DUT is celebrating South African National Library Week at all DUT campus libraries from Saturday, 14 March 2015 to Saturday, 21 March 2015.
This year’s theme is Connect @ your library which resonates with the belief that libraries connect people to each other, to knowledge and information, to print and electronic resources, to technology and professional academic support. The theme also highlights the importance of library practitioners connecting with each other, across all sectors, for the sharing of skills, best practices, global trends and national priorities so that a strong cohort of professionals emerge with a common understanding and vision for the development of an informed nation.
With the click of a button, a flip of a page and verbal communicational exchange, students can now change from being clueless to insightful by being part of the library week that will entail several training sessions at various DUT libraries.
The Library Week programme begins with an official launch with RadioDUT on Monday, 16 March 2015. An array of other events have also been planned such as an Apple iPad Student Training session. This will entail the Core Group SA presenting training sessions on “Getting to know your iPad” at the iPad Zone in the BM Patel Library, ML Sultan, on Tuesday, 17 March 2015. This can be done on the 2nd Floor of the BM Patel Library and booking a session is recommended. The sessions will begin at 9am and the last session will end at 3pm. Every student that attends the competition will have the opportunity to enter the library Facebook competition and win a prize sponsored by the Core Group.
Awards will be presented on Wednesday, 18 March 2015 at 12h30, also at the BM Patel Library. The DUT Library annually recognises academic staff members that have actively participated and embedded information literacy into their curriculum. This year, those that have made strides in embedding information literacy during 2014 will be honoured. Prof Nomthandazo Gwele, DVC: Academic at DUT, will be presenting the awardees with a certificate and prize.
On Thursday, 19 March 2015, from 10h00 to 12h00, the Connecting with the Community will see 30 St. Anthony’s grade two pupils will be hosted at the BM Patel Library. The aim is to foster a culture of reading in pupils. The programme comprises of an interactive reading session hosted by the DUT Writing Centre, entertainment and songs, playing online games and being introduced to technology.
On Friday, 20 March 2015, the DUT community will be given the opportunity to thank library staff during the Library Staff Appreciation Day (this includes librarians, admin and support staff) via the social media platforms or to place in any of the boxes available at each library site. This can take the form of general library appreciation or a specific staff member employed in the library.
DUT Training Librarian, David Thomas, said students would benefit enormously from the week’s programmes. “Subject librarians at the various libraries will be running training sessions for interested persons on the use of discipline specific information databases that you could use to find scholarly, peer reviewed content for your research. Take advantage of these sessions that will prepare you to research beyond Google”.
For more information, visit your nearest library, or go to http://library.dut.ac.za.
– Thobele Nzama
