A selection of art libraries in SA, 2007

Ifla Art Section Newsletter, no 61, 2007

Introduction
This article as the title indicates is a selection of five Art Libraries in South Africa. It is by no means meant to be representative of the country. Each of the librarians in the different institutions and organization presented here, have given their own input on their libraries, on their collection, users and what’s special about their libraries. So it’s a bit of an insiders view, if you like. The names and contact details of the librarians in each of the libraries are included.

Iziko South African National Gallery Library
By Suvashni Casoojee at sjcasoojee@iziko.org.za

Iziko South African National Gallery Library is situated in the
attractive Cape Town Company Gardens. It is further enhanced by the
splendor of Devil's Peak and Table Mountain in the background. The
present building dates back from 1930, the history of the first item
accessioned in 1931. The current collection that is captured
electronically has 15446 records.

The library comprises of 3 staff members. The operating hours are
Tuesday - Friday 08h30 - 16h00.

The Library boasts a unique:

* reference collection on South African and international Art
books and journals

* a collection of newspaper cuttings dating back to 1904

* a comprehensive pamphlet collection from the turn of the
century

* invitations of national and International exhibitions

* Art boxes for scholars, students and academics

* postcards with art content

* Videos, Dvds and CDS

* Exhibition catalogues of national and international galleries


The users include:

* Curators and staff of the Gallery

* Public

* Pupils, students and Academics

* Tourists

* Other Libraries, Art schools and Museums

* Artists

* Researchers
Exhibition catalogues are sold via the library. Annually on the 18 May
and the 24 September a book sale is held at the Iziko South African
National Gallery.

Fine Arts Library UKZN (Westville Library Collection)
By Richard Beharilal" at Beharilalr@ukzn.ac.za

The Fine Art Collection, often referred to as the Fine Arts Library was a specialized collection of books dedicated for the use of both students, staff, and the broader community. The collection itself was started in the early 1960s at the University Library in Salisbury Island. In 1971, the University of Durban-Westville was established in Westville after the land was donated to the Government by the Borough of Westville. At this new site, being the University of Durban-Westville, the Library was built. As a result the collection of books, and other material was relocated to the present site, and the Fine Arts Collection being one of the prized collections of books. The collection was supplement by some very rare books, which was the envy of many private artists/collectors whom used the Fine Arts Library with prior permission. The Collection was still not optimally utilized due to the space in which it was housed on level 7. The room was quite small in size, and users were often inconvenienced since they had to work outside of the enclosed area. In 1985 the Library was extended by another 4 levels, and the Fine Arts Collection was then housed in a modern architecturally design area on level 9. It operated for over 21 years on level 9 bringing along many South African, and World Scholars to this area of the Library. Unfortunately, due to the merger the Fine Arts Collection had to be relocated in 2006 to the other 2 Campuses (Howard College & PMB). It was indeed a great loss for the Westville Campus as the Fine Arts Collection enriched the library stock. The most important loss is that the collection was unique it its nature. Apart from the Fine Arts, Integrated Arts (Education) users it served many users, the Speech & Drama, Engineering, Architecture, History, and Religious Studies users but especially, the Sport Science Students (whom are currently at Westville – Dance).


Hiddingh Hall Library
By Gill Morgan at Gill.Morgan@uct.ac.za

The Hiddingh Hall Library, a branch of UCT Libraries, is situated on UCT's Hiddingh Campus in Cape Town. Built in 1911, it was the original library of the South African College, later to become the University of Cape Town. It became a branch library in 1931 when the J.W. Jagger Library was established as the University's main library on the Groote Schuur Campus. The Hiddingh Hall Library now serves the Faculty staff, and students (both undergraduate and postgraduate), of the Departments of Fine Art, Drama and Historical Studies.
The collection consists of printed material, books and journals, audio-visual material, (cd’s, dvd’s and videos) and electronic resources such as journal indexing databases and online journals, amongst others, to support research.
The library has a very extensive and comprehensive art collection, from art history to the very contemporary both in print and audio-visual. Similarly resourced is our drama collection, which includes an extensive play collection, audio-visual material, and accent training material.



