This study investigated the effectiveness of staff training and development programmes and policies at the Unisa Library. The aim of the study was to establish how staff training and development needs were met and also how staff felt about the centralisation of the Human Resources Department. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the Unisa Library staff including the Unisa Branch Libraries. Interviews with four divisional managers were also conducted. Staff development is an ongoing process that, by means of a systematic approach, serves to orient, train, and develop each member of the library staff to work together and to serve their customers with the skills necessary to deliver a quality service. As a result, training can be viewed as an essential vehicle to efficient and effective performance by staff and also as a process that develops the skills, awareness or expertise of staff. This is important for both professional and non-professional employees. Chapter one of this dissertation provided the orientation of this study. Chapter two looked at how the study was conducted, including the research design and methods. Chapter three provided information on the legal aspects of training and development in the workplace and what employees need to be aware of and to know. Chapter four dealt with staff training and development and a literature survey. Chapter five gave an analysis and interpretation of the research findings. Chapter six described the situation at Unisa with respect to staff training and development, while in chapter seven recommendations were made based on the findings of this study. It was found that the personal development of staff was hindered as only job - related training is supported by the Library's STD workgroup. It is recommended that a training needs analysis be compiled in the Library based on the individual staff training requirements expressed during annual performance appraisals. Fifty percent of the staff who were surveyed thought it was good to centralise the Human Resources Department. / Information Science / M. A. (Information Science)

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Library and Information Studies, Durban University of Technology, 2013 / Academic libraries should lead in the instructional change process by being at the nexus of teaching, learning and research in the university. This study was set in the context of the current higher educational landscape of South Africa. In particular, it focused on the emerging role of the University of Technology (UoT) library to enhance academic success. This was an exploratory study juxtaposed with a literature review pertinent to national and international library integration programmes and practices. Justification for this study stemmed from the current local and international trend for academic libraries to become proactive partners in teaching and learning through academic integration and leadership in promoting the university’s mission and goals. Underpinned by the process learning theoretical framework, the aim of this study was to explore the extent to which academic integration has been adopted by UoT libraries in South Africa. Process learning was chosen by the researcher because it is considered a learner-centred teaching technique for student engagement and it is consistent with the constructivist theory postulated and applicable to UoT libraries. The specific objectives of the survey were to determine: what academic integration programmes are offered by UoT libraries to enhance teaching, learning and research in South Africa; existing information literacy programmes and assessment practices in UoT libraries; what postgraduate/research programmes are offered by the library to academics and students and how they are represented in strategy or policy documents; and the similarities and differences in academic integration programmes in all six UoTs in SA. A mixed methods approach (quantitative and qualitative methodologies) were used to collect data regarding programmes and practices prevalent in UoT libraries across all six UoTs in South Africa. An online questionnaire was administered using SurveyMonkey. Forty-two subject librarians participated in the survey, yielding a sixty- two percent response rate. The objectives of the study were achieved by the identification of the following key academic integration programmes: embedded information literacy programmes; resource collection and development; faculty collaboration and partnerships to promote academic success; research scholarship and open access initiatives; social media networking; and reading and writing programmes. This study found that while academic integration has gained momentum in UoTs in South Africa, greater effort should be made in collaboration with academics in: embedded information literacy and blended learning; open access and scholarship; reading and writing programmes; and collaboration in postgraduate interventions. The findings also revealed that while most libraries internationally have embraced reading and writing programmes, libraries offering reading and writing programmes to enhance academic success are relatively scarce in UoTs in South Africa. It is recommended that the subject librarians engage in academic integration practices by: supporting the curricula and research programmes; improving institutional outcomes; improving collaborations; building intellectual or knowledge centres and providing relevant information to students and staff within a knowledge society.

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / In this day and age, technology keeps advancing thereby enabling electronic libraries to be one of the most useful sources of information. Traditional, physical libraries are, however, still in existence and one would wonder what the impact of online library is on physical libraries. In this research, the impact of electronic libraries on physical libraries in a South African university is evaluated. The main purpose of this study was to explore the impact of electronic libraries on physical libraries. The goal of the study was to conceptualize a framework for understanding the impact of Electronic library on Physical library which was accomplished by finding out whether the number of physical library users had increased or decreased in terms of the usage of the physical library in the past five years, what challenges are being faced by physical libraries due to the availability of electronic libraries and finally by evaluating the impact of electronic libraries on physical libraries.

