The overarching purpose of the study is: to compile a comprehensive database of the information
infrastructures in the Free State province and investigate/determine how information from the
database can be utilised by Library Information Services at Higher Education Institutions in
response to what is regarded as their social responsibility towards the community, through possible
community engagement projects.
In realising the purpose of the study, the following objectives were pursued:
⢠To undertake a literature review in order to investigate the following aspects:
o The HEIsâ social responsibility in terms of the South African legislation and other policy
documents, with special reference to the community engagement role of the LIS of the
HEIs.
o The principle of community development, with special reference to people-centred
development in the South African context, as well as the role of LIS in community
development.
o The various LIS sectors functioning in South Africa within the social systems of
government, education, health, economic and the legal systems.
o The changing role of information, within the post-1994 legislation, in community
development, with special reference to the non-traditional information dissemination
service points in South Africa.
⢠To gather comprehensive data from various resources, including databases, for example the
Free State Department of Educationâs Education Management Information System (EMIS),
annual reports and strategic plans of the relevant government departments of the Free State
province, as well as other LIS related journals, for example the Free State Provincial Library
Services, quarterly journal (Free State Libraries), making use of all possible means to identify
the various information infrastructures functioning within the Free State province, including a
questionnaire-survey to acquire supplementary information, that will be captured in a
database.
⢠To utilise the database as part of a community profile analysis to be able to identify which
communities lack which information infrastructure(s). The information infrastructures will be
used in conjunction with the Census 2001 population statistics and the number of learners in
the schools, according to the Free State Department of Educationâs EMIS system will be able
to do the analysis. The results will then be used to identify possible community engagement
project(s) for the LIS of the HEIs. The major conclusions of the study revealed the following:
⢠That LIS of HEIs have a social responsibility towards society and therefore must engage in
community projects.
⢠That LIS can contribute towards community development, thereby providing better access to
information, which will lead to empowerment of communities in general, but especially
empowered individuals.
The database compiled is presented on a CD-ROM with the 1729 identified information
infrastructures in the Free State province, including Library and Information Services, as well as
other non-traditional information dissemination service points.
The recommendations spell out possible ways in which the Library and Information Centre of the
CUT can contribute to community responsibility through possible community engagement projects,
for example to facilitate workshops to conscientise the various Library and Information Services to
the amount of people with disabilities in their communities, as well as suggesting technologies that
can the aid the above-mentioned group or train-the-trainer workshops for information literacy,
thereby enhancing life-long learning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-06032008-100909 |
| Date | 03 June 2008 |
| Creators | Ackerman, Doraliza Reinetta |
| Contributors | Prof E Pretorius, Prof AC Wilkinson, Prof CW Rensleigh |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-06032008-100909/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds