http://hdl.handle.net/10500/7 This is a collection of research articles authored by staff members of the Unisa Library . Sat, 18 May 2013 13:24:56 GMT 2013-05-18T13:24:56Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4901 Management of Distance Library services with reference to learner support Henning, JC The purpose of the article is to share information on the management of Open Distance Libraries with special reference to learner support as developed at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Information on the changing roles of Academic Libraries with specific reference to the requirements of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) is also provided. It focuses on the practical management experience of the University of South Africa (UNISA) library in support of the implementation of a new ODL model at the university. Design/ methodology / approach. A review of the relevant literature was conducted to provide an overview on the topic and a context for the information provided on the UNISA Library. Information gathered from the planning, policies and procedures of UNISA in general and the UNISA library specifically as well as experience gained by participating in workshops on ODL at UNISA is included in the article. The findings indicate that research and literature on leadership in distance education in general (Beaudoin, 2002) is limited and this is even more so for Open and Distance Libraries. It is however evident from experience and the required standards for distance library services, that structured management and planning of these services is important to ensure success and future developments of the services. Furthermore, leaders in Open Distance Libraries also need a variety of skills that are constantly updated to ensure optimization of resources, for suitable strategic planning, policy formulation and suitable in terms of new technology developments. In addition to the literature survey and analysis the information gathered for the article is original in that it captures the experience gained from management of an Open Distance Learning Library. Although focused on Open Distance Learning, the information is also of value to residential institutions as the border between online services and open distance services is becoming blurred. Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4901 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/404 Digital conversion of the CM Doke collection of personal letters from MK Gandhi, together with other related materials : a case study by the Unisa Library Digital Resource Centre Watkins, Ansie The digitisation of the Gandhi Papers was a pilot study conducted by the Unisa Library Digital Resource Centre during the year 2000.This article provides an overview of this project in terms of the practical, theoretical and technological issues involved. Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10500/404 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/402 University of South Africa library : from the Soweto rebellion to the beginning of the end of apartheid, 1976-1990 Suttie, Mary-Lynn This article explores the history of the University of South Africa (Unisa) library from 1976 to 1990. It situates the growth of information services in distance education in South Africa within the context of political protest associated with the Soweto uprising of the mid 1970s and the states of emergency of the mid 1980s. It traces the vicissitudes of the library as it charted a course through educational instability, rising student expectations, the declining value of the South African currency, and increased bureaucratisation and computerisation to offer an efficient and comprehensive service to a wider, more racially mixed, constitutency than the apartheid government ever anticipated. This naturally earned Unisa considerable state approval because it could be paraded as a national, 'non-racial' university at a time when apartheid aroused universal opprobrium. An attempt is also made in the article to reassert the importance of library history as a credible field of research through a case study of South Africa's largest academic library. Its alleged political complicity and ambivalent reputation are examined on the basis of archival and published sources and assessed against the critical debates of the apartheid state which permeated historical, educational and information discourses from the 1970s to the unbanning of the liberation movements in 1990. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10500/402 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/401 Rethinking leadership roles for the academic library : the attitudes of library staff towards a leadership-driven academic information service enterprise Raubenheimer, Jenny; Muller, Helene Present day business enterprises engage all staff members in leadership roles so as to ensure the sustainability of such an enterprise. A leadership driven enterprise focuses on both the operational leadership structures, which address urgent leadership roles, and other leadership structures which are essential for the sustainability of the enterprise. In the past, some leadership roles were often neglected since the focus fell mostly on the performance of urgent leadership roles pertaining to operational output. This article reports on the results of an investigation into the attitude of staff towards a shared leadership model in terms of its value to the academic information service enterprise, the satisfaction gained by staff performing voluntary leadership roles that do not form part of their job description and the value experienced by these staff members. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10500/401 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z