Experiences of the TUT LIS in offering support to e-learning. / Though relatively new to the family of universities and in particular, universities of technology, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) Library and Information Services (LIS) is one of the fortunate South African higher education libraries which have a dedicated and fully-fledged IT and Systems Section. Further, TUT LIS has a Section referred to as Electronic Resource Centres which is commonly known as ERCs. The Section includes Internet Centres, popularly known as ICentres. Each of TUT’s nine learning site libraries has an ERC. Four of the learning sites have I-Centres, some in student residences. Many of the libraries have a training room attached to the ERC. Those which do not have a training facility schedule training at certain times and only thereafter avail the ERC for other use. Many of the academic departments have computer laboratories for use by their students. These are not related to ERCs or I-Centres. The LIS works in cooperation with the Directorate of Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) and Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Services to support the teaching departments and students’ learning endeavours. The LIS is involved in a project to increase the University’s success and throughput rates. Other partners in this project are from HEDS (Higher Education Development and Support) Directorate comprising: Curriculum Development, Teaching and Learning with Technology, Cooperative Education and Student Development and Support. The aim of this paper is to share experiences of the TUT LIS in offering support to e-learning. The newly formed LIS embraced the model of the ERC/I-Centre as a one-stop facility that one of the merger partners, Pretoria Technikon, had established. The other partner, Technikon Northern Gauteng had partially developed an ERC to “extend access to the book/journal in electronic format”.

An evaluation was conducted on a credit-bearing module that has recently become compulsory for second year students in four of the six schools in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. The module was based on a course that has been run for Agriculture students since the 1980s. The module "Information Retrieval Skills" (Agri220) is run over a two week period at the beginning of the first semester and covers the library computer catalogue, OPAC and other retrieval tools such as print-based abstracts and indexes, SABINET Online and the CD-ROM databases in the library. The study sought to determine students' perceptions of the Agri220 module, to determine whether the outcomes as described in the Agri220 module template were evident in students, and to determine the use students made of the library. The method that was used in the evaluation was summative, and thus conducted after students had completed the module. Furthermore to find out their views about the contribution of the module to their studies, the study focused on students who had done the module over a year previously. The respondents were students in the School of Agricultural Sciences and Agribusiness as these were the students for whom the module was compulsory in 1999. A survey was done of five third year classes , which consisted of both third and fourth year students, and questionnaires were distributed and completed in the classes. Students were very positive in their feedback about the module and reported becoming more efficient in their use of the library. They were largely familiar with the interlibrary loan service and OPAC but were aware to a lesser extent of the print-based abstracts and indexes in the library. The study found that students predominantly used books and to a lesser extent journals. Electronic retrieval formats were popular. The students who supplemented their notes with extra readings relied on reserved material and reading lists. Students made suggestions about changes to the module: such as extending the length of the module, bringing it forward to first year, and teaching the module in smaller groups. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This study surveyed Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) technology in South African university libraries. The survey instrument used to elicit data was a questionnaire which was distributed via electronic mail (e-mail). CD-ROMs have been in the marketplace for over a decade and the extent to which South African university libraries have embraced CD-ROM technology was surveyed. Libraries offer CD-ROM services to internal staff and end-users, who in this study were students and academic staff. The study highlighted some of the CD-ROM related management issues such as budgeting, networking, resource sharing and end-user training. Survey results from the respondents indicated that they had all adopted CD-ROM technology. However, the level of CD-ROM technology and services in Historically White Institutions (HWI) and Historically Black Institutions (HBI) differed. This was evident in areas such as the year in which CD-ROMs were acquired, collection sizes and network access. The results showed that all libraries offered some form of enduser training to academic staff and students. The evolving nature of CD-ROM . technology presents a great challenge for libraries trying to keep up-to-date with the technology. This was highlighted in the open-ended questions about CD-ROM development plans and comments in general about CD-ROM technology in the different libraries. All libraries had access to the Internet and were working towards providing electronic information resources via the Web. Resource sharing and the establishment of consortiums can address the exorbitant costs of providing electronic information resources. Recommendations for further research on different aspects of CD-ROM technology were made. The development of the Internet as an information delivery system for the distribution of on-line information will emphasize the extent to which librarians and end-users are using the Internet for on-line information, as compared with CD-ROM services. Increasingly, aggregators are publishing information on the Internet and South African university libraries are already seeing this as an alternative to maintaining CD-ROM technology and services. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

