Research Articles (Library and Information Science)

New imperatives for librarianship in Africa

Davis, Gavin R. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015)

Africa, in colonial times regarded as the “Dark Continent,” faces many challenges, whether infrastructural, cultural, or political. Despite these challenges, countries on the continent cannot afford to be complacent. The ...

Extending boundaries: Team teaching to embed information literacy in a university module

Bharuthram, Sharita; Mohamed, Shehaamah; Louw, Gerald (UNISA, 2020)

In today’s knowledge-based economy, the role of universities in preparing students to be information literate and independent thinkers and researchers is crucial. Information literacy (IL) skills enable students to become ...

Dual use school community libraries: expedient compromise or imaginative solution?

Hart, Geneviev (University of Alberta Libraries, 2021-02)

The paper reports on a research project in a group of six dual use school community libraries in a rural region of South Africa1. The six dual use libraries were established with donor funding in 2001 as part of a larger ...

Public Libraries Stepping into the Gap?: A Study of School Learners' Use of Libraries in a Disadvantaged Community in Cape Town

Hart, Geneviev (University of Alberta Libraries, 2021)

According to public library staff none of the Vista schools has a functioning library or a librarian on its staff. In itslack of school libraries Vista is no different from other parts of South Africa. Less than a third ...

A records management model for an intelligent university

Momoti, Nikiwe; King, Lizette (South African Society of Archivists, 2019)

This article is based on an MLIS case study undertaken at the University of the Western Cape. The article is meant to add knowledge and insight into university records management and presents a records management model for ...

Information behaviour of Nigerian undergraduates in the World of Web 2.0

Zinn, Sandy; Krubu, Dorcas (Innovation, 2018)

The purpose of the study was to investigate the information behaviour ofNigerian undergraduates in the world of Web 2.0 at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria. The study is drawn from a doctoral thesis ...

The power and perils of participant observation in library and information science research: reflections on three South African studies

Hart, Genevieve (UNISA Press, 2017)

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 ...

Making sense of the information seeking process of undergraduates in a specialised university: revelations from dialogue journaling on WhatsApp messenger

Krubu, Dorcas Ejemeh; Zinn, Sandy; Hart, Genevieve (Informaing Science Institute, 2017)

AIM/PURPOSE The research work investigated the information seeking process of undergraduates in a specialised university in Nigeria, in the course of a group assignment. BACKGROUND Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process ...

Use of web 2.0 technologies by library and information science students

Zinyeredzi, Colin; Zinn, Sandy (UNISA Press, 2016)

The research reported on in this article investigated the use of Web 2.0 technologies by library and information science (LIS) students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa. Blumer and Katz’s Uses and ...

Libraries and a "Better Life for All": The politics, processes, and promises of the South African LIS Transformation Charter

Hart, Genevieve; Nassimbeni, Mary (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016)

The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the twenty-first anniversary of democracy in South Africa, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather ...

The value of information in South Africa’s new democracy

Hart, Genevieve; Nassimbeni, Mary (Emerald, 2018)

PURPOSE – The purpose of this paper is to trace and analyse the relationship between information and democracy in the old and in the new South Africa. The authors interrogate the applicability to the situation of the ...

Challenges in digitising liberation archives: a case study

Anderson, Steve; Hart, Genevieve (University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2016)

The article reports on a study of the challenges facing a liberation archive which is attempting to digitise its collections and of how the Archive has responded to the challenges. The article is framed by the critical ...

Use of Web 2.0 by students in the Faculty of Information Science and Communications at Mzuzu University, Malawi

Chawinga, Winner D.; Zinn, Sandy (AOSIS, 2016)

BACKGROUND: Over the years, advancements in Internet technologies have led to the emergence of new technologies such as Web 2.0, which have taken various sectors including higher education by storm. Web 2.0 technologies ...

The use of multipurpose community telecentres and their services in Malawi: the case of Lupaso Community Telecentre

Kapondera, Sellina Khumbo; Hart, Genevieve (LIASA, 2016)

Telecentres aim to bridge digital divides between rural and urban communities. In many developing countries, like Malawi, the assumption is that once telecentres are established, people will adopt them. The purpose of the ...

Assessing the appropriation of social media by academic librarians in South Africa and Zimbabwe

Mabweazara, Rangarirai Moira; Zinn, Sandy (LIASA, 2016)

Research into the appropriation of social media by academic libraries in countries with growing economies is scarce. There remains an empirical and theoretical gap in the literature about how librarians, particularly those ...

The drive for school libraries in South Africa: intersections and connections

Hart, Genevieve; Zinn, Sandy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015)

This paper traces the important developments in school librarianship in South Africa since 2007, during which time the drive to address huge backlogs in school library provision has gained momentum - largely, it argues, ...

Information literacy education in the South African Classroom: Reflections from teachers' Journals in the Western Cape province

Zinn, Sandy; Stilwell, Christine; Hoskins, Ruth (De Gruyter, 2016)

This qualitative study reports on teachers in the Western Cape as they attempt to embed information literacy in their classrooms. It explores how teachers come to understand information literacy and the extent to which ...