UNISA/IFLA Public Lecture turns 3 years old

Abstract

Dr Wastawy lecture focused on the impact of technology on the African continent as well as its librarianship, despite the stereotype of „the dark continent‟. She urged libraries to heed the UN MDG‟s call to report/record their available publications as over 90% of the African countries (with over a billion people) are not reporting to the UN about their publications. She said that because of the digital revolution, libraries are changing into diffused and connected portals and therefore response should also be informed by the new generation of library users who are visually – and not necessarily text oriented. In this sense, collections are different and modes of research are also based on digital access.