19 June to 13 July 2012

In this post I will communicate information on the following:

- UJ Reads.....

- Server change of 18 July

- Feedback on the clean-up of the catalogue

- Campus visit from Dr Bawa

- Feedback from the Management Meeting

- Disaster management workshop and fire drill

- UJoogle!

UJ Reads......

As communicated to you in earlier posts, this year we will be reading: Confessions of a gambler by Rayda Jacobs. Staff who already started to read the book said that it is so gripping that once you start you cannot put it down.

ILL and Circulation staff did a stunning display for the project. APK received 100 books and 33 are already checked out. So if you want a copy, you better get it now before the students come back next week.

Some pics of our display:

DFC Library also did a display, below two photos of their display:

Migration to new Server

Millennium will migrate to a new server on 18 July 2012.

Innovative will turn off the Millennium Software and begin the migration process. The system will remain unavailable for staff and patrons for the duration of the migration.

** Please adhere to the following arrangements for 18 July 2012: **

1. Circulation, ICL & ILL

a. ALL transactions have to be completed by 15:00.

b. Millennium will not be available from 15:00.

c. Any circulation transactions after 15:00 must be handled manually.

2. Information Services

a. UJLink and UJoogle will not be available from 15:00.

b. Databases will not be available from 15:00.

3. Please note:
Circular 2012/442 sent 21 June 2012

Feedback from Dr Bawa's APK visit

Our Executive Director visited our library on 29 June. She started the meeting with staff by updating us on the developments regarding the Information Commons for undergraduate students and the Research Commons for postgraduate students. Both of these will be established on level one, which means that we have to weed and store books, reference works and journals to create space for the commons.

She also informed staff on the progress made regarding catalogue clean-up. Three teams have been formed: one team is busy cleaning up historical discrepancies, while the other focuses on current quality control. A third team is busy working on electronic resources. Good progress have been made by all teams.

UJ's fifth campus was also discussed. Dr Bawa explained to staff that the current Ndebele College will be run by UJ for a period of five years and thereafter go independent as a new university.

UJ Libraries' contribution for Mandela Day (apart from assisting at hospitals) will be blood donations. Staff will pledge their donation now and the procedure will take place in November.

Feedback from the Management Meeting

This meeting (consisting of: all Library Directors, all Campus Librarians, HR and Finance) took place on 2 July. From this meeting the following:

- There was a concern regarding the distribution of UJ book lists to bookshops. In future the book list will be published on UJ websites in order to make the list available to all bookshops.

- HR gave feedback on the vacancies in the library. At APK shortlisting and interviews for the Team Leader Circulation was completed. The position for Library Assistant Circulation was advertised. An additional shelving assistant started in our library on 2 July - Phetani Budeli will be helping out at APK for a few months before going to SWC where he is permanently appointed. HR is also in process of drafting a policy on poor work performance - as soon as the policy is approved, it will be placed on the intranet.

- Regarding Mandela Day, lists of staff who will be assisting on that day have been forwarded to Ernestine. At APK we will also do a display.

- The digitisation of thesis and dissertations are going well. 2500 items have been send for digitisation.

Disaster Management workshop and fire drill

On the 4th of July some of the APK Library staff attended a disaster management workshop. Kobus de Bruin from Occupational Health and Safety explained that all staff have to know what to do in case of a disaster (disaster plan). This plan must be tested at least once a year.

In case of an emergency, staff should take the lead to guide clients to emergency exits. All staff should know extension 2555 which we have to call first in case of an emergency.

Each department was requested to identify staff who can act as:

- a health and safety representative

- a first aider

- fire marshalls

After the workshop we had our emergency evacuation (fire drill). This went very well and we managed to evacuate the building within 7 minutes. Below some pictures taken on that day: