The Durban University of Technology (DUT) Library hosted a Public Lecture to commemorate South African Library Week (SALW). The event was held online via Microsoft Teams on Thursday, 23 March 2023.

The programme was facilitated by Mr Romeo Matumba, DUT Librarian: Marketing and Communication. Matumba gave an insight on why the SALW is being celebrated. The 2023 theme was: “Libraries: Telling Powerful Stories”. Matumba also explained that the public lecture is one of the activities being held by the library as part of commemorating SALW at DUT.

Professor Keolebogile Motaung: Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement (DVC: RIE) at DUT, gave opening remarks and welcomed all the attendees into the Public Lecture and she also dove deep into the 2023 theme.

“It is my great pleasure to welcome you to South African Library Week. South African Library Week represents an important occasion in our university calendar. It is for this reason that every year as DUT Library, we plan and celebrate the SALW including the hosting of the public lecture as part of the proceedings. This year, libraries are focusing on telling those stories, both from the library and user’s perspectives focusing on the achievement of libraries in South Africa over the years. The 2023 theme will also echo throughout the year as LIASA celebrate 26 years of being the Association of Library and Information Services in South Africa,” she said.

Prof Motaung also highlighted several challenges facing libraries in South Africa. These challenges include but are not limited to funding problems, the provisioning of adequate and relevant information resources and infrastructure, inadequate network mobility affecting connectivity in our communities, libraries becoming easy targets and being vandalized during community protests. These challenges are serious and attest to the resilience of libraries at the centre of the development and sustainability of our communities.

Prof Gift Mheta; Manager: Writing Centre at DUT gave a message of support and unpackedthe importance of stories. According to Prof Mheta, stories help us understand the three intertwined realities of the past, present, and future.

The DUT’s Director of Library Services, Dr Malefetjane Phaladi introduced the guest speaker, Mr Mandla Ntombela. In addition to reading the guest speaker’s accolades, he shared an insight into South African Library Week. The slogan ‘knowledge is power’ remains a myth unless knowledge is shared, because knowledge becomes powerful only when it is shared and used. “Storytelling is one such mechanism in which we can get the knowledge that we supply as libraries, the knowledge that we share as scholars across our users and scholarly communities for a wider impact and the sustainability of our societies.

Mr Ntombela gave his long-awaited prestigious Public Lecture. He first shared how honoured he was to be invited by DUT to the commemoration of the SALW, he then unpacked the theme of the SALW.Ntombela believed that stories make difficult information easier to understand and that they can change the future for the better. He urged Information managers, leaders, Directors, Head Of Departments (HODs), Library services workers, members of different LIS forums and information scientists to protect indigenous knowledge, intellectual property, information, documents, literature, stories, books, and all other formats of Connections. He further talked about the role played by libraries in telling powerful stories by acting as preservers and providers of access to smart spaces, information and knowledge for all in the digital age.

“Let us enlarge our territory or mission by protecting the future of the Library Information Science (LIS) workers during the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) by developing strategies that will make the sector looks smarter, cooler and better,” he said.
Delivering a vote of thanks, Prof Mncedisi Maphalala, Director: Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) at DUT expressed his gratitude to the keynote speaker for his powerful and insightful presentation and to all the attendees for participating in the lecture event.

“In the past, stories were passed from generation to generation through oral history or oral tradition, and some of these stories got lost along the way or were told differently. However, libraries have played a central role in collecting, preserving and sharing these stories through generations,” he said.

Pictured: Mr Mandla Ntombela.

Lethukuthula Ngubane