Editorial: Adamastor Reclaimed: Some Aspects of the Transformation of the South African Library and Information Science Scene

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the current trends, needs and opportunities of professionalism in librarianship in Nigeria. The broad purpose of the paper was to investigate the level of professionalism in librarianship and to ascertain the current status, trends and opportunities within the profession among academic librarians in Nigeria. Five specific research questions were formulated which are: to examine how librarians value librarianship as a profession, to elicit the efforts made by librarians with regards to professional development, to ascertain methods of acquiring current competencies within the profession, to investigate the role of professional bodies in promoting professionalism and excellence within the library and information science (LIS) profession and to proffer strategies to enhance professionalism and excellence among librarians in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – Descriptive survey design was adopted in the study across both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The area of the study was the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State and the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka Anambra State. Population of the study comprised a total of 63 librarians in the two universities. All librarians were sampled because of the small sample size. The instrument for data collection was oral interview and questionnaire which contained 53 items derived from the research questions and built on a four-point scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree, (A) Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). The criterion mean was 2.50. Therefore, any calculated mean below 2.50 was adjudged a negative score, while any mean from 2.50 and above was regarded as a positive score. Findings – The study revealed the challenges facing professionalism and excellence within the LIS field as lack of funding for professional development, lack of sponsorship to workshops and conferences, lack of uninterruptible internet facility and a dearth of professional mentors in the South East zone. Other problems gathered from a scheduled interview with some senior professionals in the institutions revealed that most librarians are still facing the challenge of imbibing and utilizing emerging skills in the LIS professions such as digital archiving and data mining skills for their day-to-day activities. Originality/value – Recommendations arising from the study were proffered such as the creation of staff development programmes by management; collaboration and partnership by libraries within the zone; acquisition of training through workshops and conferences irrespective of sponsorship by the institutions; and teaming of academic librarians to enhance their visibility and publication output. International staff exchanges and opportunities for sabbatical leave, which hitherto was not common in the South East Zone, were recommended. Among other recommendations also were building of consortia with libraries in the country; LIS professional bodies helping to create visibility and prestige of the LIS profession; and, finally, to scale up the image of the profession the marketing of library products through profiling of patrons and furnishing them with required information has not only become necessary but critical.

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Transition to open: A metrics analysis of discoverability and accessibility of LIS scholarship

South African Journal of Science ◽

10.17159/sajs.2019/5867 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 115 (7/8) ◽

Author(s):

Jaya Raju ◽

Andiswa Mfengu ◽

Michelle Kahn ◽

Reggie Raju

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Information Science ◽

Performance Metrics ◽

Numerical Data ◽

Library And Information Science ◽

South African Journal ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Multiple Metrics ◽

Journal Content ◽

African Journal

Metrics analysis of journal content has become an important point for debate and discussion in research and in higher education. The South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science (SAJLIS), a premier journal in the library and information science (LIS) field in South Africa, in its 85-year history, has had multiple editors and many contributing authors and has published over 80 volumes and 160 issues on a diversity of topics reflective of LIS theory, policy and practice. However, how discoverable and accessible has the LIS scholarship carried by the Journal been to its intended readership? SAJLIS transitioned to open access in 2012 and this new format in scholarly communication impacted the Journal significantly. The purpose of this paper is to report on a multiple metrics analysis of discoverability and accessibility of LIS scholarship via SAJLIS from 2012 to 2017. The inquiry takes a quantitative approach within a post-positivist paradigm involving computer-generated numerical data as well as manual data mining for extraction of qualitative elements. In using such a multiple metrics analysis to ascertain the discoverability and accessibility of LIS scholarship via SAJLIS in the period 2012 to 2017, the study employs performance metrics theory to guide the analysis. We highlight performance strengths of SAJLIS in terms of discoverability and accessibility of the scholarship it conveys; identify possible growth areas for strategic planning for the next 5 years; and make recommendations for further study for a more complete picture of performance strengths and areas for improvement.

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The Power and Perils of Participant Observation in Library and Information Science Research: Reflections on Three South African Studies

Mousaion ◽

10.25159/0027-2639/2044 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Genevieve Hart

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Information Science ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Cape Town ◽

School Libraries ◽

Research Literature ◽

Library And Information Science ◽

Western Cape ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

The Impact

This article reports on three participant observation studies conducted in schools and libraries in South Africa, between 1999 and 2015. The study findings have been reported on elsewhere, thus the focus is on the methodologies used, with the common thread being the authorâ€™s preoccupation with the information literacy education of South African pupils. The authorâ€™s purpose was to provide evidence of the impact of the dire lack of resources and libraries at South African schools. The first study in 1999 explored how teachers at an underresourced primary school in Cape Town, Western Cape, were coping with the demands of the new curriculum. The second study in 2006 examined two public libraries in a rural town in Mpumalanga, with seven local schools, but no school libraries. The third study in 2015 involved the library at a high school in Kayelitsha township outside Cape Town, which is part of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) project to employ school leavers to manage school libraries. Participant observation is rare in the Library and Information Science (LIS) research literature and the authorâ€™s aim is to demonstrate its power to dig beneath the surface. The article uncovers the complex relations and tacit beliefs that existed at the three research sites, which are probably at play in other contexts and which have to be taken into account in planning effective programmes in South African schools and libraries. The article also acknowledges the ethical challenges, arguably inherent in participant observation, which relate to the often sensitive relations among participants, and to the researcherâ€™s positioning.

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Compliance with legislative framework in implementing recognition of prior learning (RPL) by South African library and information science (LIS) schools

Journal of Education ◽

10.17159/2520-9868/i75a06 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ike Hlongwane

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Information Science ◽

Library And Information Science ◽

Prior Learning ◽

Recognition Of Prior Learning ◽

Legislative Framework

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Much Library and Information Science Research on Open Access is Available in Open Access, But There Is Still Room to Grow

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice ◽

10.18438/eblip29531 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 68-70

Author(s):

Rachel Elizabeth Scott

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

South African ◽

English Language ◽

Information Science ◽

Academic Library ◽

Science Research ◽

Library And Information Science ◽

Free Access ◽

Dataset Analysis ◽

Academic Resources

A Review of: Chilimo, W. L., & Onyancha, O. B. (2018). How open is open access research in library and information science? South African Journal of Libraries & Information Science, 84(1), 11-19. https://doi.org/10.7553/84-1-1710 Abstract Objective – To investigate the open access (OA) availability of Library and Information Science (LIS) research on the topic of OA, the relative openness of the journals in which this research is published, and the degree to which the OA policies of LIS journals facilitate free access. Design – Bibliometric, quantitative dataset analysis. Setting – African academic library and information science department. Subjects – 1,185 English-language, peer-reviewed articles published between 2003 and 2013 on OA and published in journals indexed by three major LIS databases, of which 909 articles in the top 56 journals received further analysis. Methods – Authors first searched LIS indexes to compile a dataset of published articles focusing on OA. They then manually identified and evaluated the OA policies of the top 56 journals in which these articles were found. The openness of these journals was scored according to a rubric modified from the Scholarly Publishing and Academic resources Coalition’s (SPARC’s) 2013 OA spectrum. Finally, authors manually searched Google Scholar to determine the OA availability of the articles from the dataset. Main Results – Of the 909 articles published in the top 56 journals, 602 were available in some form of OA. Of these, 431 were available as gold copies and 171 were available as green copies. Of the 56 journals evaluated for openness, 13 were considered OA, 3 delayed OA, 27 hybrid/unconditional post-print, 2 hybrid/conditional post-print, and 11 had unrecognized OA policies. Conclusion – The increasing amount and significance of LIS research on OA has not directly translated to the comprehensive adoption of OA publishing. Although a majority of the articles in the dataset were available in OA, the authors indicate that some measures of OA adoption and growth assessed in this study are only somewhat higher than in other disciplines. The authors call upon LIS professionals to become more conversant with journals’ OA policies. An acknowledgement that not all LIS scholars researching OA are necessarily advocates thereof led the authors of this study to recommend further investigation of OA research not available in OA to shed light on those scholars’ perceptions and preferences.

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ISALLIS: from Termatrex to Internet

The Indexer The International Journal of Indexing ◽

10.3828/indexer.2002.23.2.4 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 66-67

Author(s):

Marlene Burger

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Information Science ◽

African Literature ◽

The Internet ◽

Library And Information Science ◽

Joint Research ◽

Joint Research Project ◽

South African Literature ◽

Available Technology

The article discusses the development of the Index to South African Literature on Library and Information Science, which is the result of a joint research project (1974-80) between the Department of Information Science (University of South Africa) and the Unisa Library. Reflecting the evolution of the available technology, the index that began using optical incidence cards (Termatrex) is currently available on a regularly updated CDROM database and will soon be available on the Internet.

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