Dr Naresh Sentoo, Senior Lecturer in the Information and Corporate Management Studies Department, has been appointed to serve on the National Council for Library and Information Services (NCLIS).

Dr Sentoo, whose term of office ends on 31 December 2017, was appointed in terms of Section 8 of the NCLIS Act (Act No. 6 of 2001). As a member of NCLIS, he is expected to attend all meetings of the Council and make significant contributions to the issues that need to be addressed by the body.

Dr Sentoo is not new in the library information sector. He has held various positions within the Provincial Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) structures as well as in the Research, Education and Training Interest Group (RETIG) which is at LIASA national level.

Aside from the Library and Information Studies qualifications, Dr Sentoo also has an MBA and a Doctorate in Public Administration and Development Management. He joined DUT in 1998 where he has also served as Head of Department.

“I am honoured and privileged to be a member of such a Council,” said Dr Sentoo. “In my tenure on this committee, I hope to address issues of literacy and reading, costs in respect of exchange, custom duties and VAT on books and information resources, categorisation of Education Subject Matter (CESM) categories and funding of the LIS qualification and identification of additional scarce skills aside from cataloguing, classification, indexing and abstracting and charting a way forward to address these challenges,” he said.

Dr Sentoo added that his expectations on his appointment are high, and he hopes that the LIS programme, together with staff and students at DUT and other library schools can enter into external engagements through NCLIS to further its mandate in providing socio-economic development.

– Noxolo Memela

Pictured: Dr Naresh Sentoo, Senior Lecturer in the Information and Corporate Management Studies Department, who has been appointed to the National Council for Library and Information Services (NCLIS).