Topics included in this post:
· Structure meeting with Mrs Sander
· One Book One Library
· Mancom
· Congrats to Annelize
· Opening of the Internet
Structure meeting with Mrs Sander
On 30 August staff was invited to attend an information session regarding the implementation of the new library structure. During the meeting a summary was given of processes followed thus far as well as communication to staff.
The position of the Advisor to the Executive Director was added to the structure. This position will be taken up by Mrs Sander as from 2012. She ensured staff that no staff member will lose their jobs and that the new structure will be, as far as possible, populated with existing staff.
Staff who acted or was temporary employed for a considerable period will be permanently employed. In the case of “new positions”, all staff that have a right to these positions and qualify for it will be automatically placed on the short list for these positions. From there on, the process will be the same as normal filling of vacancies.
One Book One Library
This committee had a meeting on 31 August. Dr Van Vuren asked staff to market the web page that has been created for this project. On the web page you can find the reading guide, feedback form, information regarding the author (Deon Meyer) and discussion sessions that will be held with Deon Meyer in October. You are kindly requested to convey this information to clients reading the book. Below the link to the web page:
To date, 352 clients have read the book and several of these clients have requested information regarding the discussion sessions. The discussion on APK will be on 18 October at 12pm. The venue will be announced closer to the time.
Please note that this project will also be UJLIC’s contribution to National Book week, which takes place from 5 to 7 September.
Mancom
The Mancom meeting took place on 1 September. This meeting is chaired by Mrs Julia Paris. During the meeting several members gave feedback regarding the Mandela Day community engagement project. All regarded the project as a success and a positive experience and mentioned that they would like to take part again next year.
Mrs Paris provided feedback regarding the Transformation Office. It was decided that the issue of transformation will be extensive discussed at a later special meeting.
Members were also supplied with the Occupational Safety Report for July. This report includes feedback on all campuses and is available in my office upon request.
The issue of lack of communication between the different sections in the library and in the UJ community was also raised. A proposal was made that a library newsletter be compiled and distributed to Library staff and the UJ community.
At the end of the meeting, members were informed that Mrs Paris has been chosen as the Librarian of the year for the LIASA Gauteng South branch. Mrs Paris was congratulated by all the members.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Annelize Scholtz who became a grandmother this week. Below a picture of little Mia Scholtz:
Opening of the Internet in UJ Libraries
The past few weeks there were several queries regarding the opening of the Internet in UJ Libraries and concerns were raised by both staff and students regarding the excessive usage of the computers – sometimes for non-academic matters as well. The decision to open the computers was based on the following:
- Requests from library staff: Several staff members are now using the Internet to communicate with the UJ community. For example: some staff members are making use of wikis and blogs and both the university and library has got Facebook pages. Currently Prof Rensburg is making use of YouTube as a communication tool, see: https://intranet.uj.ac.za/ and click on ‘view response’.
- Requests from students: in the past staff was often requested by students to have access to Edulink in the library. Whereas students in the past had to access Edulink only from the labs, it can now be done from the library. This means less wastage of time for the students, as we all know how far the labs are located from the library.
- Another very important consideration was the future implementation of the Encore product of Millennium. Encore is a product that can be used to change the look and feel of the library catalogue to something similar to Google. In order to get an idea of what Encore looks like, do a search on Unisa’s catalogue, use this link: http://oasis.unisa.ac.za/
I know that there is several staff members who are concerned about the opening of the Internet and that students as also complaining that they now have to stand in queues to have access to a computer in the library. But the fact is, if we want to be breaking the knowledge boundaries, restricted access to information is not going to get us or the students there.
There is also a big outcry about students using social media websites in the library. While our Rules and Regulation states that the computers are to be used for academic purposes only, we have to ask ourselves: does this university want to produce students who are not able to use social media, if that is what is used globally?
However, to ensure that we firstly cater for the academic needs of students, the library monitors will be asked to focus on the computer area in the library for the next two months. Students, who only make use of the computers for recreational purposes, will be requested to make way for students who would like to use the computers for academic matters.
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