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2009
LibQUAL+R survey |
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The
Library Services conducted a LibQUAL+R survey during May
2009. Regular client surveys are done to measure client
satisfaction. In-house surveys have been done from 2004
to 2006, and LibQUAL in 2005 and 2009. (http://www.library.up.ac.za/quality/clients.htm)
Fig
1 Client Satisfaction Rating
On 19 August 2009 the prize
winners of the LibQUAL Survey received their prizes:
Ms Bianca Scolten, 3rd year Consumer Science student
Ms Ceri Taylor, 2nd year BA student who wins the printer
who wins the netbook
Winners in terms of
participation:
- Jotello F Soga Library
(highest % participation - 18.99)
- NAS/EBIT Library (biggest
number of participants - 1302)
The total
response for the survey was 3721 (3259 in English and
462 in Afrikaans), 2264 undergraduate and 835
postgraduate students, and 389 staff. There were 1867
comments (1704 in English and 163 in Afrikaans).
Fig
2 Response by Library and Subject Area
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Subject
Area |
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Engineering & Technology |
536 |
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Humanities |
287 |
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Biological Sciences |
207 |
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Agriculture & Related Subjects |
145 |
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Computer Science |
122 |
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Physical Sciences |
114 |
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Mathematical Sciences |
79 |
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Architecture, Building, & Planning |
71 |
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Social, Economic, & Political Studies |
67 |
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Librarianship & Information Science |
28 |
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Creative Arts & Design |
24 |
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Languages |
17 |
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Library |
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Medical |
346 |
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BMS |
118 |
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Music |
25 |
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Klinikala (Kalafong) |
6 |
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Witbank
Hospital |
4 |
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Fig
3 Radar Chart
To
learn more about LibQUAL radar charts, see :
http://www.libqual.org
Fig
4 Gap Analysis
There
were improvements on the 2005 results :
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The number and percentage of participation was
higher
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The postgraduate students were more satisfied
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The overall score moved from 6.73 to 7.03
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The expectations and perceptions was higher in
all 22 questions
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There were more positive comments (1172)
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There were fewer negative comments (1405)
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The Minimum and Maximum expectations were
overall higher. The Library is important
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The overall score is better than 4 international
universities (Glasgow, Singapore National, and
Utrecht, universities used in the 2008
benchmarking project, and Florida State, a US
university).
Fig
5 Word Cloud of comments for the Merensky 2
Library
The
Survey (253 academic staff + 835 postgraduate student
respondents) indicates the following in terms of
research contribution :
• 84%
commend the staff for their willingness to help, for
their professional behaviour and for their
knowledgeability
• 80%
find the library web site an enabling tool
• The
information resources are below their expectations and
needs
The
Survey (2264 undergraduate student respondents)
indicates the following in terms of teaching and learning
contribution:
• 81%
find the library web site an enabling tool for
independent work
• 80%
commend the staff for their willingness to help
• 80%
find the electronic resources needed for their studies
• 79%
regard the library as a haven for study, learning and
research
(http://www.library.up.ac.za/quality/docs/ContributionToExcellence.pdf)
Contributed by Gerda Beukes
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Suid-Afrikaansgebore komponis Isak
Roux van Duitsland tree op in Johannesburg |
Die
wereldbekende Suid-Afrikaansgebore komponis Isak
Roux wat al jare in Stuttgart, Duitsland woon en
werk het Eridine Roux as gas uitgenooi om sy
vertoning van een van sy komposisies Coming
Home, in die Johannesburg Pro Musica Theatre in
Florida Park by te woon op 16 Desember 2009.
Aangesien die
Universiteit van Pretoria se Suid-Afrikaanse
Musiekversamelings reeds etlike jare al Roux se
komposisies aankoop met die grootste versameling van
sy werke in Suid-Afrika, was ek bevoorreg om die
uitnodiging van Roux uit Duitsland te ontvang.
Die werk wat hy
uitgevoer het is ook reeds in ons besit.
Roux het telkens van 'n
stampvol teater 'n welverdiende staande applous
ontvang!
Moira de Swardt, a
reporter concluded in her artcle in Artslink about
the performance as follows:
"The cantata
was designed as a triumhant vision of our past,
present and future as a testimony to the power and
creative endurance of the human spirit. Coming Home
is a jazz, Gospel Cantata, based on the parable of
the prodigal son, one of the most powerful stories
of reconciliation ever told. Composed by Isak Roux,
this work summarised the concept of reconciliation -
performed on the day of Reconciliation! Under
the baton of Kutlwano Masote, with soloists
Sibongile Mngoma, Timothy Moloi and Siyabonga
Maqungo, accompanied by the Chanber Choir of South
Africa, this opus trilled and charmed. It was so
special that I could not restrain the joy and pride
of being South African, a child of God, and being
part of an audience privileged to share in a
wonderful performance of a magnificent cantata."
The end was greeted with
three or four full seconds of silence before the
audience burst into applause. That silence was the
greatest tribute I have ever heard an audience pay a
work.
Contributed by Eridine
Roux
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Controlled
Vocabulary and Thesaurus Design: An ALCTS/PCC Cataloging
for the 21st Century Workshop for the Digital
Library Environment |
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From
November 2nd – December 11th, 2009 I had the opportunity
to enrolled in an online workshop presented by Prof.
Steven Miller of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
United States of America. Prof. Miller is a Senior
Lecturer at the UWM School of Information Studies. He
teaches masters degree and continuing education courses
in information organisation, metadata, cataloging and
information architecture. The workshop was limited to 25
participants worldwide.
The
six-week online workshop provides an introduction to the
topics of controlled vocabulary and thesaurus design.
