Vacancies are currently available in the following sections in the JS Gericke Library: 

Information Services (General Information Desk) (Closes 7 December 2010)
Circulation (Lending and Reserve Sections) (Closes 7 January2010)

Ms Ellen Tise delivers inauguration speech at conference in Delhi, India.

Ms Ellen Tise, Senior Director of the Library and Information Service, will deliver the inauguration speech at the International Conference on Academic Libraries (ICAL-2009) which is presented from 5 to 8 October 2009 in Delhi, India.

The conference is presented by the University of Delhi and will focus on knowledge sharing, ICT management, digital repository management, e-teaching, e-tutorials, stronger library-faculty relationships and user centric services.  

Ms Tise will also participate in panel discussions and chair lecture sessions during the conference.

Vacancy available at the Theology Library

The following vacancy is currently available at the Theology Library:

Junior Librarian

Closing date: 14 October 2009

Library catalogue, Metalib (federated searching) and SFX services downtime

Due to software relocations, the Library Catalogue, Metalib and SFX services will not be available from 17h30 on Saturday 12 September until 13h00 on Sunday 13 September.

Casual Day: sports at the Library

Casual Day was once again supported with great enthusiasm at the Library and Information Service with 100 tickets being bought by staff members to participate.

This represents a substantial contribution towards the project which is aimed at creating awareness for persons with disabilities.

The Casual Day theme "Join the team" inspired a variety of sport outfits and unchained a day of SPORTS in the Library.

Sydney February (JS Gericke Library, Circulation Section), left on the photo, eventually won the prize for the best dressed individual in the University's Casual Day Costume competition, with the Library also winning the prize for the division at the University that sold the most tickets.

Library Head, Ms Ellen Tise, first South African to head IFLA

Ms Ellen Tise, Senior Director: Library and Information Service, was inaugurated as President of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) on 27 August 2009 at the Closing Session of the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Milan, Italy. She is the first South African to fulfill this role.

IFLA President is the highest position for a library and information professional and having someone from our own institution in this role is a great honour for Stellenbosch University. Her presidential theme is Libraries driving access to knowledge, with specific focus on user orientation, advocacy, library as place, the role of libraries in social inclusion and the need for strong partnerships.

Highlights in her programme include representing IFLA at major international events, such as attending and speaking at the centennial celebrations of the National Library of China in Beijing in September and delivering the keynote address at the International Academic Library Conference in New Delhi, India, in October.

Ms Tise’s term as president promises to be significant in the broader African context as it will focus international attention on the Library and Information sector in South Africa and other African countries.

Four library staff members attend World Library and Information Congress 2009 in Italy

During August four staff members of the Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service will be attending the World Library and Information Congress 2009  which is presented in Italy this year.

The Congress is also knowm as the 75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly.

The head of the Library, Ms Ellen Tise, will be inaugurated as the new President of IFLA for the term 2009 to 2011 during the conference.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. The IFLA World Library and Information Congress, is held at a different venue each year, attracts more than 3000 participants and is the major forum for IFLA's professional programme. It is also the meeting place for IFLA's Council, the body of representatives of all members, which is the highest governing body of the Federation.

IFLA provides information specialists throughout the world with a forum for exchanging ideas and promoting international cooperation, research, and development in all fields of library activity and information service. Through IFLA, libraries, information centres, and information professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems.

The four colleagues attending the congress are:

Ms Ellen Tise, Senior Director and IFLA President-elect. 

Ms Elda Nolte, Director: Client Services and Human Resources Management

Ms Lucia Schoombee, Web Management and Communication

Ms Marié Roux, Management Information and Quality Assurance, will be attending the 8th Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services (PM8), an IFLA satellite preconference in Florence, 17-20 August 2009.

A BLOG report of events is available here.

