Sub-Saharan Africa tops the list of the poorest regions in the world. According to Valentina (2016), countries that include but are not limited to Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Burundi, Malawi, Liberia, Niger, Guinea, Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau are among the poorest countries in the world. These countries are characterised by poverty, high unemployment rates, hunger and disease. Consequently, governments in these countries are encouraging the establishment and sustenance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Sekanjako 2016) to drive the economy. SMEs worldwide contribute significantly towards social economic growth and gross domestic product (GDP) in most countries (Beck, Demirguc-Kunt & Levine 2005).

Some university libraries in the developed world are making attempts to develop strategies of disseminating information on research and innovation (R&I) to support entrepreneurship and innovation programmes in small business enterprises (Johnson et al. 2015). However, university libraries in Africa are lagging behind in this regard (Chiware 2010).

The aim of this study were to:

investigate how university libraries are managing the universities’ research output;

Traditionally, there are four types of libraries: academic, public, school and special libraries (Burkland 1999). However, when users like small-scale entrepreneurs are interested in information that emphasises high specificity on R&I, they are likely to find it in academic and special libraries (Burkland 1999). University libraries fall under academic libraries and they collect, store and disseminate R&I information among other duties (Johnson et al. 2015).

Scores of users visit university libraries to meet their information needs (The Conversation 2016). Consequently, spaces in these libraries are increasingly being converted from storing shelves of print books to user-friendly spaces for group study, discussions, collaborative learning, invention and innovation (Barclay 2015). For example, at the Grand Valley State University Library in California in the United States of America, people from the market place come for assistance on data analysis, writing research reports, graphic designing and public speaking. The library offers specialised spaces for preparing, digital and media collaboration, as well as practices for presenters (Grand Valley State University 2016).

Similarly, the North Carolina State University Library (2016) in North America and the University of Pretoria (2015) in South Africa offer maker spaces where library users practically handle and use modern electronic gadgets that scan, cut and mill. They also have 3D printers which they use to connect to the Internet and create innovative objects. Library users do not stop there. They further patronise the production media studios and laboratories for digital media for visualisation and practicing music. All these specialised library spaces are used to test research outcomes so as to get fresh innovations from them (Johnson et al. 2015). Such practices have encouraged a lot of innovations to take place in the developed countries.

Freeman (2005) asserts that the advancement of university libraries has reached a level where they are encouraging their patrons to use the library services to actively participate in a life of continuous learning. With the coming of technology, many thought that the virtual library would replace the physical library. Although this has not yet happened as forecasted, nonetheless technology has had an unprecedented and an astonishing influence on university libraries. Today, these libraries are expected to use technology to serve a significant social role in the community. Moreover, academic libraries are increasingly becoming a place where people from all walks of life and persuasion come together to experience the richness of scholarship. University library users also, in turn, want to experience a sense of inspiration and enjoy the library as a contemplative oasis (Freeman 2005).

The Libraries Transform (2015a) in conjunction with the American Library Association officially launched a public nationwide awareness drive highlighting the peculiar role libraries can play to transform society in this modern digital era. They emphasise the fact that the attention of the drive is not on what libraries have for the library patrons but what libraries can do for and with their patrons. Good enough the drive embraces all types of libraries ranging from academic, public and special libraries. This, therefore, means that the university library is not the only one that needs to be re-engineered but all kinds of libraries. Essentially, the goal of this campaign is to change the perception of libraries from being quiet places of finding books and reading, to spaces of shared understanding and dynamic centres for learning in the digital age (Libraries Transform 2015b). Incidentally, this perception of libraries being places for storing books and quiet study is still very dominant in sub-Saharan Africa.

Generally from an international perspective, university libraries are equipping and maintaining their libraries with the necessary tools and commercially compliant systems to aid the dissemination of R&I information to their researchers and entrepreneurs (Miles et al. 1995). In some universities like Michigan State University, they have gone ahead to create a post of an entrepreneurship librarian and his or her duties rotate around engaging business people and the community with their innovative and entrepreneurial programmes (Sarin 2013). It is interesting to note that this approach has acted as a stimulus for their cutting-edge entrepreneur and innovative programmes for their business enterprises (Peterson 2005). It is worth mentioning here that though this campaign is very vibrant in the United States and is yielding fruit, it is still picking up in other parts of the world.

The International Federation of Library and Information Associations (2015) at its annual conference in Cape Town, South Africa, called on its membership to provide the necessary resources for the development of African libraries to become powerful knowledge partners of governments in development. African governments are now called upon to include libraries on their agenda for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (International Federation of Library and Information Associations & Institutions 2016). Some of these efforts could be directed towards supporting SMEs because this region has the highest number of SMEs in the world (Fjose, Grünfeld & Green 2010).

One major factor that sets apart the developed world from their developing counterparts is the way the former manages R&I information through their universities (Chiware 2010). R&I information found in university libraries that may be of interest to SMEs includes industry, technology, consultancy on developing business ideas, plans, aiding entrepreneurs, networking, identifying funding opportunities, resources mobilisation, sources of business financing, market research, information on competitors, customer care, benchmarking, patents and trademarks among others (Drew 2007:3–4; Schauder 1987:36). Because this practice is being employed by developed countries and it is clearly assisting in boosting business enterprises, there is no reason why it cannot be practiced by libraries and SMEs in developing countries. African university libraries can now borrow a leaf from their counterparts in the developed world and facilitate the use of this information by SMEs so as to cultivate more entrepreneurial ideas (Ikoja-Odongo 2002). The research generated in the universities both in developed and developing countries is essential in solving problems of all sectors of the national economy including, among others, health, agriculture, education, transport, infrastructure and social services.

In sub-Saharan Africa, technology is slowly being embraced and university libraries are digitising books, issuing library resources in electronic formats (Tambwe 2016) but not much is being done to re-engineer the library to be a social place for researchers and innovators. Many university libraries in sub-Saharan Africa are still focusing on the collections, buildings, and other infrastructure and using them to serve students and staff of the institution. Although it is true that the university libraries’ principal mandate is to promote and enrich the students’ and staff’s educational experience of learning and teaching, respectively, there is still more they could do especially with regard to servicing SMEs. In recent years, there is an awakening to the fact that libraries are fundamentally about people (Freeman 2005).

Some scholars like Neal and Mcclure (2003) have questioned whether university libraries can beat the academic bureaucracy and effectively re-engineer their structures and strategies to embrace corporate attitude and environment. Many of them are already struggling with budget cuts, strained staffing and other challenges (Chiware 2010; Johnson et al. 2015). Indeed re-engineering starts from reviewing the institutional mission and goals, to centralised planning and resource allocation to cater for the establishment and staffing of functional library R&I systems and units.

The re-engineering of information in university libraries to serve SMEs has far-reaching financial and organisational implications such as investing in costly technologies like innovation testing laboratories, 3D printing services, invention stores, web support services and electronic publishing (Neal & Mcclure 2003). Nevertheless, libraries can start small with simple and less costly R&I services like setting up R&I consultancy, repackaging R&I information and selective dissemination of R&I information to SMEs, among others. As the users appreciate the service, it can then be stepped up with the support of the university administration. There must be adequate funding made available to university libraries so that they can produce adequate and efficient R&I information services (Ajidahun 2006) to service the needs of SMEs.

Owing to the fact that there is a lot of research generated in institutions of higher learning (Johnson et al. 2015), university libraries are expected to lay strategies for permanent access to R&I information and other digital scholarly resources. The electronic environment we live in today is very dynamic and complex. Information is constantly changing and without a clear laid-out strategy, an academic library risks losing a lot of vital information which supports its research services. Kanyengo (2006) advises that at the moment it is imperative that university libraries offer technical leadership in searching for solutions that guarantee the conservation, preservation and perpetual access to the continent’s R&I information. This technical assistance should be regulated by a proper policy framework encompassing technological, scientific, documentation and archival skills.

According to the Uganda universities and other Tertiary Institutions’ Act 2001, for an institution to be recognised as a university, it has to have a university library and this facility should be physical, accessible and well furnished (Republic of Uganda 2006). Currently, Uganda has 46 universities of which 7 are public and 39 are private (Uganda National Council of Higher Education 2016).

Currently, a lot of research output on R&I that relates to entrepreneurship is generated in universities (Chiware 2010) and other institutions of higher learning in Uganda but not much of this research cascades to the users in the informal sector where most SMEs fall (FSD Africa et al. 2015). As already pointed out, the university libraries of the developed world are re-engineering their R&I to serve SMEs, and the same should be encouraged in the Ugandan university libraries so that entrepreneurs from SMEs can access and use the R&I information to generate innovative programmes for their businesses. Tibenderana et al. (2010) asserts that university library users in Uganda tend to patronise library services mainly because of the relevancy of the library service, its social demands, the benefits expected from it and the conditions facilitating its availability. Therefore, Ugandan university libraries are trying to ensure that the library resources available for students and staff are patronised maximally along these modes.

Kinengyere (2007) further asserts that university libraries carry out periodical training sessions where they equip their users with different skills of understanding the kind of information needs they have, accessing the available library information resources and evaluating the authenticity of information obtained. This can be built upon to ensure services to SMEs are developed and delivered in more effective ways.

This study used a document analysis method of data collection. Document analysis is a qualitative data collection research method that focuses on reviewing empirical literature related to the research variables of the study (Bowen 2009). An explicit criterion was used to select and review available literature as suggested by Fink (1998:16), and the literature searching strategy broadly followed these stages:

The researchers identified key words based on the topic of study. The keywords included subject headings and author names of experts of the concept under study.

This method efficiently generated a large number of scholarly articles published in a wide variety of journals (Zou & Stan 1998). Because universities libraries predominantly serve the students and academic staff, this approach revealed how university libraries treat their R&I information in relation to meeting the entrepreneurship information needs of their surrounding user communities.

Below is the research support in the form of entrepreneurial and innovation strategies which university libraries can employ to support SMEs from the reviewed literature.

According to Rodrigues (2001), library users with polished skills in conducting library information searches generally get more comprehensive information compared with users without such research skills. Going by this approach, universities in Uganda have to make efforts to develop the information gathering and management skills of their users most especially those who consume R&I information. This probably will make them more thorough when they are searching for R&I information for their entrepreneurial and innovative business programmes.

University libraries can further take advantage of the importance of social networks. Drew (2007) asserts that strong results do not only come from what you know only, but also from who you know as well. Librarians in university libraries have an opportunity of creating informal networks of SMEs who share the same trade which can spur collaborative entrepreneurial and innovative activities among SMEs of the same trade. They can offer 1 h a week or month of brainstorming on a topical issue like business planning, financing of business proposals, resources mobilisation to mention but a few. Such sessions can also act as mentorship opportunities between the senior entrepreneurs and the junior ones.

It is understandable that changes, university libraries in the western world are making in re-engineering their services for SMEs, require heavy investments nevertheless there are other low-budget simple innovative ideas university libraries in sub-Saharan Africa can employ to boost SMEs entrepreneurial and innovative programmes. These may include:

creation of a unit or corner in the library with special collections on R&I information (Chiware 2010:399);

Like the Libraries Transform campaign in North America alluded to earlier, it is now a matter of necessity that university libraries in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa pick a leaf from this approach such that similar campaigns can be carried out this time focusing more on some of the suggestions above which can help university libraries support their community users with entrepreneurial and innovative business information.

Advancing positive changes in university libraries requires clear visions and effective infrastructures. A people-oriented university library should no longer strive for the market share, but instead should strive to also generate new brands, products and services for the market (Johnson et al. 2015:36). Because this study is largely based on literature analysis, there is a need to conduct a deeper empirical study on this concept not only in Uganda but also in the entire sub-Saharan African region and other developing parts of the world. Such empirical studies can go a long way to further future research and also quantify the major arguments in this article. Otherwise from the available corroborated literature and documentary evidence, if only university libraries in the African sub-Saharan region together with their stakeholders embrace this attitude, the contribution of libraries to SMES, the general business or entrepreneurial community and ultimately to sustainable development, will be undeniable.