The Library Department Risk Management and Audit Committee in its meeting held on 26th September 2023 adopted new Library Risk Management Plan for the financial year 2023-2024 to enhance security of information materials.
The Chairperson of the Committee Rose Okumu said the communication that is in the performance contract of financial year 2023/2024, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission requires all departments to continue with the implementation process of Bribery and Corruption Risk Assessments from their departmental work processes and the Mitigation Plans developed in the performance Contract of 2022/2023 financial year.
The Library Department bribery and corruption mitigation plan and process has two main risk areas including bribery and corruption and covers the three main divisions of the department namely: Readers Services Division, Technical Services and Administrative Services.
According to the Committee’s report submitted to the University Librarian Mrs. Janegrace Kinyanjui, the Library Department ought to sensitise members of staff on bribery and corruption mitigation measures and activities in accordance with EACC directive and the University’s Ethics and Code of Conduct.
Key areas of concern according to the committee included; inducement to waive a library user from paying overdue fines, inducement to exonerate a library user from paying for a lost or damaged reading material and the temptation to use monies collected from Library Department income generating activities, as well as the loss of books and other library resources through theft.
The Committee recommended that in order to mitigate inducements to waive overdue fines, the rights for waiving overdue fines should be restricted to the In-Charge Reader’s Services Division. Clients must be issued with receipts for payments made while on the other hand collected monies should be banked within 24hours after collection.
To mitigate inducement to exonerate users from paying for lost and damaged books, the committee suggested that, such cases should be reported to the University Librarian’s office promptly, while lost and replaced books should be accompanied with receipts of purchase. The report further recommended that new books upon acquisition should be stamped with the University Library official stamp as they await further processing. Further, security gates and CCTv cameras should be installed and serviced to mitigate loss through theft.