A common theme emerging in the library world today is that quality service in the library and information center is dependent on the quality performance of personnel. Prior to conducting performance appraisals, managers need to ascertain the core performance criteria for quality service provision. This study is important because academic libraries are undergoing radical changes with an emphasis on accountability. In particular, South African tertiary education is faced with dwindling resources and an increased emphasis on accountability. There appears to be no formal or informal guidelines for appraising the value of subject librarians performing information services in KwaZulu-Natal academic libraries. It is this problem which this study addressed. The problem investigated in this study is located in the following KwaZulu-Natal academic libraries: Durban Institute of Technology (DIT), Mangosuthu Technikon (Mantech), University of Durban-Westville (UDW) , University of Natal, Durban (UND) and University of NataL, Pietermaritzburg (UNP) and the University of Zululand (UniZul). The purpose of the study was to emphasize the importance of performance appraisals for subject librarians employed in KwaZulu-Natal academic libraries and develop initial guidelines for performance appraisals for subject librarians. The scope of this study is placed within the library human resource management perspective and deals with developing and training librarians for enhanced service delivery within the above tertiary institutions. Thirty nine subject librarians (from a total of forty three) were surveyed by means of a self administered questionnaire which was distributed via e-mail. The study was able to establish the important aspects of performance appraisal for subject librarians from the literature review, and to make recommendations in respect of developing guidelines for appraising subject librarians in academic libraries. An initial guideline for conducting performance appraisal for subject librarians in KwaZulu-Natal will consist of appraising job tasks, key performance areas (KPAs), determining the relevant competencies, skills and behaviour traits. The major findings of the study were that there appears to be generally a lack of commitment to performance appraisal in KwaZulu-Natal academic libraries. A large majority of the respondents indicated that their libraries did not have guidelines for performance appraisals of subject librarians. The important aspects of performance appraisal for subject librarians were identified in the study. Key performance areas (KPAs) for subject librarians comprised of reference services, instruction and teaching, management and organisation. The competencies included knowledge of the total information environment as well as customer services. The majority of the respondents indicated that patron surveys were the most important indicator of performance of subject librarians in KwaZulu-Natal academic libraries. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

This study investigated the effectiveness of staff training and development programmes and policies at the Unisa Library. The aim of the study was to establish how staff training and development needs were met and also how staff felt about the centralisation of the Human Resources Department. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the Unisa Library staff including the Unisa Branch Libraries. Interviews with four divisional managers were also conducted. Staff development is an ongoing process that, by means of a systematic approach, serves to orient, train, and develop each member of the library staff to work together and to serve their customers with the skills necessary to deliver a quality service. As a result, training can be viewed as an essential vehicle to efficient and effective performance by staff and also as a process that develops the skills, awareness or expertise of staff. This is important for both professional and non-professional employees. Chapter one of this dissertation provided the orientation of this study. Chapter two looked at how the study was conducted, including the research design and methods. Chapter three provided information on the legal aspects of training and development in the workplace and what employees need to be aware of and to know. Chapter four dealt with staff training and development and a literature survey. Chapter five gave an analysis and interpretation of the research findings. Chapter six described the situation at Unisa with respect to staff training and development, while in chapter seven recommendations were made based on the findings of this study. It was found that the personal development of staff was hindered as only job - related training is supported by the Library's STD workgroup. It is recommended that a training needs analysis be compiled in the Library based on the individual staff training requirements expressed during annual performance appraisals. Fifty percent of the staff who were surveyed thought it was good to centralise the Human Resources Department. / Information Science / M. A. (Information Science)

Academic libraries are not immune to conflict; various important external and internal factors underlie conflict. Change, both external and internal, leads to interpersonal conflict amongst librarians which is caused by differing goals, policies, rules and decisions. Technology has been the major change in the digital era and academic libraries embarking on meeting the needs of the users have to manage change. It is important to understand how change evolves in order to manage it and the faster the change, the more conflict can be expected. The main purpose of this study is to investigate change and conflict in library and information services. The study collected data from two selected academic libraries - Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu. The reason for this choice is that the two libraries are from the Eastern Border region and strategically located to serve the deep rural and poverty-stricken communities. Both libraries are from merged institutions, under-developed and faced with change and conflict. Data was gathered by means of a literature study and face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with six participants in each library: two librarians in senior, two middle management and two librarians occupying lower level positions. Purposive sampling was used to select participants who fit the criteria and who could contribute to the study. The findings reveal that library staff experience stress and conflict because of external and internal factors of change impacting the academic environment. The study generated important findings which are capable of guiding academic library management on how to manage change effectively in the „new‟ electronic environment. The findings show that understanding conflict also equips management with strategies and techniques to manage conflict effectively. This study offers valuable insights into the lived conflict experiences and perceptions of librarians and sheds much light on the role of conflict management in these environments. This study will contribute to the management of conflict in information services in university libraries and will be an innovative application of conflict theory to the library discipline.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies