The Jacaranda trees have bloomed beginning of October. From a week later, they begin shedding their flowers.
On campus, students believe that if they are showered with these flowers, they will do well in the exam.
I think it is just picture perfect.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
E-LIS: an Eprints LIS Repository
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
E-LIS: an Eprints LIS Repository
View more presentations from Fatima Darries.
Impact of the Internet on reference services in higher education libraries in SA
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Thursday, October 08, 2009
E_LIS : A global repository for Librarians by Librarians
E-LIS is an acronym for Eprints in Library and Information Science. It is an international open archive for electronic preprints of scientific papers in the library and information science. It is accessible to anyone with Internet access at http://eprints.rclis.org
Background
E-LIS is the first international e-server, in this subject area and resulted from the RCLIS (Research in Computing, Library and Information Science) project and the DoIS (Documents in Information Science), promoted by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and hosted by AEPIC team on machines of the Italian Consorzio Interuniversitario Lombardo per Elaborazione Automatica (CILEA). It is a non-commercial repository. There is neither funding nor interest in profiting from the initiative.
E-LIS was originally founded by Jose’Manuel Barrueco, Antonella De Robbio, Thomas Krichel and Imma Subirats Coll and started in 2003. E-LIS relies on the voluntary work of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. Currently, there are 64 editors from 42 countries across the world. The regional editor for Africa is Fatima Darries, who is also the country editor for
The quality of the metadata of the submission is controlled by country editors.
Why a repository for Librarians
The purpose of the E-LIS archive is to make full texts documents visible, accessible, harvestable, searchable and useable by any potential user with access to the Internet. Librarians can search and archive their own publications and presentations in E-LIS free of charge.
E-LIS puts at the disposal of the LIS community not only metadata, but also full text documents which are freely accessible and retrievable using the full potential of the Internet.
E-LIS is for librarians. It is librarians who use it. By working practically in the field within the framework of Open Digital Libraries, it improves the knowledge of the building and management of open archives amongst librarians. It provides a platform for librarians to test and see how an open archive works and what its capabilities are.
Not only does it promote open archives in various disciplinary environments, but also create a valid and credible model in our own discipline for the building of a world LIS archive. E-LIS promotes self-archiving in LIS (not only in E-LIS) and offer an open archive to authors without acces to an institutional repository. For those who do have an institutional repository it offers the added advantage of an archive that is discipline specific to LIS. Archiving in a global discipline specific repository increases the visibility for authors in the international sphere of LIS>
E-LIS allows for the establish of a base for communal work between librarians information technology professionals, and to enhance the Open Access movement
In addition to traditional Library Science subjects, E-LIS also includes all technical and applied disciplines relating to the Librarianship and Information Science world
Most arguments regarding the building of digital libraries, tools and scope, electronic publishing items, techniques and methodologies from metadata description to preservation, archiving to copyright, have place into E-LIS.
The repository now boasts almost 8000 eprints (research, articles and presentations) in the E-LIS archive! It makes it significantly large resource to search for information from across the world on LIS. You can also subscribe to the RSS Feed for alerts on new submission to E-LIS.
Author rights and responsibilites
LIS researchers, librarians, students and research institutions are invited to search (it’s free!), and participate by depositing their own work.
Articles, presentations and papers can be in any language (abstracts and keywords in English). Preferred formats are .pdf and .html, as these are best suited for later retrieval.
Statistical information regarding viewing and downloading is provided.
All works deposited in the E-LIS server remain the property of the author. Authors who submit work are responsible for the documents they archive. Authors have to ensure that the intellectual property of their deposited work is theirs and that no restrictions exist for digital distribution of the deposited work.
Fatima Darries can be reached at Darriesf at yahoo.com and Wynand can be reached at WynandvdWalt at gmail.com.
published in LIASA in Touch 10(1)
Thursday, June 25, 2009
LIBRARIANS FOR ADVOCACY
LIASA-in- Touch, vol 10, issue 1, March 2009.
On 26 and 27 November 2008 I attended the conclusion of a series of workshops on libraries as gateways to information and democracy. Topics discussed included improving networking, advocacy and lobbying strategies. This concluding workshop was hosted by The Goethe Institut in Johannesburg, the IFLA Africa Section and LIASA. Ms Ulla Wester of the Goethe Institut were responsible for the organizing and logisics. The reports of the five countries of the previous workshops are available at the Goethe Institut website at http://www.goethe.de/ins/za/joh/wis/sbi/enindex.htm.
We discussed and considered many creative and innovative strategies to advocate for libraries, and there is a recognition that we need to lobby at all levels. Questions were asked about on whose agenda we have to place libraries when we lobby and advocate. This is one of many and appropriate questions to consider and to answer. However, I believe that ultimately the best advocacy for libraries are librarians’ own behaviour, attitudes and services.
Let us provide the service that we are mandated to do. Yes, with the existing resources at our disposal. It is our services as a librarian that is needed especially when we have limited resources, when our resources are insufficient in meeting the needs of the communities we serve, whether school, public, academic and research or corporate.
