Includes bibliography. / This study is an assessment of the career information needs of users of the Career Information Centre (CIC), at the University of Cape Town. The study was conducted because it was clear to the CIC staff that the CIC was under-utilised by the student community. A thorough investigation of the literature on career needs and needs assessment was conducted in order to get an overview of issues that would characterise the study.

Bibliography: leaves 155-160. / One of the fundamental challenges of the information era is how to ensure that the majority of the members of a given society are information literate in order to deal with problems of inequitable access to and use of information as an empowerment tool for socio-economic progress. A variety of educational and training strategies have been developed and tried in different parts of the world to address this challenge. This study investigates the nature of information literacy education in community junior secondary schools in the North-East district of Botswana and the role of teacher-librarians and school libraries in such a process.

Bibliography: leaves 125-129. / Disaster management and planning has traditionally been a neglected field in librarianship, and, thus this research study was undertaken to explore and evaluate the present situation regarding disaster planning amongst research/academic- and public libraries in the Greater Cape Metropolitan Area, which includes the Cape Metropolitan Area and the adjacent Stellenbosch region, and to make recommendations in this regard. A model disaster plan was developed, using the information gained from this study, to act as a guideline for libraries in the development of disaster plans.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-98). / This dissertation explores, by way of a literature survey, the concept of Knowledge Management (KM), and in particular, whether it would be a suitable tool in the Higher Education (HE) environment in South Africa (SA). Traditionally KM was used in the business world, for some institutions, with great success. This dissertation, however, argues that KM is only partially applicable to the HE field in general and in particular in SA. The dissertation will be introduced with the background of knowledge and management. Organizational knowledge, organizational learning and organizational memory are explored. KM and bureaucratic organizations are critically discussed. The HE sector in SA is defined in terms of lifelong learning and learning societies.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-138). / This dissertation focuses on an investigation that was conducted to find out the state of knowledge management in the Kamuzu College of Nursing and Bunda College of Agriculture libraries, constituent college libraries of the University of Malawi. Drawing from the literature on knowledge management, the study proposed and implemented two models for the maturity assessment and implementation of knowledge management respectively. The study used the models successfully to measure the levels of maturity of knowledge management and identify the knowledge needs and knowledge assets of the libraries. The results of the study revealed that both libraries are at the same level of knowledge management maturity i.e. knowledge management is still in its infancy as they did not have clearly established strategies to make use of knowledge. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the two libraries in the various aspects of knowledge management investigated. The study therefore recommended a road map for implementing knowledge management in the libraries. Knowledge management is recognised by many organisations of strategic importance to improving an organisation?s performance and its competitive advantage. Knowledge management thus has been largely associated with profit making organisations. However, knowledge management is also applicable to non-profit making organisations such as academic libraries. The environment in which academic libraries operate continuously changes and it is therefore imperative for the libraries to use knowledge management as a tool to adapt and remain relevant.

The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, skills and competencies required for music librarians in academic music libraries in the Western Cape of South Africa, in order for these libraries to effectively serve their scholarly communities. In addressing this objective, the following research questions were generated: What are user expectations of academic music library services in the Western Cape?; To what extent are these expectations currently being met?; and, What are the knowledge, skills and competency requirements for music librarians in academic libraries in the Western Cape of South Africa? The study was supported generally by Core competency theory and more specifically by the Music Library Association (MLA) core competencies for music librarians. The study's research approach was qualitative and exploratory, incorporating a multiple case study design. Empirical data were collected via semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with purposively sampled music librarians, academics and postgraduate students at the two higher education institutions in the Western Cape, Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town. Both these universities have music departments and music libraries. The data collected were analysed using thematic content analysis from recorded interviews and focus group discussions. The study's conclusions are centered on the main findings and discussion in the context of the reviewed literature and the theory supporting the study. It presents, based on the findings, knowledge, skills and competencies required to professionally and confidently serve the music library's scholarly community. While the study is empirically grounded in the music library and university environment in the Western Cape of South Africa, it has both practice and theoretical relevance to the broader world of music librarianship. The findings of this study to a large extent concur with the MLA core competency framework for music librarians but also updates it in terms of the modern digital information environment as well as a transformative society sensitive to cultural contextuality. It recommends to the music librarianship practice environment and contributes to the existing body of knowledge on competencies for music librarianship, an adjusted and extended MLA core competency framework (Hunter, 2002) which it hopes will be basis for further practice and research in the area of music librarianship.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-157). / This study examines current practice in the curation of social survey data in African countries and makes suggestions for future improvements in this regard. Curation of data refers to its preservation and management for reuse. Utilising survey data for the study of social phenomena other than those for which the original survey was initiated is a relatively new research approach in Africa. Thus best practice for this type of research is still being put in place by African organisations. This involves the development of optimal means of processing and storing the data for re-use. Of concern to this study is what constitutes the most effective way of managing and sharing the information garnered from these surveys as a resource for economic and social development in Africa. Social survey data refers to both the statistical information which is the final product of censuses or sample surveys, and the documentation provided with the data to facilitate its reuse. Documentation includes technical notes and questionnaires used in the survey process, as well as meta data (detailed information about the data) and reports produced concerning the final survey findings. The research looks at the history of the management of social survey data worldwide and in African countries, and the policies and processes involved in curating survey information in these countries. The comparative component of the study examines developments in this field internationally and compares these to practices on the African continent. International best practice in the field has been used to evaluate current methods of survey data archiving in African countries. The study presents strategies to ensure the optimal preservation and effective sharing of survey data among countries of the region. Strategies for the establishment of a Pan African network of data sharing organisations are suggested to support future repurposing of African census and survey data.

