Update: 19 to 27 March 2012

In this post, you will find information on:
- Library Hours (Long weekends)
- Weeding
- Human Rights Display
- TypeQuick
- Feedback from Collection Development Task Team

Library Hours (Long Weekends)
Please take note of the library hours and closing times during the long weekends in April and May:

5 to 10 April 2012
5 April	Library closes at 6pm
6 to 9 April	Library Closed
10 April	Library open normal hours (7am to 10 pm)

26 April to 2 May 2012
26 April	Library closes at 6pm
27 April to 1 May	Library Closed
2 May	Library open normal hours (7am to 10 pm)

Notices to inform our clients about these hours will be put up at the entrance of the library.

 Weeding
 In my last post and during my departmental meetings with you, I mentioned that we had to do weeding and relocation of items in the general collection, journals and reference works. In the past few weeks I read several articles on the topic and from these articles I would like to share the following with you:

- A collection needs to be relevant and appealing - an unweeded collection has the potential to  convey outdated or irrelevant information to clients.

- As irrelevant items are removed or moved from the collection, relevant items are more visible to clients.

- Browsing becomes more productive and the library looks more organised and attractive.

- Crowded shelves means that shelving takes longer and the possibility for mis-shelving increases.

- Libraries (not only ours) do not have the space to keep each and every book that was ever bought - if you keep pouring water into a glass, at some stage the glass will be full and the water will spill.

- The objective of weeding is not only to address limited space in libraries, but also to maximise the usage of the collection by moving/removing irrelevant issues.

- Weeding does not necessarily implies a loss of information. It might change the method of access to information from print to online; from direct access to indirect access (storage or ILL).

Below a picture of what we can do with the weeded books - reference desk made from books (just joking):

Human Rights Display
If you have not already, make some time to have a look at the Human Rights Display on level 6. Thank you to the Law Librarians and everyone else who assisted - I think the display looks stunning. Below some pics:

Feedback from the Collection Development and Management Task Team (CDMTT)
The meeting took place on 27 March and was chaired by Mrs Sander. From this meeting I would like to share the following with you:

- The process to incorporate the remainder of the East Rand Collection with the DFC Collection is going well.

- Faith is finalising the prescription to newspapers for libraries. Both print and electronic newspapers would be made available.

- The Donations Policy is currently under review. Input received have been forwarded to the CDMTT. Riette, Annette Liebenberg and Janina is to draft criteria for acceptance of donations and present to this task team. As a trial it was decided that all telephonic enquiries regarding donations will be transferred to Riette Zaaiman and she will co-ordinate the process.

- In order to proceed with weeding on all campuses the weeding policy should receive urgent attention.

- This year there will not be one big exhibition by publishers. Smaller exhibitions may be organised in co-operation with ACP.

TypeQuick
Imagine being able to type at the speed of thought without having to search for keys. That's what you can expect to accomplish when you learn to type with Typequick.

This software has been installed on the server and we have 50 concurrent licences. Should you want to make use of this training software, contact Vivian or Janina and we will send you the URL and assist you with the start-up and log-in.

In closing......

I would like to close on a positive note by sharing with you an email we received this week from Richardson from SWC library. Richardson spend 6 weeks in 2010 at the Info-point:

When I spent Six weeks in 2010 with you guys, I wasn’t aware how much it would help me going forward skill-wise. Now, that I have small space where I can make my own decisions on the spot I have realized meeting you was god-sent or a piece of magic. The problem I had before was the fact I would go to training for something that I thought was useful for me but because it was not in my line of job I would end up forgetting it. Thank you my Three Musketeers!! Tricks that you taught me in doing book searches, searching databases, course reserves, question papers have really come in handy. What you did was how transfer of skills should work. When I  came back I was a bag full of tricks, thanks to you. Theresa, Michael and Tyson, thank you very much for your genuine and warm reception that you gave me. Thanks for your enthusiasm in showing many things I didn’t know. At the end of it UJ and UJ LIC are benefittingKunene for allowing me to go APK despite Dewey Project which was going full steam here at Soweto Campus. Thanks Janina for allowing me to use your facilities and your staff to empower myself. Thanks Dr van Vuren for facilitating everything and ensuring that I did go to APK and that my stay was both comfortable and successful. Thanks Annelize for being an enthusiastic host and ensuring that everything went smoothly, thanks for babysitting me when I knocked off at 10pm. Your presence ensured that I didn’t fall asleep. Under normal circumstances 10pm is way beyond my bed-time. You also ensured when I started knocking off at 10pm last year I had an experience of one day.

Update: 5 to 16 March 2012

Dear Colleagues, in this post I would like to share the following with you:
- Improved procedures for searching of missing books
- Feedback regarding UJLIC Strategic Objectives
- Feedback regarding the Combined Management Meeting
- One Book One Library
- Theft of library books
- Congrats to Yvonne Bucwa
- Human Rights Day

Missing Books
If a books shows available on the catalogue, but cannot be found on the shelves, please refer the client to Circulation to complete a 'Missing Book' form. These forms are collected by Shelving staff (Stanley or Sphiwe) every morning. Once the forms are collected, they check the status of the item on the catalogue, as this gives them an indication where to start searching for a book, for example: a book recently catalogued, might still be on level four or with the Information Librarians.

After the status have been checked, the information on the forms are recorded on an Excel spreadsheet. This helps with feedback to clients, records the number of times the item has been searched and assist in the keeping of statistics.

All books are searched five times - while the search is done, the item is marked as 'On search' on the catalogue. As soon as the book is found clients are informed via text message that the book is available at Circulation. If not found clients are also informed accordingly and the item is marked as 'Missing' on the catalogue. These titles are then forwarded to the Campus Librarian or Faculty Librarians for possible replacement.

Should clients have any enquiries regarding the progress or processes for searching for missing books, please refer them to Stanley or Sphiwe at extension: 3543.

Feedback regarding Strategic Objectives
In order to implement our strategic objectives of having a Learning Commons for undergraduate students and a Research Commons for postgraduate students, we have to seriously look at the weeding of multiple and un-used items, the storage of less used valuable items and the weeding/storage of items available online (journals and reference works). These issues will be addressed with you during my monthly meetings with departments. Dr. Bawa would like the weeding and relocation of items to be done before the end of the year.

Feedback: Combined Management Meeting
The revised and shortened UJ vision, mission and values were distributed to all Team Leaders to be discussed with you within your departments. The feedback received from you and other Campus Libraries were the main topic of discussion during the Combined Management Meeting. I want to thank each and everyone of you for your input and it has been given through at this meeting.

At this meeting it was also reported that the advertisement for the vacancy for an Admin Assistant on level three has closed and that they are in process of compiling the shortlist. The vacancy for Information Librarian at APB and the vacancy at Acquisitions will be advertised towards the end of this month.

It was also mentioned that Archiving and the Rare Book Collection will be moving to DFC. A grand opening of the Archives are planned for August.

One Book One Library
This committee had a meeting during this week and the title for this year has been selected - you will be informed of the title during next week. We also want to change the name of this project form One Book One Library to something else. If you have any suggestions for a new name for this project please forward it to me or Dr van Vuren.

Theft of Library Books
The theft of library books has always been a concern, but escalated recently. During the past two months, seven library books have been confiscated from students and returned to the library. According to the students that were found in possession of these books, the books were bought on campus as second hand books. Protect Services acted quickly and arrests have been made. Further investigations and more arrests might follow.

We kindly, but urgently ask you to be on the look out for suspicious behaviour and to report it  to Protection Services. Should you have any ideas on how we can improve the security of our stock (books), please forward your proposals to me.

Congratulations
I would like to congratulate Yvonne Bucwa who has been accepted to the Carnegie Leadership Academy. Yvonne will attend the academy from 13 to 27 April. Good luck Yvonne, we are SO proud of you!

 Human Rights Day
Just a reminder that 21 March is Human Rights Day and that the library will be closed.

I found this article very interesting (see the link below). It not only explains why we celebrate Human Rights Day, but also what our rights are:
http://www.educationstation.co.za/Documents/Holidays/Human_Rights_day.pdf

Update: 21 Feb to 5 March

This post will contain updates on the following matters:

-          Feedback: Usage of Library Public Computers

-          Feedback: Combined Management Meeting

-          Feedback: Campus Librarians Meeting

-          Feedback: VC’s visit to the APK Campus

-          Feedback: Moving of books

Feedback: Usage of Library Public Computers

In the last post, I promised to give you feedback regarding the ‘over usage’ of computers in the library. On 22 February some library staff members had a meeting with ICS staff to discuss the possibility of implementing a time-out functionality on computers in the library. The idea is to find relevant software that will allow students to use computers only for a certain time (hypothetically speaking, say 45 minutes) some time (say three hours) will have to pass before the same student have access to the computers again. Currently both ICS and UJIT are working on this proposal and we should have feedback regarding this quite soon.

Please also note that Wi-Fi is available on level one in the library. Students who have their own laptops can therefore also connect to the network via Wi-Fi. Should they have difficulty to connect to the network via Explorer, please advise them that they might want to try Firefox. I am also happy to inform you that according to current plans, the whole library should have Wi-Fi towards the middle of the year. We hope that this will also alleviate some pressure on the library computers.

Post graduate students can also be directed to the Post Graduate Centre for access to computers. This centre (located in the library) has 19 computers available for postgrad students.

Feedback: Combined Management Meeting

Once a month, all Campus Librarians have a meeting with the Executive Director: UJLIC , Directors: UJLIC, Finance Representative (Eon Botha) and HR Representative (Heleen Kruger). The last meeting took place on 27 Feb and from this meeting I would like to share the following:

Staff is requested to take note of the following policies regarding HR (available on the Intranet):

Performance Management: This policy gives clear guidelines regarding this process and sets a framework for line managers. According to the policy, all performance management documents for staff must be in place by the end of March.

Retirement: The age of retirement has changed from 60 to 65 and early retirement stays at 55 year. Note that the change in the age of retirement will only be applicable to current employees.

Resourcing: The new Resourcing Policy provides line managers with valuable info regarding the process to be followed for appointing new staff.

All Line Managers were urged not to underspend on budgets allocated to them.

Line Managers were also requested to report on all calls logged for maintenance as well as progress regarding the work that was done.

During this meeting members also bid farewell to Ms Neli Kuanda, who left the employment of UJ at the end of February. Members were informed that Neli’s portfolio will be temporarily handled by Mrs Sander.

Feedback: Campus Librarians Meeting

This meeting took place on 28 February and the largest part of the meeting was devoted to implementation plans for an Information Commons (for undergraduate students) and a Research Commons (for postgraduate students) in all campus libraries. For our library extensive changes to the physical space will have to be made, but before we can even start with this, we will have to look seriously at the current space occupied by our printed collection. Weeding of some items will have to be considered as well as the storage of valuable items that are less used.

Feedback: VC’s visit to APK

Professor Iron Rensburg visited the APK campus on 1 March. Several library staff members attended this event as well.

In his opening statement, Prof Rensburg mentioned that all staff has an important role to play at UJ and working together towards a common goal is extremely important -  our common goal is to support teaching,  learning and research.

Previously the focus was on planning, goal-setting and performance management and this have produced the required results. He suggested that some leadership styles will have to adapt in order to make provision for a more collagist approach.

He also mentioned that the university is in process of revising its mission, vision and values. Note that the new draft for the vision and mission have been forwarded to your Team Leaders. Please provide your input (via your Team Leaders) no later than 12 March.

A concern was raised regarding parking and traffic on campus. It was mentioned that the current Parking Policy is being revised and that paid parking (on campus) will probably be implemented later this year. Some members raised their concerns regarding paying for parking on campus and these concerns were noted. Please note that the speed limit on campus is 20km per hour.

ICS reported that the rolling out of Wi-Fi is currently a priority and that the over usage of computers in the library is being addressed. Currently Wi-Fi is available on the following places on campus:

-          Student Centre

-          Library (Level 1)

-          In front of A-Ring

Notices to advertise Wi-Fi hotspots are in progress.

As was the case in the Operations Forum, the issue regarding the availability of AVU material in lecturing halls were addressed again by lecturing staff.

Feedback: Moving of Collections

The changes to the locations and loan rules on the system have been completed for theses and dissertations on levels one to four. Please note that from now on it will display as follows:

Work on changing the remaining reference works from Zastrau to Dewey will also now proceed at a faster pace. Student assistants have been employed to assist and apart from the Shelving Department, ILL staff will assist as well. I sincerely want to thank staff from these two departments in assisting with the last of the Dewey project. If all goes well, we should be finished with the reference works by the end of April.

In closing – on a lighter note: