted and that little is being done to preserve indigenous knowledge in traditional medicine. The main problems negatively affecting traditional medicine in Ghana are; lack of records on practitioners including their qualifications, registration, educational background, inappropriate premises for practice, inadequate record keeping by practitioners, inadequate facilities for diagnosis of diseases, and the use of sub-standard products. The advent of information technology which should have facilitated the preservation process had rather negatively affected transmission of indigenous knowledge in traditional medicine. …