If we have decided that information provision is a worthwhile way in which we live out our lives, that working in LIS our contribution to building our democracy and our country, then be informed and educated on all matters concerning Library and Information Services. A good start would be to spend your own money to subscribe to individual membership of LIASA. If we have been working in LIS for a while and do not have a library degree, make plans to get one!
Be informed of developments in our profession in our country but also outside our country, and who the role players are in the councils and advisory boards. Don't wait for this information to come to you. LIASA publishes 4 issues of LIASA-in-Touch which if you read it will keep you well up to date on LIS matters in South Africa. There are several scholarly LIS journals published in South Africa. But there are also list serves, blogs and a host of new generation web tools which you can use. We are information professionals, we know how to find information. Take the lead in you own life and identify you own information needs, and go find the information that you need.
Be professional. That means being responsible and behaving in a way that elicits respect from the community we serve and those outside of the profession, as well as those inside the profession, from our colleagues and our bosses.
Update your skills as a librarian. With the information revolution that also includes information and communication technology skills. We can seek those out; there are many opportunities offered by LIASA at Branch and interest groups as well as at the Annual LIASA Conference.
Know the legislation that governs your sector and the legislation that impacts on information provision. Know what the Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights allows and does not. As a government agency, libraries also have to provide information on request to the public in terms of the Access to Information Act. Will it compromise our users privacy?
Know under which government ministry our library service, even though it be indirectly, falls; including who the minister and director general is. We will have to be savvy when we approach our political leaders, and it starts with knowing who they are.
Be a librarian in all spheres of your life. Don’t be a librarian within the four walls of the library, from 08:00 to 4PM. Talk about and advocate for libaries in every network that you are in. Be a librarian in your family and friends network, in your community, in your church, synagogue, temple and mosque. Do not limit your professional networks to LIS only, establish contacts and networks in the sector that you are in, as well as in other professions and disciplines. And again advocate for libraries in those networks.
Develop your own personal advocacy manifesto and work towards achieving it!
On 26 and 27 November 2008 I attended the conclusion of a series of workshops on libraries as gateways to information and democracy. Topics discussed included improving networking, advocacy and lobbying strategies. This concluding workshop was hosted by The Goethe Institut in Johannesburg, the IFLA Africa Section and LIASA. Ms Ulla Wester of the Goethe Institut were responsible for the organizing and logisics. The reports of the five countries of the previous workshops are available at the Goethe Institut website at http://www.goethe.de/ins/za/joh/wis/sbi/enindex.htm.
We discussed and considered many creative and innovative strategies to advocate for libraries, and there is a recognition that we need to lobby at all levels. Questions were asked about on whose agenda we have to place libraries when we lobby and advocate. This is one of many and appropriate questions to consider and to answer. However, I believe that ultimately the best advocacy for libraries are librarians’ own behaviour, attitudes and services.
Let us provide the service that we are mandated to do. Yes, with the existing resources at our disposal. It is our services as a librarian that is needed especially when we have limited resources, when our resources are insufficient in meeting the needs of the communities we serve, whether school, public, academic and research or corporate.
If we have decided that information provision is a worthwhile way in which we live out our lives, that working in LIS our contribution to building our democracy and our country, then be informed and educated on all matters concerning Library and Information Services. A good start would be to spend your own money to subscribe to individual membership of LIASA. If we have been working in LIS for a while and do not have a library degree, make plans to get one!
Be informed of developments in our profession in our country but also outside our country, and who the role players are in the councils and advisory boards. Don't wait for this information to come to you. LIASA publishes 4 issues of LIASA-in-Touch which if you read it will keep you well up to date on LIS matters in South Africa. There are several scholarly LIS journals published in South Africa. But there are also list serves, blogs and a host of new generation web tools which you can use. We are information professionals, we know how to find information. Take the lead in you own life and identify you own information needs, and go find the information that you need.
Be professional. That means being responsible and behaving in a way that elicits respect from the community we serve and those outside of the profession, as well as those inside the profession, from our colleagues and our bosses.
Update your skills as a librarian. With the information revolution that also includes information and communication technology skills. We can seek those out; there are many opportunities offered by LIASA at Branch and interest groups as well as at the Annual LIASA Conference.
Know the legislation that governs your sector and the legislation that impacts on information provision. Know what the Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights allows and does not. As a government agency, libraries also have to provide information on request to the public in terms of the Access to Information Act. Will it compromise our users privacy?
Know under which government ministry our library service, even though it be indirectly, falls; including who the minister and director general is. We will have to be savvy when we approach our political leaders, and it starts with knowing who they are.
Be a librarian in all spheres of your life. Don’t be a librarian within the four walls of the library, from 08:00 to 4PM. Talk about and advocate for libaries in every network that you are in. Be a librarian in your family and friends network, in your community, in your church, synagogue, temple and mosque. Do not limit your professional networks to LIS only, establish contacts and networks in the sector that you are in, as well as in other professions and disciplines. And again advocate for libraries in those networks.
Develop your own personal advocacy manifesto and work towards achieving it!
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