The Visual Art Collection of University of KwaZulu-Natal Library in Pietermaritzburg
By Jenny Aitchison at aitchison@ukzn.ac.za


The collection consists of books, journals and audio-visual items that support the teaching and research programmes of the Centre for Visual Art, including the history of art. Formerly the Department of Fine Art, it has been based on the Pietermaritzburg campus since 1937. The collection is not housed separately but forms part of the Cecil Renaud Library's collection. Books on South African and African art have always been a priority and these are an important focus in collection development.

Reference and loan books and audio-visual items are classified according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system and have Library of Congress Subject Headings. Journals are filed alphabetically by title with the Library's other print journals. They are not assigned class numbers or subject headings. Access to electronic journals is mainly through the databases that form part of UKZN Library's electronic resources. Links to these appear on the Library's website, from which it is also possible to search the catalogue of the UKZN Library.

http://library.ukzn.ac.za/HomePage718.aspx

The subject librarian for Visual Art liaises with academic staff in the Centre to select books and audio-visual material to be acquired. He or she is also responsible for the classification and subject cataloguing of these information resources; helping staff, students and members of the public find relevant information and providing training in information-seeking and retrieval skills for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Informatics and Design Faculty Library at Cape Peninsula University of Technology
By Fatima Darries at DarriesFa@cput.ac.za

Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) is a recently merged institution, having previously been Cape Technikon and Peninsula Technikon. They are respectively, historically advantaged and historically disadvantaged institutions. This means they were intended for white and black students, respectively. Technikon’s are similar to institutes of technology or polytechs. The previous minister of Education, Kader Asmal introduced the merging of higher education institutions in order to catalyse and expedite transformation in the higher education sector. He was also responsible for the renaming and refocusing of these institutions to from Technikons to Universities of Technology.

CPUT is therefore very much in transition as a result of the merger, and this is reflected in the library. The Informatics and Design Faculty Library is situated on the Cape Town and Bellville Campuses, approximately 50 km apart, and are two of seven campus sites. Early in next year there will be another site a few kilometers from the Cape Town Campus, which will have specifically the Architecture, Town and Regional Planning and Interior Design department libraries. These three form part of the Informatics and Design Faculty, along with Graphic, Jewellery, Industrial, Fashion and Surface Design Faculty and Informatics.

We have an approximate 30 000 items in our audiovisual and book collection, and 170 titles in our hard copy journal collection, with the bulk being in Cape Town campus. We have 4 000 registered students in the faculty, with again the bulk on the Cape Town Campus.

Both the students and staff of the Informatics and Design Faculty use the collection very intensively and extensively. My only complaint: they know the stock so well that they go directly to the stock without consulting the Library catalogue. We often have students from other institutions and also the surrounding school using the collection. While the collection is relatively small, we have one of the best collections for the Design Arts in the South Africa.

Conclusion
The quick, unscientific, look into the different art library collections, reflects both our history in South Africa and gives you an indication of a society undergoing rapid change.

Co-ordinated and compiled by Fatima Darries, November 2007.

Mali’s National Library houses AMBAD, 2006

LIASA In Touch , Vol 8, Issue 1 March 2006

Monsieur Mamdou Konoba Keita is the National Librarian of Mali. He is also the president of the Association Malienne des Bibliothécaires, Archivistes et Documentalistes, abbreviated to AMBAD; the Malian Association of Librarians, archivists and documentalists.

The National Library is housed in one wing, and the National Archives in the other wing of a very large building in Mali’s capital Bamako. It is in the National Library wing that AMBAD has its offices. Monsieur Keita was gracious enough to afford me a meeting on short notice. I took the opportunity to remind him of WLIC in 2007 in Durban. However, with Mali being the 4th poorest country in Africa, the Malian librarians will only be able to participate with sponsorship.

Mali does not have a public library system. The task of this service has become that of the National library. They have just been connected to the Internet for the staff. Public access to the Internet in the National Library is still a challenge. The children’s section of the library is not busy as the children are still in school. In the young adult and learning centre I find mostly University students.

Mali having been a French colony, the two countries’ National Libraries have some ties with one another; as evidenced by the 700 titles donated from the National Library of France in 2006 as part of a collection building project.

Despite the lack of a library system, AMBAD is 4000 members strong. Although AMBAD has the support of Mali’s Department of Culture, it does not include any financial support. Like LIASA, AMBAD, relies on membership fees. Training too is high on the list of priorities for AMBAD.

According to Monsieur Keita, Mali and South Africa have had good relations since before 1994, and was the first to visit South Africa after liberation. He hopes for a strong relationship between LIASA and AMBAD.

Fatima Darries, January 2007.

IFLA FAIFE US Workshop: Internet Manifesto and Libraries and HIV/AIDS, 2007

LIASA in Touch Vol. 9, issue 1, April 2008

IFLA Africa Section Newsletter no. 33, July 2008
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s25/news/s25newsletter-jul08-en.pdf

The sun disappeared at 4:20 in the afternoon on 26 November 2007, in a cold, wintry Middletown, Connecticut. This is the day I arrived from Cape Town, where the sun was setting at 8 PM in the evening and where the summer heat was sending everyone to the beaches.

Entrance to Hartford Public Library.

I was in this university town, the home of Wesleyan University, and our warm and gracious hostess, Barbara Jones, University Librarian and IFLA FAIFE Secretary, to kick off the 5 day United States Workshop. The next few days would take us through seminar presentations and many field trips to different types of libraries in Connecticut and New York. In New York we were hosted by Loida Garcia from the Queens Public Library, IFLA FAIFE member. We were joined by chair of the IFLA FAIFE committee, Paul Sturges. As one of ten attendees from all over the world; from Uganda, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, Rica and Thailand, and presenters from the US and Britain, we formed in those few short days a truly International Federation of Librarians. We met with courageous, inspiring and award winning librarians, and visited awe-inspiring Libraries.

I am sure that I don’t need to introduce IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) so soon after South Africa hosting IFLA’s 73rd annual congress. FAIFE (Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression) does need some introduction. FAIFE is a Standing Committee of IFLA with its focus on promoting the basic human right of access to information, and was established in 1998.

FAIFE has been hosting several workshops in different. The US workshop focused on two issues, namely, the IFLA FAIFE Internet Manifesto and the role of libraries in public health issues, such as HIV/AIDS.

The Internet Manifesto was created by IFLA FAIFE and approved by IFLA In 2002. The Manifesto guidelines are available at www.ifla.org/faife/policy/iflastat/Internet-ManifestoGuidelines.pdf. The key principle is access to information for all regardless of age, race or any other differences. The Internet is considered a key tool to not only to freedom of access to information, in particular remote rural places, but also as a medium for free expression. It brings the rights enshrined in article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, closer to practice.

The role of the librarian therefore is to resist or overcome barriers to free access, to encourage the creation of local content on the Internet, but perhaps more importantly, to uphold user privacy and resist censorship. In other words, to encourage the open and free flow of information. What does this mean in practical terms? Amongst others, an Internet access policy and user privacy policy.
We had many conversations with the workshop presenters and the librarians at the libraries we visited about access challenges in our countries. We engaged with the challenge of safe Internet access for children, while providing unhindered access to all information. How does one protect the privacy of the users on the information they access on Internet Terminals in public spaces?. Flushing Public Library in Queens, New York, have sunk the Internet terminals and placed a hooded dome over the screen, so that only the person seated at the computer is able to see what is on the screen. Both the person accessing the information and the public is protected from inadvertently seeing materials they may find offensive.

At Yale University, no logs are kept on user terminals of access or login in information. The computer is reset when a student logs out. Yale also has a very progressive public access policy. The public is not only allowed access to the collections, but also public access computers. And again no logs of access are recorded and the computer will automatically reset after a period of inactivity. Yale University Libraries, along with Wesleyan University libraries, and all the other libraries we visited, no longer records the user circulation information. As soon as a user returns an item, the link between the user and the item that was borrowed, is severed. The privacy rights of users are protected, since libraries cannot be forced to surrenders the information access by their users.

The date in the picture is incorrect. The State Library of Connecticut. We speak with the librarian whose job it is to make state information accessible. I am inspired by the strategies he has for making that happen.

The Queens Library Health Link program in partnership with Queens Health Network and American Cancer Society runs mobile mammography unit at 32 of the 62 libraries in the Queens Library network. The service is offered at no cost to those who do not have health insurance. While those with insurance are not turned away, the goal of the programme is to increase access to cancer screening and care among medically underserved communities. It is estimated that one in 6 of the residents in Queens live in poverty. The Mammography truck is parked in the parking area of each of the libraries in the programme and 12 people can be assisted in the allotted time at each library.

The Flushing Public Library, one of the libraries in the Queens Library Network, has a health literacy programme. As the name suggests it combines English language literacy with health education. The programme covers topics such as parts of the body and describing ailments and symptoms, colds and flus, reading medicine and food labels, finally, it includes Internet search for health information. It is intended for new immigrants and those who do not have speak English.

Queens Central Library offers an HIV/AIDS awareness programme as part of their Educating Seniors programme. Seniors are often excluded from the target population of HIV/AIDS awareness and education programmes. This is a good reminder for all of us about the target populations of our programmes !

These examples led me to believe that there is nothing that can stand in the way of an active librarian who is truly interested in serving the needs of the community. There is a role for information, and therefore librarians and libraries, in all of the challenges that we are face in building a strong South Africa. All we need is the willingness to engage.

But all was not hard work. We had an adventure carting our luggage with us as we traveled from Connecticut to New Tork; first to Yale where it was stored while we visited the library, and then onto the train – or the subway- to New York. New York was freezing cold.

We braved the weather, took the ferry to Staten Island, saw the Statue of Liberty, and visited the site of the Twin Towers. To me the Statue of Liberty- the French people’s gift to the people of America- a woman, with a light in one hand and a book in the other, is a perfect symbol and salute to the work of the IFLA FAIFE Standing Committee.

LIASA FAIFE in liaison with IFLA FAIFE will be hosting a pre-conference workshop at the 10th Annual LIASA Conference to be held at the CTICC in Cape Town, in October 2008.

From Western Cape to West Africa; Cape Town to Timbuktu 2006

LIASA In Touch , Vol 8, Issue 1March 2006

To my family and friends, Timbuktu is a city of myth and fable. Not many people seemed to know that it is indeed a real place; some did not know that it is in Africa. Only librarians seemed to know that it is a real place, and almost all librarians knew the significance of the place.




In the picture above, mosques in the area are all centuries old.



Timbuktu is a town in Mali, in the North West of Africa. Its current population stands at 45 000 people, according to my self-appointed guide, who introduces himself as Ali Baba. It derives its legendary reputation from the riches the Emperor Mansa Musa displayed in Cairo on his way to Mecca in the 14th Century, and the description of the opulence of the royal court by Leo Africanus from Grenada in Spain who visited Timbuktu in the 16th Century. During the 18th Century, the mystery Timbuktu held for the West resulted in an explorer’s charge. Few returned. René Caillié was the first to do so in 1830. For a very long time however, going to Timbuktu was synonymous with going to the ends of the earth.

Part of its mystery is its isolation, even today. It sits on the edge of the desert where there used to be arteries of the Niger River. It may be less isolated today, but it is still a difficult place to reach. I could only confirm my flight into and out of Timbuktu once in Bamako, Mali’s capital. I left Cape Town late Saturday, 25 November 2006, without having any confirmed bookings for Timbuktu.

Today, Timbuktu is famed for its riches, not of gold, but of manuscripts dating back to when the Sankore Mosque doubled as a University in the 15th Century. It reputedly had up to 25 000 students studying there in the 16th Century.

I decided to go to Timbuktu shortly after I won the LIASA SABINET Online Librarian of the year Award. It was sheer good fortune that the SA Conservationists were to visit Timbuktu again shortly.

Although I go to visit primarily the Ahmad Baba Centre, I do see some of the private family libraries. The South African Timbuktu Manuscripts project came about as a result of the visit by President Thabo Mbeki to Timbuktu in 2001, to the Ahmad Baba Centre which had been working to preserve the manuscripts. I meet up with SA conservationists, Alexio Motsi, Mary Minicka and Ossie Cupido. This is their third visit to Timbuktu. Most of the work they are doing involves the training of Malian personnel in conservation and preservation methods. The work they can do in the current Ahmad Baba Centre is hampered by the lack of a proper conservation laboratory. Hence the Ahmad Baba Centre Building project.



In the picture above, clay bricks lay drying in the sun.

Clay bricks and limestone are the materials used to build in Timbuktu, the roads are still sand and many of the houses have maintained the tradition of a ground level floor of sand. This means that the environment is very sandy; together with the heat and Timbuktu’s location on the edge of the desert makes conservation here a challenge. The humidity during the summer months exacerbates matters. Fortunately, I visit during winter.

The first order of business for the SA conservationists is to prevent further deterioration of the manuscripts. The Malians were therefore trained to create customised boxes for each of the manuscripts. The boxes create a micro-climate preventing exposure to the elements. Ossie Cupido, from the National Library, designed a special box to house single leave manuscripts, which can also be used for exhibition purposes.

On this visit the SA team introduces acid free paper in which to fold the manuscript itself. Because of the environment, the standard white gloves had to be discarded as they pick up the dust and become sandpaper for the manuscripts. The acid free paper is made in South Africa by former homeless people, an off-shoot from this project. The leather used to make new covers for the manuscripts is supplied by local craftsman. The project therefore really is a case of Africa helping Africa.

The Ahmad Baba Centre has 25, 000 manuscripts, according to the deputy director of the Centre, Dr Dahama; of which 9,000 had been catalogued and published in 6 volumes by the Al Furqan Foundation. The subjects vary from medicine, physics, mathematics, religion, astronomy and astrology, to jurisprudence and social practice.
Currently they are working on digitizing and cataloguing the collection for uploading to a Website.

I meet Shaied Mathee, researcher from University of Cape Town (UCT), looking at the social issues of the day. He is looking at the fatwas as an indicator for issues of the 16th century. He is also selecting 60 manuscripts for exhibition in South Africa early in 2007.

I also visit five private family collections. The most well organised and established is the Mama Hadeira Memorial Library, Sayyuti Library and the Kati Fondo Library. The Mama Hadeira Library is the family collection of Abdul Kader Hadeira, previous director of the Ahmad Baba Centre. They have 9000 manuscripts in their collection. Imam Sayyuti shows me to where his collection is also being catalogued. The Kati Fondo Library traces its origins back to the Spanish. Three of the family collections are not yet set up into an organised library. The local manuscripts expert, Hamou Mahamane, says there are countless manuscripts in Timbuktu and some families may not even be aware that there are manuscripts hidden in their houses.




There are seven schools in the area. Their education system is based on the French model, with a primary, middle and high school. Unlike in the rest of Mali, I think the literacy rate here is high. I find to my surprise, considering that Mali does not have public libraries, a school library, well organised and set up by a retired teacher at the Second Cycle Yehia Alkaya Ibrahim School. I tell the headmistress that her pupils are very fortunate to have a library. There are many in South Africa that do not. Both the students and teachers use the library and have to pay an annual fee to borrow books.

Of course I also visit the three historic mosques in Timbuktu. The Djenguereber built in 1327, still in use today, but under restoration by UNESCO. The Sankore Mosque already mentioned and right next to the site of the new Ahmad Baba Centre, and finally the Sidi Yahya Mosque built in the 1400. The architecture of the mosques is all in the Soudanese style and built with mud, bricks and limestone. There are also 333 grave sites of revered saints scattered throughout Timbuktu.

As I sit in the courtyard of the Bouctou, the oldest hotel in Timbuktu, I am constantly accosted by Touareg Arabs selling their silverware and camel leather ware, the latter made by the women of the tribe. I also visit the crafts centre where you will find people practicing the various trades and selling their wares.






A private family collection. The family is of Morrocan descent. Testifying to the diversity of Mali's scholars.




Dr Shamil Jeppie, historian and head of the UCT Timbuktu Manuscripts Project, says that “Timbuktu is a tough place but a visit there can be very rewarding”

I have to agree wholeheartedly.

Fatima Darries
January 2007

LIASA SABINET Librarian of the year visits Timbuktu, 2006

LIASA Western Cape Newsletter, vol. 10, no 1, March 2007





I decided to go to Timbuktu to visit the South African Timbuktu Manuscripts Project, with the grant of the LIASA SABINET Librarian of the year award. The plan was to accompany the team of South African Conservationists whose initial plans was to leave on 26 November 2006. Their travel plans did not quite work out. So I found myself alone in Bamako, capital of Mali, on Sunday, 26 November 2006, relying only on my Collins Easy French phrase book: the essential companion for hassle-free travel to help me make myself understood.

