IN CELEBRATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN LIBRARY WEEK

 

                             

By 

Claudette Kercival

The week of March 14-20, marked the celebration of South African Library Week (SALW).  Libraries, public, special and academic around the nation, hosted various events to commemorate this event.

Owing to the pandemic, libraries continue being impacted in numerous ways and have had to adapt to respond appropriately to its different types of users. It is evident that with this re-adaptation and re-configuring of library services, our users need to RE-DISCOVER all that we have on offer.

 

This week-long series of activities, presented library stakeholders with an opportunity to:

·       Reimagine their services and their ability to render those services whilst carefully considering the myriad of changes thrust upon libraries because of COVID, 

·       Repurpose both their spaces and their services to continue being effective in the communities that they serve, and in this way allowing users to 

·       Rediscover the library and the ways in which it benefits them.

ABOUT SOUTH AFRICAN LIBRARY WEEK

The Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), initiated SALW in 2001 as a commemorative period, when all types of libraries, across the country use this time as an opportunity to market their services and create awareness of the important role that libraries play in a democracy. The central focus of activities embrace: advancing literacy, making the basic human right of freedom of access to information a reality and the promotion of tolerance and respect in society.

The choice of the date memorializes the establishment by proclamation of the first public library, the South African Public Library, now the National Library of South Africa (Cape Town Campus), on 20 March 1818. Furthermore, on 21 March, we celebrate Human Rights Day and our Bill of Rights recognises the freedom of access to information as a basic human right. An important historical event is thus linked with a crucial date in our democracy.

 

In keeping with the 2022 theme for SALW: Re-Imagine, Re-Purpose and Re-Discover …Libraries! Howard College Libraries chose to host a virtual quiz, aimed at all its library users, testing their knowledge with questions about the various libraries, its resources and services. The quiz attracted a spectrum of staff and student participants across all four colleges and five campuses.  Ten correct entries received were from participants pictured below including Ms Saabirah Rizvi from the College of Law and Management (not pictured upon request).

UKZN Library extends sincerest congratulations to its worthy winners and is indeed grateful to all participants and our several vendors for their generous sponsorships thereby contributing to the success of UKZN SALW celebrations.

 

Dissecting EBSCOhost

 

                                                                        By Shorba Harkhu

As a die-hard fan of the Life Sciences, I am more biased towards databases like ScienceDirect and the Web of Science. During the recent round of FYE (First Year Experience) library training sessions on EBSCOhost, it felt like we were dissecting EBSCOhost piece by piece. We learnt something new from every presenter and every presentation was better than or different from the last. I now have a new found respect for EBSCOhost and I will rightfully acknowledge this database by its proper name, which is EBSCOhost, from now on (not Ebsco in future for me). That is correct, I am now a convert!

 

I have realised that EBSCOhost is one of the most user-friendly databases. In addition to this, this database is multidisciplinary, in that it includes in its collection a plethora of databases such as Academic Search Complete (which is claimed to be the world's most comprehensive scholarly and multi-disciplinary full-text database), as well as other subject-specific databases such as ERIC and GreenFILE.

 

You can set up a personal account in EBSCOhost to save search results, search alerts and journal alerts to your MyEBSCO folder. You may also choose to create an account using your Google account credentials.  

 

Needing help on how to use any aspect of EBSCOhost, all you need do is click on the question mark next to the Create Alert button, and you will find a comprehensive help menu popping up with topics

that are hyperlinked. No need to go to the EBSCOhost landing page to add another database, just click on the Choose Databases link on the basic or advanced search page, and a list of databases will pop up for you to choose from. 

Need a quick preview of an article or ebook, click on the magnifying glass icon.

 
 As you are scrolling through your results, why not add your selections to a folder.

 
Do you require more results per page, then click on the Page Options tab at the top of the results page.

 

 EBSCOhost also has this feature where you can include an HTML or PDF attachment to an email. There’s the added bonus of choosing to have result details delivered to you in one of several referencing styles when saving, emailing or citing an article or ebook.

 

 

Finally, here comes the drum roll moment, and this is where you can bring out the popcorn. You can have the full text of an article read out to you!

 

Which database do you enjoy using or presenting? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

 

 

The jigsaw puzzle of research … demystified

 

By Jillian Viljoen

Have you ever tried completing a jigsaw puzzle of 1000 pieces? When I opened the box of my first 1000 piece puzzle, I looked at the beautiful countryside scenery image on the box, then stared at the many tiny puzzle pieces, and thought “What were you thinking?” It was a daunting reality that I had to now make sense of the disorder of pieces to create the end result on the box.

 As with any jigsaw puzzle, you usually sort the pieces with straight edges into one pile, and create the frame, and then you put pieces with similar colouring together and add those in the frame to complete the picture. But how do we know to use that method to get the end result? We were probably shown by someone when we did our very first jigsaw puzzle, right?

 

Sometimes, conducting research is like a jigsaw puzzle. We have the final picture which is what we hope to achieve based on the topic, research questions and objectives. But we need to fill in the blanks and add substance to the research by finding information to substantiate or expand on the topic, apart from the data collection and analysis. That is where the library comes in.

 The library has many online and print resources which include print and ebooks which can be found via the library’s catalogue and electronic articles which are found on the databases which the library subscribes to. The information that you require for your particular topic is contained within all the resources at your disposal. You need the skills to identify and extract that particular information. Learning how to access and effectively use these resources for information searches can either be done by using the step-by-step guides on the library training LibGuide or by contacting a subject librarian for assistance. The subject librarians provide training and skills necessary for you to focus your searches specifically on your topic and how to then collate everything into a comprehensible arrangement; much like someone showing you how to complete your very first jigsaw puzzle.

 

Once you have learnt and mastered the information searching skills, you are well on your way to being a productive, independent researcher. These skills are the foundation of all research endeavours.

 If you are currently experiencing difficulties with information searches for your research, contact a subject librarian today. After all, the completed jigsaw puzzle of your particular research provides valuable insight for other researchers throughout the world.