Update: 26 to 30 September

In this post the following information will be shared:

·         Faculty Librarians

·         Feedback from Campus Librarians meeting

·         Feedback from the Mancom meeting

·         Unisa postal collection

·         Security issues

Update: 19 to 23 September

In this post I will provide feedback on the Collection Management and Development Task Team (CDMTT) meeting as well UJ Diversity week and Heritage day.

Weekly update: 12 to 19 September

I would like to start this post by congratulating the following people on their permanent appointments:

Dawie Jacobs as Humanities Subject Librarian,

Tyson Mabunda as General Information Librarian,

Zelda Geldenhuys as Humanities Subject Librarian.

(Information regarding the appointments of Faculty Librarians will follow as soon as discussions with all relevant stakeholders have been finalized).

The industrial action of Elite Cleaners is something of the past now. The strike ended on Tuesday and permanent staff has returned to work. All posters in this regard have been removed.

April supplied me with a list of billed items that have been outstanding since 2007. We are busy re-ordering relevant items form this list. This process should be finished by the end of the week. Note that these items are currently marked as ‘Withdrawn’ on the catalogue.

UJ Protection Services has created a Facebook page as well (see the link below). This page contains valuable information regarding security issues and crime trends on all UJ campuses. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/University-of-Johannesburg-Protection-Services/168172809928163

Have a look at the article below - a person in America was arrested for outstanding library books: http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4145856.html

Weekly update: 5 to 9 September

With the students enjoying the spring recess, the library was much less busy this week and this created a much needed opportunity for us to come to the surface and take a deep breath before we start with the final leg towards the end of the year.

On Monday I had a meeting with Ursula Smit and the Library Protection Services staff. Ursula mentioned that theft in the library has increased due to negligence of students. Valuable items are often left unattended and that creates perfect opportunities for “thieves". Some of the cases have been resolved by using the security cameras in the library and these cases and evidence have been forwarded to Student Affairs for action and disciplinary measures. From my side, I would like to request you to be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour immediately to Protection Services. On a more personal note: I would like you to spare a thought for Pearl’s grandson. He was born prematurely after both his parents were involved in a car accident. Unfortunately his father did not survive the crash and the little boy is struggling to cope with injuries he sustained due to the impact of the accident. Though is mom was also hurt, she has healed well and is trying to spend as much time possible with her little son who is still in hospital.

This week we had two training sessions arranged for staff to gain additional knowledge on UJLink /Opac and Dewey. On Monday morning Ronel conducted a training session on UJLink and today’s session on Dewey was presented by Ester. The feedback that I received is that staff found both sessions extremely valuable and well presented. I cannot wait to see your new knowledge being translated into better service to our clients. To Ronel and Ester: thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with your colleagues and for the excellent way in which you presented the training. This is for you:

I am sure that you will all be pleased to know that all the books on level four has been re-labelled. You will no longer receive your trolley-a-day for the pasting of labels. I would like to thank everyone who assisted with the printing and pasting of labels for finding the time to do it in between other tasks. As always we proved again that we are a wonderful team!

Don't forget to support the Springboks on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!

Weekly update: 29 August to 2 September

Topics included in this post:

·         Structure meeting with Mrs Sander

·         One Book One Library

·         Mancom

·         Congrats to Annelize

·         Opening of the Internet