Bibliography: p. 175-197. / Academic libraries in South Africa are facing the challenge of tighter budgets, increasing student enrolments, greater diversity in students' backgrounds and library experience, and a call for greater accountability to all the stakeholders. The effectiveness of a library service can be measured in terms of the availability and accessibility of library materials, two attributes of a library's document delivery capability. This study focused on the availability of prescribed materials for undergraduate students in an academic library. It involved a micro-evaluation of the immediate materials availability rate in a short loan collection, by using a combination of a quantitative simulation study, and a qualitative user survey. Generally, the availability rates determined were high, which suggests a high degree of collection adequacy. However, the user study confirmed that many SLC users experienced difficulties in using the system, indicating a need for continuous user education programmes and constant dialogue between the staff and the users concerning future service improvements. The study indicated that overall materials availability rates can be misleading if accepted at face value. A introspective analysis of the reasons for the non-availability of high-demand materials revealed hidden access barriers such as poor information retrieval skills on the part of the users and certain inefficient organisational procedures on the part of the library. The study reiterates the fundamental importance of constructive communication between the various stakeholders in meeting the educational goals of the institution and the necessity of regular library performance evaluation to ensure a dynamic, proactive service. The coexistence of print-based and electronic resources in the forseeable future underscores the importance of convenience and accessibility factors in making required documents available to the users.

This study explored the users' perception of the service quality and value of the libraries of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and Ashesi University College (AUC). Concepts like value, impact, quality, academic library service quality formed the conceptual framework of the study. The study is a comparative case study that solicited information from the perspectives of students, faculty and library staff. Open and closeended questions were adopted to gather data from 185 and 147 third year students of GIJ and AUC respectively. All library staff and 15 faculty staff each from the two institutions were interviewed to augment the responses from the students. Statistical Package for Social Science was used to analyse the closed-ended questions and descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to present the data analysis. Data from the interviews and open-ended questions were analysed qualitatively. Findings from the study showed that the libraries were used more frequently by students than by faculty staff. The perceptions of the quality of library staff services were found to be satisfactory in both libraries. The library environment and information resources were considered adequate by AUC library users, whereas they were considered as inadequate and poor at GIJ. In all, it was found that the quality of services and the value users derived from AUC exceeds that at GIJ. The most valued aspects of the libraries were the library collections, and the friendliness and willingness of library staff to assist users. It was also found that users derived a number of benefits from using the libraries, but the libraries had no specific guidelines for measuring their value. In the past, value had been determined by the use of the library resources and success stories of users. The study considered the nature of library value and made recommendations for improving library services.

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation reports on an exploratory investigation into the implementation of an enterprise content management system for the Stellenbosch University, one of four higher education institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa. The primary focus of this study was to conduct a needs-analysis of how the University could effectively address the website and portal information needs of its users through the implementation of a content management system. This study sought to understand the current perspectives and information needs of users of the university's corporate website, as well as the staff and student portals, and to propose ways in which the University can manage its content assets to address these needs. More specifically, the question asked was: How Stellenbosch University could address the information needs of its users by implementing a content management system?