New Paradigm for Managing Information and Technology to Serve Education and Research in Cuban Technical Universities

In 1998 the Central University Library was in serious difficulties, principally because of deficient funding. Since 1990 Cuba had been in the grips of a grave economic crisis, caused partly by the disappearance of the Soviet Union, until then our main trading partner, and partly by the further tightening of the already long and tough US embargo upon Cuba. But, over and above this, the library did not have the technology or the trained staff it needed, and the information available for the university community was far from current. As a result, the library services were poor and did not meet user expectations. The library also suffered from a lack of leadership.