Vacancies available at the JS Gericke Library

The following vacancy is currently available at the JS Gericke Library:

Assistant Librarian 2: e-Repository and e-Resources Administration

Closing date: 8 September 2009

Creative Quill writers competition: prize winners

The following entries were rewarded with prizes:

Afrikaans Poetry
1. Mistige Donderdae - Malherbe Nienaber
2. Promenade - David Marais
3. Digtersvandiegrond - Adri Goosen
4. Stellenbos brand - Mariza van Wyk

Afrikaans Short Stories
1. 'n Midnight Special saam met Walter - Luc Scheepers
2. Voorraad Beperk! Carla Potgieter
3. Vangs - Jan Botha
4. Die vrou vir wie ek calamari gekoop het - Cara Meintjies

English Poetry
1. Some thing you cannot translate - Adri Goosen
2. Walking in the night - Helena Smit
3. Kept Man - Paul Kenneth Kinyua
4. Barbed wire fence - Elzet Kirsten

English Short Stories
1. Reflections - Gillian Armstrong
2. The Present - Cara Meintjies
3. White Lace - Imke Meyer
4. Good Intentions - Brendan Kelly

Library facilitates Open Access scholarly publishing through membership of Biomed Central

The Library and Information Service has recently taken up institutional membership of BioMed Central (BMC).

Biomed Cental, an online publisher that specialises in biological and medical research, provides researchers with the opportunity to publish free of charge and also provides free and open access to the peer-reviewed journals that they publish.

The library sees the closing of this agreement as a major step towards supporting Open Access initiatives on an institutional and regional level.

Open Access
The term Open Access refers to online, freely available research and scholarly materials such as peer reviewed, scientific journals. Supporting Open Access scholarship on campus, involves, inter alia, enabling researchers to publish in online, freely available peer-reviewed journals that have very limited copyright or licensing restrictions.

This is an important aim for the Library and the University as it ensures that the University’s research and knowledge is shared locally, nationally and internationally, enhancing research capacity on all these levels. The University’s intellectual output is showcased, facilitating new research. In addition, supporting Open Access publishing removes the price and access barriers for institutions and researchers who cannot afford to pay for fee-based journals.

Publish free of charge
With institutional membership of BioMed Central, the Library has ensured that, as far as possible, authors who publish in BMC journals are not charged Author Publishing Fees (APC) and access to research articles in the database is free of charge, as these costs are obviated by the membership fees.

More about BMC
As well as securing Open Access to your research, publishing in BioMed Central's journals brings lots of additional benefits, including:

Immediate and free access for all.  BioMed Central journals make all published original research immediately accessible through both BioMed Central and PubMed Central.

Fast, efficient peer review. All research in BioMed Central journals is fully peer reviewed. This process is streamlined thanks to a user-friendly, web-based system for submission and for referees to view manuscripts and return their reviews.

High visibility.   All research published in BioMed Central journals, is immediately indexed in PubMed, the world's most popular literature search service, providing a vast readership.
Permanence. All original research published by BioMed Central journals is archived in PubMed Central, to ensure permanent accessibility.

Citable articles. BioMed Central journals are cited in a way that closely follows the traditional citation model. BioMed Central has worked closely with the Institute of Scientific Information to ensure that citations to these articles are correctly tracked. A web counter keeps track track of how many people have viewed your paper on BioMed Central's website.

Authors keep copyright. Authors of published research keep copyright to their work.

The library encourages you to submit your manuscript to one of BioMed Central's 100+ journals and contribute to the vision of immediate free access to all published research. Alsoi visit the BioMed Central website at http://www.biomedcentral.com to browse the research articles and register to receive e-mail article alerts.

To submit an article, go to:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/authors/submit

Frequently Asked Questions at http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/faq

For further information about BioMed Central, visit http://www.biomedcentral.com

Please contact your Faculty Librarian or Alvina Matthee (alvinam@sun.ac.za) if you have any questions.

SCOPUS: Largest abstract and citation database now live at the University

Stellenbosch University Library is pleased to announce the acquisition of a new database, Scopus.

Scopus is an extensive abstract and citation database of research literature and quality web sources. It is designed to find information in a quick, easy and comprehensive way providing superior support of the literature research process. Scopus is also regarded as one of the two main citation databases. The Library already provides access to Web of Knowledge (Thomson, ISI).

Staff and students in the life sciences, health sciences, physical and social sciences areas in particular will benefit from this new electronic resource that includes features such as: 15,400 peer-reviewed journals from more than 4,000 publishers, over 1200 open access journals, 33 million abstracts, results from 386 million scientific web pages, over 3,6 million conference papers, 22 million patent records from 5 patent offices and seamless links to full-text articles and other library resources.

Scopus, with its ‘smart tools’ to track, analyze and visualize research is a key tool to encourage and support high-level, postgraduate research on campus. Updated daily, it allows researchers and postgraduate students to keep up-to-date with what is being published within their area of research.

Features like the ‘Author Identifier’ and the ‘Citation Tracker’ have set an industry-wide benchmark for enhanced searching and citation tracking. Both features have enhanced the users' ability to find who they are looking for and all their corresponding publications. Researchers are able to keep track of how their articles are being cited. Also included are the h-index and its visual aids that help authors, department heads and university administrators to track and interpret their research performance.

In addition, Scopus also offers PatentCites to track how primary research is practically applied in patents and WebCites to track the influence of peer-reviewed research on web literature. Scopus has easy to set-up alerts, RSS and HTML feeds to stay up-to-date on new articles being published within a particular research area.

Click here too search within Scopus.

For more information about Scopus go to http://www.info.scopus.com/detail/facts/ or contact your Faculty librarian or Alvina Matthee (alvinam@sun.ac.za)

Ms Ellen Tise to speak at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago

During July of this year, Ms Ellen Tise will be delivering two papers at the the ALA Annual Conference which is being held in Chicago, Illinois.

Ms Tise, Senior Director of the Library and Information Service is also the President-elect of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations).

On 11 July, Ms Tise will speak at the Asian, African and Middle Eastern Section (AAMES). Her paper will address: "Asian, African and Middel Eastern librarians in academic libraries: challenges, expectations and rewards".

Ms Tise will also deliver a talk at the Africa Sub-Committee panel of the conference on 12 July 2009. The topic of the panel discussion is: "Challenges and successes of libraries and library associations in Sub-Saharan Africa".

According to Ms Tise the Southern and Eastern African library associations, specifically the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), have successfully engaged many challenges. She will focus her talk on these successes and also discuss what more could be or should be done to develop library services and library associations in Sub-Sahara Africa.

The American Library Association (ALA), is the oldest and largest library association in the world. It holds its Annual Conference each June/July which is attended by more than 25 000 librarians, educators, writers, publishers, friends of libraries, trustees and special guests. The conference includes more than 2 000 meetings, discussion groups, programs on various topics affecting libraries and librarians.

Click here for the ALA Annual Conference website.

Ms Ellen Tise speaks at WSIS in Geneva

Ms Ellen Tise, Senior Director of the Library and Information Service spoke on her Presidential theme ‘Libraries driving access to knowledge’ at the opening panel at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) forum which was held in Geneva during May. The audience comprised more than 300 representatives from governments, businesses and civil society. IFLA has been involved in the WSIS process since its inception, and this year the meetings were transformed into more of an interactive forum. Click here for more information.

Ms Tise is currently the President-elect of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations). She will take over the presidency for the term 2009-2011, at the end of August 2009, during the annual IFLA conference.  

Refworks: Advanced training session 22 June 2009

On 22 June the Library and Information Service will be presenting a training session for staff, researchers and students with regard to the more advanced functions and applications of RefWorks.

Presenter : Ms Oriana Filipionek, RefWorks – UK
Date : Monday, 22 June 2009
Time : 09h00 -12h00
Venue : NARGA Venue A – Room 2093, Admin Block A, NARGA
Contact : Faculty/branch librarian

Kindly note that the venue can only accommodate 57 persons . We therefore urge you to confirm your attendance with your faculty/branch librarian beforehand.

The same session will be presented to Bellville and Tygerberg campus staff, researchers and students at the Bellville Park Campus from 14h00 to 16h00 later the same day. Kindly contact Henriёtte Swart (tel.: 021-918 4270) or Linda Bellairs (tel.:021-938 9365).

Interested parties who are not able to attend any of the sessions are welcome to contact their faculty/branch librarian cto arrange for alternative training.

Exhibition: SA Academy for Science and Art

The South African Academy for Science and Art is celebrating its centenary this year. An exhibition regarding the connection between the Academy and the University of Stellenbosch is being hosted by the SU Library and Information Service and the Western Cape Working Group of the Academy as part of the centenary celebrations.

The exhibition can be viewed in the Africana section of the JS Gericke Library until 12 June 2009

Vacancies

Click here for more information on the following vacancies at the Library and Information Service:

• Senior Librarian (Head of Division). Cataloguing Division, JS Gericke Library.  Closes 22 May 2009

• Senior Librarian: Information Literacy & Learning Commons Management. Information Services Division, JS Gericke Library. Closes 22 May 2009

• Junior Librarian, Theology Library. Closes 22 May 2009

Library Week photo competition ends on a high note

The Library and Information Service's successful photo competition, which formed part of National Library Week celebrations, ended on a high note on Friday the 27th of March with the announcement of the winners during a social function in the JS Gericke Library's staff room.

All the participants in the competition as well as all library staff were invited to attend the event. In total, 22 students and university staff members participated in the competition and 123 photos were entered. Ms Ellen Tise, Senior Director of the Library introduced the two judges: Hentie van der Merwe, lecturer in photography at the Department of Visual Arts and Jackie Murray, lecturer in photography at the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography.

The two judges kicked off by explaining that the competition theme, "The Library at a different angle" was employed as the most important criteria in the adjudicating process. They continued to announce the ten finalists, providing interpretations of the photos and finally announced the three winners.

Isadon Duncan (on the photo, left) walked away with the first prize, a R1000 voucher from Picture Works, with his photo titled, Outside from inside. The second prize, a voucher of R300 from Picture Works, was won by Antone van Heerden. The third prize, an A2 poster from SunPrint, was won by Johandri Wasserfall.

We would like to sincerely thank all the participants for their enthusiasm. The quality of the photos are excellent - we would have liked to give everyone prizes!

An exhibition of photos will be on display in the JS Gericke Library for the next few weeks. The winning photos can also be viewed here.

For more information, please contact Marié Roux at 021 808-2623.

National Library Week celebrated 16-21 March 2009

Annually National Library Week presents an opportunity to celebrate the role of the Library in society and especially on campus. We therefore invite you to attend a few special events at the JS Gericke Library during this week.

Photo Competition – The Library @ a Different Angle, 9-20 March

Students and staff, harness your photography skills and show us a different angle of the library!  The winner of the competition will be awarded a R1000 PhotoConnection prize on the 27^th of March.  Second and third prizes will also be awarded.  For more information and to submit entries, click here.

Darwin 200 Years: Exhibition, JS Gericke Library

Charles Darwin set out on his epic five year voyage aboard HMS Beagle and came back with a lot on his mind...

An extraodinary thinker, Darwin’s findings led him to question our understanding of how life on Earth evolved. This culminated in the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Now, 200 years after his birth and 150 years after his findings triggered a debate that still rages today, we celebrate this double anniversary and the man with the revolutionary thoughts. (www.royalmail.com/stamp)

This exhibition contains selected items from Special Collections, JS Gericke Library, as well as items kindly lent by Prof WS Barnard and Dr JA van den Heever.

Book talk: Willemien Brümmer & Loftus Marais

“Oor vensters en hare: Kortverhaalskrywer Willemien Brümmer en digter Loftus Marais in gesprek oor hulle debuutwerke”: Die dag toe ek my hare losgemaak het  &  Staan in die algemeen nader aan vensters.

Mon, 23 March 2009
13:00-14:00
JS Gericke Library (Staff Room)
Refreshments will be served
Free of charge

RefWorks: Introduction and overview

The Library and Information Service will be presenting a training session on 16 March where members of staff, researchers and students can learn more about RefWorks.

Speaker: r Francois van Wyk (ProQuest Product Specialist)
Date:  Monday, 16 March 2009
Time: 09:00-11:00
Venue: JS Gericke Library, Auditorium
Contact: Branch or faculty librarians

RefWorks, a reference or bibliographic tool that can help researchers to manage and organise their references and to generate bibliographies, was officially introduced to the University in 2008. The purpose of this training session is to give an overview of the uses and applications of the product.

Links to RefWorks are available on the library homepage under Databases as well as under Information Literacy (Reference Tools). Another link is available on the new Research Support Portal.

If you cannot attend this session, you are welcome to contact your branch or faculty librarian to arrange training.

Similar sessions will be held at the Tygerberg and Bellville campuses on Friday 13 March 2009. Please contact Henriëtte Swart (tel.: 021-9184270) or Linda Bellairs (tel.: 021-9389365) for more information.

Fines exemption

An exemption of fines will be conceded for all late returns during the week of 16-21 March 2009. (Previously incurred fines not included).

Research Support Portal made available on the Library website

The Library is pleased to announce that a Research Support Portal was made available on the Library website in February this year. This is part of a purposeful aim of the Library to improve support for the research process at the University. The link to the portal is available on the Library homepage (www.sun.ac.za/library) or go directly to http://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Library/Researchsupport.

The aim of the portal is to provide information on library services and resources that are specifically of interest to researchers.

The services and resources are grouped in the following categories:
• Find resources
Books, journals, journal articles, theses, etc.
• Research output
Research evaluation tools such as Journal citation reports (impact factor), Citation Index (accredited journals), Theses and Dissertations at South African Universities (UCTD), ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (international theses and dissertations ), Nexus - Current and completed research in South Africa, submission procedures for theses and dissertations
• Manage your references
Citation Linker, referencing techniques, RefWorks
• Keep up to date
New books, alert services, current awareness
• Help yourself
Find guides and tutorials
• Advice and training
Subject guides, faculty librarians
• Borrowing and ordering
Borrowing, book reservations, interlibrary borrowing
• Useful links
Useful websites with regard to research

The announcement of the Research Support Portal links to other initiatives, such as the acquisition of RefWorks and ScienceDirect backfiles, which are also aimed at improving support to research.

Enquiries with regard to the Research Support Portal can be directed to Lucia Schoombee, tel.: 021 8082125 or any faculty or branch librarian at:

ScienceDirect backfiles now available on the Library website

The Library is pleased to announce that it has partnered with the Faculties of Science and AgriSciences to purchase the complete backfiles for four Elsevier subject collections, namely: Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Agricultural and Biological Sciences and Immunology and Microbiology.

This means that the complete journal collections (right from the first issue) for each of the subject collections mentioned are now accessible by means of ScienceDirect.

ScienceDirect is widely considered as the world's most comprehensive provider of scientific, technical and medical information in web format. The acquisition of the backfiles enriches SU researcher's access to scientific information fundamentally.

As Dr Philip Young of the Department Viticulture and Oenology puts it: "It has become a reality that researchers only read online content these days, because it available immediately. The short wait period of two days for an interlending request has become unacceptably long. The backfiles give academics immediate access to a multitude of articles in their specific subject areas, which definitely contributes to our ability to do research".

ScienceDirect can be accessed from the Library Homepage under Databases. The individual journals are also accessible by means of the Library's Electronic Journal List, which is also available on the Library Homepage.

You are welcome to direct any enquiries to your faculty / branch librarian.

Library photo competition lucky draw: Wed, 4 Feb 2009

The lucky draw in the Library Orientation competition took place on Wednesday, 4 February at 13:00 in the JS Gericke Library's staff room.

Berenice Tom is the winner of the R1500 Somerset West voucher!

Jewelry by SU students on display in the JS Gericke Library

Library's action plans in response to qualitative survey

African content database added to Library's digital collection

The Library and Information Service is pleased to announce the addition of the following important scholarly resource to its digital collection:

Aluka (http://library.sun.ac.za/connect/aluka)

Aluka is an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa.

The name ‘Aluka’ is derived from a Zulu word meaning ‘to weave’, reflecting the connection of resources and scholars from around the world.

The digital library currently offers three content areas, namely:
 

	Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes
	African Plants
	Struggles for Freedom in Southern Africa

Content is provided by institutions and individuals across the globe and includes materials ranging from archival documents, periodicals, books, reports, manuscripts, and reference works, to three-dimensional models, maps, oral histories, plant specimens, photographs, and slides. New materials are added to the collections on an ongoing basis.

Forthcoming content includes:

• Timbuktu Manuscripts (Manuscripts from Timbuktu with regards to the society and intellectual traditions of the Western Sudan from the 15th century onward.
   
• Lowenstein Papers (Personal papers from prominent activist Allard Lowenstein including correspondence, speeches and testimonies which documents the struggle for liberation in the Southern Africa region.)
   
• Portuguese Secret Police (PIDE) Archives (A selection of documents from the PIDE archives documenting the national liberation struggle in Mozambique.)

Aluka’s web-based platform provides tools for research, teaching, collaboration, and knowledge exchange.

Access to Aluka is provided through the Library's website under databases  for all registered students and staff members. Off-campus clients will be prompted to log in with their SU campus network or portal username and password to access this resource.

Aluka can also be accessed from the Library's catalogue.

For more information or enquiries, please contact your faculty or branch librarian.

Launching of the Metalib search engine

The US Library and Information Service is pleased to introduce a new service, namely the Metalib search engine, this year.  Metalib provides mulitiple access to electronic databases within specific subject catagories.  The Metalib information portal is available 24 hours daily through the library’s website and ensures access to reliable academic information as it only provides access to electronic databases selected and purchased by the Library and Information Service. Metalib also provides SFX links to full text articles.

The library will be presenting training sessions between August and October 2007 to enable clients to learn to use Metalib effectively. Students and lecturers are invited to contact their faculty or branch librarian to make an appointment for a 15 minute Metalib training session.

For more information contact Joanne Arendse on 021 808 4399 or e-mail to jea@sun.ac.za.

Stellenbosch University's full-text electronic resources now available in Google Scholar

 A large percentage of the Library's electronic resources can now be retrieved using Google Scholar.

Library clients who use Google Scholar will, in other words, be able to access the full text of electronic resources to which the Library has access when performing an information search.

It is, however, important to note that this only applies to electronic resources that have been enabled for this purpose by the publisher.  Although a large number, not all of the Library's electronic resources are retrievable through Google Scholar.

How this works:
A "Full Text @ Stellenbosch" link appears in the Google Scholar search results of Library clients who use on-campus computers. 

By clicking on the link the client gets access to the full-text version of the article appears.

This service is made possible by SFX, a tool that the Library uses to create shortcuts to full-text articles, if available, as well as links to additional Library services.  SFX also enables the user to link from citations in our different databases to full text articles wherever they are available.

The image below illustrates the position of the full-text link in the list of Google Scholar search results.

For enquiries please contact Annamie Wessels at tel.: (021) 808-4884 or e-mail: aw2@sun.ac.za.

SFX Citation Linker

SFX Citation Linker can be used to check citations you may have against the electronic  holdings of the Library.

Enter as much citation information as you have, and use Citation Linker to:

• connect electronically to the full-text item if the Library has access to it,

• determine whether the Library holds a paper copy of the item

Citation checking is simpler if you have the ISSN or ISBN, but it can be done without these standard numbers.

See more information on SFX.