I sort out my Bonsoir’s and Bonjour’s, and learn to say very early on Je ne parle pas français [I don’t speak French]. The French phrase book does not help me very much to speak to the hotel’s driver, who speaks Bamara, as 80% of Mali’s population does, and French as an additional language. I do manage with help from Nico Pretorius at the South African Embassy in Mali, to sort out my travel arrangements to Timbuktu.

I arrive in Timbuktu very early on Tuesday morning, 28 November 2006. Ali Baba, as he introduces himself, appoints himself my guide. Most people speak Arabic in Timbuktu, and the local language Songhay. Timbuktu is located on the edge of the dessert, and where two arteries of the Niger river used to flow. Mali sits on the West of the African continent and is in the northern hemisphere, so its winter during the time of my visit. It is also tourism season in Timbuktu. The Touareg Arabs dressed in the traditional blue robes are selling handcrafted camel leatherware and handcrafted silver jewellery and other silverware.

While I wait for the South African conservationists, I visit some of the private family libraries of manuscripts. The collections date back to when the Sankore mosque was a university in the 15th century, having in its hayday up to 25 000 students. The collections include manuscripts on astronomy, maths, science, medicine, correspondence, trade agreement, social, cultural and political relations with other parts of the region. Some of the families have built libraries with funding received through the work of a consortium, headed by Abdul Kader Hadeira, previous director of the Ahmad Baba Centre. Some of the families have a lot further to go. Many of them have a small collection which is on exhibition, but most of the collection has not been brought to the newly built libraries yet. Some have begun cataloguing the collection for publication; none seem to be creating a searchable database.

The Ahmad Baba Centre is the public library of manuscripts. This does not mean that you can get easy access though. You still need a letter of introduction from a reputable place of study for access. The South African Timbuktu Manuscripts Project is run under the auspices of the Ministry of Art and Culture, but funded by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The project was initiated by the President Thabo Mbeki after a visit in 2001. It involves the training of Malians as conservationists. Alexio Motsi, Mary Minicka and Ossie Cupido, the team of South African conservationists have been training in Mali and have also brought the Mali trainee conservationists to South Africa. The project includes the building of a new air-conditioned and humidity controlled Ahmad Baba Centre. Before preservation of the manuscripts can be done, a physical facility is needed, hence the building of a new Ahmad Baba Centre. The conservationists need a laboratory environment to do this work and the current Ahmad Baba Centre is not equipped for that. The collection also has to be properly housed. Having seen how and where some of the family collections are held, a building to house these valuable manuscripts is a priority. Hence the building of libraries by the families before any further work on cataloguing and preservation can happen, and also the priority of the South African Project. However, whilst the new Ahmad Baba Centre is being built, the Mali trainee conservationists are continuing with their training with the SA team. On this visit the latter introduces acid free paper to be used as folders and enveloping of the manuscripts, before they will be put in custom made boxes by the trainee conservationists for each manuscript.





As I reflect on my visit, I become more amazed that these manuscripts, have survived hundred’s of years in this sandy and often humid environment. It is a credit to the people of Timbuktu and the value they placed on knowledge and learning, that these manuscripts have survived from the 15th Century. All of the rest of Africa and indeed the rest of the world benefits and learns from the content of these collections. It proves that Africa not only has oral knowledge transfer traditions, but also a writing culture; that it was not dark and devoid of intellectual and scholarly activity, until the west ‘discovered’ Africa. There is much in Africa that must be re-birthed so that Africa takes her rightful place in world history.

Fatima Darries,
LIASA SABINET Librarian of the year 2006
Compiled February 2007

such a long time I 've been waiting

It has been such a long time since I have blogged. I cannot believe it!!! More than a year ago and soooo much to tell about. My trip to Timbuktu that I have not really written about here but had done two presentations at UWC and one at the LIASA Western Cape AGM in 2007. Professor Tanga's inauguration. IFLA WLIC in Durban in August 2007. My IFLA Art newsletter publication. My other LIASA in Touch articles. My writing workshops last year September and this year late August. My trip to the US on IFLA FAIFE workshop. Organising the LIASA 10th Annual conference. Organsing 2 workshops on the same day as LIASA FAIFE chair. Meeting Barbara Jones. On being invited to apply for a position for at UP, and on accepting the offer. On the move to Pretoria and on the first week. Today being the end of the first week.