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Dear Readers
With this
issue of Bibnuus we are sharing, once again, some newsworthy items on
developments and activities at the Library with you. We also invite you to
share your viewpoints and suggestions about the Library with us by means
of the Library's new blog,
BiBlog.
Lucia
Schoombee (Editor)
Casual Day fun
Librarians at the JS Gericke
Library demonstrated spirit and generosity on Casual Day this year with entire
divisions dressing up in theme to contribute to the fundraising cause.
In the photo (above) from left: Marie de Goede, Anna Kennedy, Elise
Coetzee,
Sheila Keet, Ivan Jacobs, Selma Kloppers and Paulette Talliard
Click on the images below to see other Library staff members in costume
on casual day.
Feedback on focus group discussions
As a result of
the quantitative LibQual library survey conducted in 2005, further
research areas were investigated through qualitative research in
the form of focus groups.
These matters were: (1)
reasons for clients’
negative perception with regard to the quality of the library collection
(information resources) (2) reasons for clients’ negative perception with
regard to access to information resources.
The focus group discussions were conducted in March of this year and were facilitated
by Marlize Smit and Debbie Human of the Department of Business Management.
Approximately 20 academic staff members and post-graduate students
respectively took part in the discussions.
In general the feedback from the focus groups was positive and no major
problem areas in terms of the quality of the library collection and access
to information resources were found. Respondents did however indicate
areas that they find frustrating and areas that could be improved.
It seems
that concerns raised regarding the quality of the library collection
(electronic and physical) and the access to the library collections by the
previously conducted LibQUAL study were not the result of a few major
issues, but rather related to a number of smaller aspects.
A result of the focus group discussions is that the Library has undertaken
specific actions to address the concerns that were expressed by the
participants.
A few examples of the planned actions are:
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A survey across disciplines
to identify possible shortcomings in the Library's
collection regarding local (South African) publications related to issues
of importance within the South African context.
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An investigation into the possibility of the electronic delivery of
articles requested through the interlibrary loan system.
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Improvement of off-campus access to electronic resources.(Completed)
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The development of a "how to" webpage to support client self-sufficiency
with regard to finding resources, information and electronic services
from the library website.
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Focus on the offering of subject-specific curriculum related information
skills programmes in faculties in order to integrate library training into
specific modules.
The complete exposition of the identified shortcomings and the Library's
proposed solutions are available on the Library's website at:
http://www.lib.sun.ac.za/Fokusgroepe/feedback.htm
International visitors
The past two
months, following the
IFLA conference, has seen a steady flow of
international visitors to the JS Gericke Library.
One of the visits that can be highlighted was that of Biddy Fisher,
Head of Information Services, Sheffield Hallam University and member of
the Executive Board of SCONUL, the UK Society of College, University and
National Libraries who was accompanying her husband (the Secretary General
of the Association of Commonwealth Universities) to the Stellenbosch
University on Wednesday 5 September 2007.
In the photo (above) from left: Lucia Schoombee (SU), K Kekana
(UWC), Sarah Kibirige (SU), Wynand van der Walt (UWC), Elda Nolte (SU),
Pateka Ntshuntshe-Matshaya (UWC), Biddy Fisher (Sheffield), Ellen Tise
(SU)
Other recent visitors to the JS Gericke Library included:
From Norway:
Frode Bakken, Director of the library at Telemark University College in
Norway and former president of the Norwegian Library Association.
Helge Salvesen, Professor of history and Director of the University
Library at the University of Tromsø in Norway and member of the board of
the Norwegian Library Association.
From China:
A delegation from the National Library of China. The visit resulted from
a Memorandum of Understanding between the Departments of Arts and Culture
of the respective countries. The National Library of South Africa has
subsequently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National
Library of China.
From Finland:
Päivi Pekkarinen, National Medical Library of Helsinki.
Eeva Murtomaa, National Library of Finland.
Eila Ramo, Library of Arts and Design of Finland.
From Angola:
Two visitors from Angola, who have been tasked to set up libraries across
Angola (an Academic Information Network) and to gather advice and best
practice in South Africa:
Samuel Carlos Victorino (consultant to Dr Adao do Nascimento, the minister
of Education in Angola) and Joaquim José Migueis.
From Kansas (USA):
Lorraine J Haricombe, Dean of Libraries, University of Kansas, Kansas.
From Kentucky (USA):
Kathleen RT Imhoff, Executive director, Lexington Public Library.
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The Library expands its e-book collection
The Library and Information Service now provides access to a large number of electronic
books on many subjects. Most are available in large collections which can
be searched through the publisher's interface and the majority are
individually catalogued in the Library catalogue.
In addition to the
collections to which the Library subscribes, a few publically available
e-book collections are also made available through the Library's e-books
webpage at
http://library.sun.ac.za/eng/finding/ez_books.html.
E-books are electronic versions of printed books and can be
accessed by way of the internet. Some e-books are also published
exclusively in electronic format.
Access arrangements differ: some must be
"checked out" to read, similar to borrowing a traditional printed book,
others can simply be read by simply to the book.
E-books can be accessed by both on-campus and off-campus users. Off-campus
clients will be prompted to log in with their SU
campus network or portal username and password to access e-books.
The large collections of e-books that the Library makes available,
include:
African Digital Library
Approximately 4000 electronic books, freely available. Mostly on the subject of
management sciences.
Credo Reference
A collection of more than 250 reference books.
Ebrary
A large collection of academic e-books with a wide subject variety,
including reference works.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
A collection of encyclopedias, calenders and specialised reference works.
A number of the individual titles that are made available, include:
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Oxford English Dictionary Online
Pharos Woordeboeke / Dictionaries
The Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy (SEP)
Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry
Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT)
World of Microbiology and Immunology, 1st Ed, 2V
Who's Who of Southern Africa
For more
information or enquiries, please contact your
faculty or branch librarian.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
Encyclopædia
Britannica Online is one of the electronic reference collections that has
been
made available by the Library.
This resource
contains
73 000 articles, both short and book-length articles, on a great number of
subjects.
Besides articles,
Encyclopædia Britannica Online also contains sub-divisions and multimedia
formats such as:
Video
Collection (Video Clips)
World Atlas
(Explore the world)
Compare
Countries (Compare information about any two countries)
Timelines
(Survey the past)
Year in
Review Browse (Read about notable people and events)
World Data
(Find country information and statistics)
Notable
Quotations (Browse quotes by author or subject)
Encyclopædia
Britannica Online can be accessed from the Library's website at:
http://library.sun.ac.za/eng/finding/ez_books.html.
Security sharpened at the JS Gericke Library
Library access
control staff were obliged to don bright security waistcoats after a
recent spate of thefts in the JS Gericke Library.
It is hoped that
the new uniforms will serve as a deterrent to criminals as the bright overcoats will
make the security patrols in the Library more visible.
Patrons are
still cautioned however to keep their valuables on their persons at all
times.
New books New books are exhibited each week, for the
duration of one week, in the JS Gericke Library (to the right of
the Library entrance, close to the newspaper tables). The books
may be
viewed and reserved at the Circulation Desk and are made available
for loan the following week.
Elsevier's Scopus available for trial period
The Library has secured a trial period of one month for access to
Scopus.
Scopus, a product of Elsevier Publishing Co., is reputedly regarded as
"the world's largest abstract and indexing database," spanning the full
spectrum of science-technology-medicine (STM) literature plus more
limited coverage of the social sciences.
The database is rivalled by Web of Science to which the Library already
subscribes.
Staff members and students of the University are encouraged to test
Scopus while it is available on trial and to please mail any comments to
Marita Landsberg.
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