By TDN
Taung-Public Librarians across the North West Province recently put their heads together in a conference to map out a path towards the enhancement of information technology that would benefit library users. The aim was to give local communities, particularly in rural areas, greater access to modern technology that brings information within easy reach.
Under the auspices of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture’s (DSAC) Library and Information Services Directorate, the conference in Taung was attended by the National Librarian Mr John Tsebe and the Chief Information Officer Mr Lesiba Ledwaba both from the National Library of South Africa.
Also present were DSAC’s Chief Director: Arts, Culture, Libraries and Archives, Mr Thabo Mabe, Director: Library, Information and Archives Services, Ms Tinyiko Sempe as well as municipal representatives responsible for community libraries. The event also served as a follow-up to a similar gathering held in Rustenburg last year.
Themed: “Information Technology as an extension of library services in community libraries”, the event saw delegates deliberating on various ways to change the lives of ordinary citizens with the use of the modern technology at local libraries. The North West Province is a frontrunner amongst Provinces in the provision of free public internet access in libraries and ranks amongst the top in its use of modern technology.
“The purpose of the exercise was to strengthen relationships between the Department and municipalities to make sure that whatever we plan is implemented at grassroots level, and that everybody know their roles,” said Mr Mabe.

Mabe said at the end of the day they seek to create efficiency in delivery of services to the public.

“The response was phenomenal and the conference was productive. We did a needs-analysis on the part of the community and found that internet is one of the offerings highly in demand. With modern technology taking such great strides, we need to stay relevant to our library users.” He said.

The National Librarian and the Chief Information Officer of the National Library of South Africa showered the Provincial Library Directorate with praises for their sterling work towards service delivery in the Province.
“The conference was a great means of self-reflection where the Province looks at what it has been doing while projecting the future. They seek to bring to the communities such services as electronic publications, online-resources and internet access. We work well with them, and they are leaders in the game.” Ledwaba said.

He said that the province was on track towards helping with integration of services to library users.

“We are working on a ground-breaking approach with them where services will be integrated and centralized to benefit library users. If, for instance, a user is looking for Nelson Mandela’s Struggle For Freedom, at the click of a button we can give them a wide variety of options, such as videos, books, journals, digital collections and news clips on a single search interface. This is a way of making modern technology benefit the users.” Lewdwaba adds.

Mr Anele Moko, the Provincial Chair of the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) said the conference gave his organisation an opportunity to deliberate with delegates on ways to strengthen librarianship as a profession.

“We got to let the librarians know about our vision for the future of the profession,” said Mr Moko.
“We informed them about our new scholarship called “Next Generation Public Librarian”, where we encourage library staffs that are not in possession of librarianship as a qualification to enhance their knowledge with a post-graduate diploma that will add value to local libraries. They were enthusiastic about it.”
The workshop is a continuous effort and is held twice every year.-TDN
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