The workshop is designed for practicing catalogers and
for anyone interested in designing controlled
vocabularies and thesauri for digital libraries,
websites or online library-like applications. It
includes hands-on exercises that are aimed to build
knowledge and skills. The following aspects form the
platform of the course:
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Introduction to controlled vocabulary and thesaurus
design
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Types
of controlled vocabularies: lists, synonym rings,
taxonomies, thesauri
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Thesaurus planning and design
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Thesaurus construction and development
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Hierarchical structure and relationships
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Thesaurus display and navigation
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Thesaurus implementation and management
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Future directions: Semantic web, RDF and linked data
The
workshop was structured into weekly units with deadlines
for submitting exercises at the end of each week. The
training material was delivered through the D2L online
learning courseware at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The lectures were delivered in PDF
files and accompanying video presentations in both
Windows Media and Real Player formats. Interaction with
the instructor and the participants took place through
listserv-like discussions internal to the workshop site.
The value
of this workshop was the knowledge gained about the
construction of a controlled vocabulary, the software
packages for thesaurus construction, how controlled
vocabulary fits in the picture of the Semantic web,
linked data and the value of a structured vocabulary in
the digital environment.
The workshop developed a basis to exercise judgment for
making controlled vocabulary decisions and to apply best
practices in the maintaining of thesauri and controlled
vocabulary.
Implementing the
knowledge in the working environment will include:
-
monitoring
of controlled vocabulary in UPSpace
-
streamlining
the process of assigning controlled vocabulary
-
implementing
search refinement options in UPSpace to search
controlled vocabulary more effectively
-
establishing
facets for some of the collections.
Another project
incorporating controlled vocabulary is the development
and implementation of a Google custom search engine for
the South African National Veterinary Repository
webpage. The refinement and indexing tools of the Google
custom search will be used to manipulate the search
engine to retrieve better results through the metadata
and controlled vocabulary assigned to the metadata
records of veterinary items in UPSpace. The test SANVR
search engine can be access at
http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=014237202287064872315:9te8yexb7nm.
The workshop was
an enriching experience in the sense of communicating
and learning from and with people around the world about
new trends and developments in the digital environment.
I would like to thank Ms Ujala Satgoor and the Committee
who granted the money from the Skills Development Fund
for the wonderful opportunity
to enroll in this workshop.
Contributed
by
Amelia Breytenbach
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Maart boek van die
maand / March book of the month |
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A
life in transition© 2008
/ Alex Boraine
Contributed by Katrien Malan
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Alex Boraine's life is a fascinating story of fighting injustice and turning dreams into reality. A child of the Great Depression, he rose from lowly beginnings in a working-class family to become head of the Methodist Church, and MP for the Progressive Federal party, and deputy chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
This is an insider's account of a range of important institutions and events in South African history: the halls of parliament in the 1970s and 1980s, the controversial conference with the ANC in Dakar in 1987, and the hearings of the TRC in the mid-1990s. Boraine gives insights into people he met along the way, including Harry Oppenheimer, Steve Biko, Van Zyl Slabbert, Thabo Mbeki and Desmond Tutu. He also takes us beyond South Africa to some of the world's most turbulent trouble spots, from Serbia to Sierra Leone, Liberia to Sri Lanka.
Something about the author:
Alex Boraine was born in Cape Town in 1931. After entering the ministry, he studied at Rhodes, Oxford and Drew University in the USA. He was appointed youngest-ever President of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in 1970, worked as an employment practices consultant for Anglo American, and was elected to parliament as an MP for the Progressive Party in 1974. He resigned in 1986 and, together with Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, founded IDASA, which organised the 1987 meeting with ANC leaders in Dakar, Senegal.
Boraine was one of the main architects of the Truth And Reconciliation Commission, and served beside Desmond Tutu as its deputy chairperson from 1996 to 1998. After teaching transitional justice at the New York University Law School, he became the founding president of the International Center for Transitional Justice, and has travelled to many contries that are in transition from dictatorship to democracy, at the invitation of governments and NGOs' to share the South African experience and to assist countries in their search for a democratic culture and sustainable peace |
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Library
Intranet Newsletter Publication /
Publikasie van die Biblioteek Intranet Nuusbrief |
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Indien jy enige kommentaar
of voorstelle oor die nuusbrief het, epos ons asseblief
by
diana.gerritsen@up.ac.za
- ons hoor graag jou opinie.
If you
have any comments or suggestions about our newsletter,
then please mail us on
diana.gerritsen@up.ac.za
-
we are very keen to hear your opinions.
To contribute, please e-mail
Diana Gerritsen.
Contributions can be in Afrikaans or English.
Om 'n bydrae te maak e-pos asb. vir
Diana Gerritsen.
Bydraes kan in Afrikaans of Engels wees. |
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Events this
month ...
Gebeure dié
maand ...
Birthdays this
month ...
Verjaarsdae dié
maand ...
|
3 |
Leonora Wydeman |
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4 |
Francina Laka |
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D M Raulinga |
|
6 |
Linda Pretorius |
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13 |
Shannon Botes |
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14 |
Antoinette Kemp |
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Joel Rasebitse Nthi Sefolo |
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Lucas Elias Mmalefahlo |
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16 |
Marinda Maritz |
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17 |
Richard Mbokane |
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Billy van Niekerk |
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Narios Mpholefole |
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20 |
Mmakgoshi Reetseng |
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23 |
Anneline van der Gryp |
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Monica Hammes |
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Abel Lebepe |
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Freude Bertram |
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Heila Mare |
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25 |
Charelle Ungerer |
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26 |
Clarisse Venter |
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Hettie Groenewald |
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Dennis Mabena |
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27 |
Liesel Harris |
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"Live like you are going
to
die tomorrow
and
learn like you are
going to live
forever"
~
Mahatma Gandhi ~
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