Research Articles (Library and Information Service)

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    Research support through the lens of transformation in academic libraries with reference to the case of Stellenbosch University Libraries
    (LIASA, 2013) Raju, Reggie; Schoombee, Lucia
    Changing higher education pedagogy, digitisation of scholarly content and the increasing influence of relevant technologies have impacted on the transformation of academic library services. This paper examines research support through the lens of the transformation of academic library services. The authors have conducted a review of the literature to determine benchmarks by which to measure the research support services delivered by Stellenbosch University. The paper examines academic libraries to establish the deeper meaning of the librarian for the researcher and the research process. In support of that deeper meaning libraries are providing a new and expanded set of services which includes, inter alia, research data management, curation and preservation; facilitation of open access and bibliometric analysis. Using the research life cycle, this paper examines the research support services provided by the Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service (SULIS) to the research community. The Research Commons is used as the launch pad for new and innovative services. The use of Research Performance Management tools to scan the research landscape, strengthening of self-retrieval of scholarly literature, assistance in the dissemination of research results via publication, and assistance in determining impact factor are all part of the suite of services offered by the Library at Stellenbosch University. The authors conclude that, for academic libraries, there is much to learn and contribute to in this dynamic environment of research production.
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    A day in the life of an open scholarship manager : Ina Smith
    (UKSG - United Kingdom Serials Group, 2014-03) Smith, Ina
    Making research openly accessible and marketing research are Ina’s passions. Since being trained as a secondary school teacher and librarian, she has come a long way and her career has steered her in a direction she never would have expected!
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    Stellenbosch University’s AOARI platforms : opening access to African scholarly content
    (African Academy of Sciences, 2013-06) Raju, R.; Smith, Ina
    In the current knowledge economy, Africa is relegated to the periphery of knowledge production as it is considered to be more of a ‘consumer’ of the world’s knowledge as opposed to a ‘producer’. There is sufficient evidence to show that a significant factor contributing to this low research output is limited access to scholarly content to support research. An influential element to this limited access is the exorbitant cost of information. Exacerbating this status is that research conducted by Africans is not easily accessible to the international audience, as the dissemination of African research content is severely prejudiced by the propensity of international publishers to focus on output from the north which generates larger profit margins. This prejudice relegates Africa further into the status of being a silent and invisible contributor to research production.
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    Opening access to African scholarly content : Stellenbosch University’s AOARI platforms
    (UKSG, 2013-03) Raju, Reggie; Smith, Ina; Gibson, Hilton
    Africa is viewed as a consumer of the world’s knowledge production. A significant factor influencing this status is the low research output, with the main contributor to this status being minimum access to scholarly content to support research. Stellenbosch University, a leading research institution on the African continent, is committed to contributing to changing this status quo through the distribution of its own research output utilizing open sources. Given the challenges that have plagued Africa in developing processes for the distribution of their research, Stellenbosch University has developed the African Open Access Repository Initiative (AOARI) which uses open source software for two platforms that support the ‘green’ and ‘gold’ route to sharing scholarly literature: Ubuntu is used as the operating system, DSpace is used for its repository and Open Journal Systems for its publication platform. It is anticipated that AOARI will be the bridge that facilitates the sharing of research output and nurtures a culture of research production in Africa.
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    Now into big strides : report on statutory status for the South African Library and Information Services sector
    (Library and Information Association of South Africa, 2012) Raju, Reggie; Witbooi, Sally; Goosen, Annamarie
    The road to acquiring statutory status for the Library and Information Services (LIS) sector in South Africa has been traversed numerous times over the last sixty to seventy years. In more recent years, there has been renewed vigour to explore the acquisition of statutory status for the sector in South Africa. As part of this process of acquiring statutory status, a number of studies have been conducted. This paper examines the latest drive by the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) to solicit the views of a cross section of LIS personnel with regard to the sector acquiring statutory status. This issue of the acquisition of statutory status is earmarked as a priority in the recently developed Strategic Directions 2010-2014 document of LIASA. At the 2009 LIASA Conference, a clear mandate was given for a national survey to be conducted to solicit the views of personnel that work in the LIS sector with regard to the said issue. The authors administered a short questionnaire to a sample population representing all categories of staff irrespective of whether they belonged to an association or not. The questionnaire was administered using Survey Monkey. This paper reports the results of that survey. Given the overwhelming support for the acquisition of statutory status, the authors examined significant elements that would need to be crafted into the governance structures of a statutory body for the sector.