In this blog post, you will find information on:
- International papers presented by Pavlinka
- Moving of the collection
- The Campus Librarian meeting held on 28 Oct
- IUGTT meeting held on 1 Nov
- Circ Forum meeting held on 3 Nov
- Important UJ dates
International papers presented by Pavlinka
The past few weeks Pavlinka presented not one, but two international papers at the following conferences: Zanzibar (16-21 Oct) and London (25-28 Oct). Well done, Pavlinka, we are very proud of you!
Should you want to have a look at the slideshows for the papers you can use the links below:
Moving of the collection
I am sure that you have noticed that the shelving staff is currently moving the collection on level 4 to the right. This is to make space for all the 400’s on this level. Progress is not fast, but we hope to finish the move by the middle of next week.
Once the move on level 4 has been completed, we would like to start separating the dissertations and thesis (D & T’s). I already drew lists of D & T’s for each level and we would like to start with the smaller collections of D & T’s, like levels 1 and 4. The idea is to move the rest of the collection to the right in order to group all the dissertations and thesis on a particular level together on the first few shelves on the left.
Feedback from the Campus Librarian (CL) meeting held on 28 Oct
The meeting was chaired by Dr van Vuren and all 4 Campus Librarians attended the last formal meeting of the year. Julia Paria was congratulated on being elected as Liasa’s Librarian of the year. Charlotte reported that Johanna of SWC is not well and the meeting expressed their sympathy towards Mlungisi (at DFC) who lost his brother. Santha reported that Rose is back from maternity leave. Janina reported that Gerda is recovering after a knee replacement operation and that Lizette recently became grandmother for the second time. Riette Zaayman has been appointed as the Head of Archices and she will start in her new position in January 2012. Prof Habib will be on 6 months sabbatical leave (starting January 2012), the person who will be acting in his position during these six months, still have to be announced. Our new ED (Dr Bawa) will start in her new position on 16 January 2012.
One Book One Library (closure) – Dr van Vuren thanked everyone involved for making this project a success. More than 200 clients attended the discussions and Mr Meyer indicated that he enjoyed interacting with a younger audience. Copies of Infanta / Devil’s Peak will be sold in March 2012.
Space management policy – a draft policy in this regard has been compiled and will be finalized during the first meeting next year.
isiZulu Launch – The meeting congratulated Charlotte and her team for translating UJLink into isiZulu. A launch will be organized between LICIT and Client services for next year. Any suggestions regarding the launch are welcome. This is truly a remarkable achievement for UJ as the none of the other South African academic library have attempted a similar project. The catalogue will next be translated in Afrikaans and then in Sesotho le boa.
The CL planning session for 2012 will be scheduled for the end of January next year. This will be a separate meeting for the monthly meeting.
Pearson Initiative – This stems from the e-book strategy. Accountancy, nursing and biology want to use Pearson (MyLab). This is a prescribed e-book with enhanced media. Students will be buying it in print and then get a code that can be used on the Pearson website to access additional media and content. Training for staff on the new format has been arranged for November and it is compulsory to attend. For more info on Pearson, check out the following link: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/
The meeting agreed that all UJ libraries will close at 3pm on Saturday (26 November) to accommodate students who will be writing supplementary examinations early in December. The library will remain closed on Saturdays in December (as indicated on the library webpage).
Leave plans – All supervisors (Team Leaders) are reminded to manage staff leave during December and January in order to ensure that services can continue as normal during this period. All staff are kindly requested to submit their leave plans for December and January to their line managers by the end of this week (11 November).
Feedback from the IUGTT (Innopac User Group Task Team) held on 1 Nov.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Hattingh. At the start of the meeting he mentioned that there is no administrative assistant allocated to this meeting to take minutes. Janina suggested that we ask Vivian to act as secretary for the task team and Vivian accepted. It was decided that meetings will be held every second month and the next meeting will be scheduled for February 2012.
Self Check System – new software must be downloaded on the APK and APB systems in order to display both check-in and check-out on the same page. That will make it easier for clients to choose the function they want to execute. Dr Hatting will make the necessary arrangements for this to be done.
Basic review file training has been done on all campuses throughout the year. Review files that are no longer in use, are cleaned up by Carina once a month.
LICIT wants to implement Encore by April next year. This functionality will change the look and feel of the catalogue similar to that of Google, as mentioned in the blog post of 29 to 2 Sept 2011. Encore will give clients the opportunity to do one search and the results will include items in our catalogue, the databases and Google. Encore will later on replace Research Pro.
Acquisitions - The function to electronically submit orders is currently available on Millennium. ACP is currently investigating how this functionality can be used.
The sending out of mobile text messages to clients with outstanding fines are going well. The Circulation Forum was requested if they would like to extend this function to include overdue and hold notices as well.
An alternative method of logging onto UJLink and the databases is being investigated. By using an integrated login, the user will be able to login once to access UJLink and then open other library functions (like searching the databases) without having to log in again as long as the browser stay open. Details of the date of implementation will follow in due course.
Program Registration is a Millennium product that can be used to electronically book events and venues related to the library. Carina will schedule training with staff identified for November or early December this year.
The scoping of the collection will be revised next year and a special committee will be used to assist with this. Should you want to be part of the committee you can contact Pieter Hattingh of Carina Malan.
In future Blackwell will no longer be used for the uploading of table of contents (due to too many problems experienced). Blackwell will be replaced by a product by Bowker, called Syndetic Solutions. For more info check out their webpage: http://www.bowker.com/index.php/component/content/article/137 Downloads from Syndetic Solutions will include the book cover and the table on contents. However, the table of contents downloaded from Sydetics will not be searchable.
Circulation Forum feedback
This forum had their last meeting of the year on 3 November. In the absence of the current chairperson (Pascal Lukhele) the meeting was chaired by Mduduzi Madondo.
The meeting decided that items placed on ECR this year, will be removed early in 2012 to make provision for the supplementary exams that will still take place this year.
The updating of the interface between Innopac and ITS and Oracle will be done in phases as from next year. This will be a priority project for this forum in 2012.
The Circulation Forum charter will be revised early in 2012 and send to the Campus Librarian meeting for approval.
Members were reminded that students owing money (fines and overdue books) to the library are currently being blocked from:
- Re-registration
- Receiving their examination results
- Receiving their academic records
- Receiving their certificates.
Should you receive any inquiries from clients in this regard, please refer them to Circulation staff.
At the end of the meeting the chairperson for next year was elected: congratulations to Mdu Madondo, who will be the chairperson for 2012 and April Mahlangu, who will be the deputy chairperson.
Important UJ dates
| Exams |
4 to 25 November 2011 |
Summer holiday (for students) |
Start 26 November 2011 |
Supplementary exams |
5 to 9 December 2011 |
University closes |
15 December 2011 |
University opens |
3 January 2012 |
Classes start |
6 February 2012 |
