South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science - Volume 83 Number 1, January 2017

Scholarly journals are currently functioning in an age of ‘open’ scholarship dominated by rapidly evolving digital technologies as well as a very competitive higher education environment vying for research output for purposes of institutional rankings, academic promotion and research ratings. In such an age, scholarly journals such as the South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science (SAJLIS) become very vulnerable to quality compromise in an effort to keep the number of articles per issue buoyant. While every effort is made to bring out an issue of SAJLIS twice a year timeously, an equal amount of effort is made not to compromise the quality of its content. This is strived for through rigorous application of its peer-review process, continuously updating author guidelines and an insistence on the submission of a plagiarism check report for every manuscript submitted. It is in this context that, for the period January to June 2017, SAJLIS received seventeen manuscript submissions of which only five made it to the final publication stage – resulting in 71% of the submissions either being rejected or authors being requested to revise and re-submit for review. Authors are always provided with guidance on improving the manuscripts for re-submission to SAJLIS or to any other journal platform. For this, the Editor is very grateful to the tireless work of its reviewers who have been very supportive of the journal as well as of the authors contributing to it.

Public libraries are indispensable institutions that contribute towards the socio-economic development of every citizen in every country by providing access to information. In South Africa, the provision of access to information through public libraries was marred by the inequalities of the apartheid laws. In order to address past injustices regarding access to information, the government of today, through the Department of Arts and Culture, is committed to allocating an annual library conditional grant to all the nine provinces to build and develop new and already existing public libraries, respectively. This study investigated the information needs of people who use these newly built and developed public libraries and information centres in Limpopo Province. The questionnaire was distributed to the library users of selected public libraries in Limpopo Province to collect information about their basic information needs and expectations. The results showed that the majority of public libraries and information services users in Limpopo Province are the youth and young adults, who specifically use these libraries and information services for study space and accessing the internet. The kind of information required by these youth, young adults and adults revolves around health matters, education programmes, career guidance and crime prevention. It is therefore recommended that library users be made aware of other services offered by public libraries and that user needs analysis studies be conducted from time to time in order for public libraries to meet the ever-changing needs of library users.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of library services and facilities by students at Cape Peninsula University of Technology and, in particular, gather feedback with regards to service satisfaction, accessibility and use of facilities. The investigation, carried out in March 2015, was based on a triangulation approach including surveys, informal interviews and an observation study. A total of 394 students responded to the survey. Their opinions supported information gathered from other surveys and available statistics. The results indicated that, although demand for some services such as circulation and reference transactions are decreasing, the number of visits to library facilities is increasing. While students prefer using online resources, they still choose face-to-face interaction with library staff as their first choice of contact, followed by email. Information literacy training, seen as essential by librarians, is rated as ‘least important’ by respondents. It was revealed that, although students show little interest in following the library on social media, they indicate a growing need for online tutorials and a growing use of library LibGuides. Furthermore, it is acknowledged that the services provided by staff are seen as important and students tend to use the library mainly for individual study, research, and group study. The study supported the fact that the changes made to library spaces and services are meeting the demands of library users, although there is still room for improvement.

The study investigated the factors hampering access to and use of public library (urban and rural) services in Nigeria. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed through the administration of a questionnaire to users in both urban and rural public libraries in Nigeria and conducting interviews with the public librarians. The objectives of the study centred on identifying awareness and utilisation of library services, including utilisation patterns. The study also sought to investigate levels of satisfaction among users as well as make recommendations for improved service delivery. The population was the registered public library user group from which 394 users were randomly sampled from twelve purposively selected libraries – two from each of the six regions. The respondents were mainly an educated male user group representing a wide variety of occupations. Awareness of services was restricted to a few services, and accessibility to the major library services was found to be a challenge to many. Utilisation patterns indicated infrequent use of only a few services, and very low satisfaction with what is being offered. Challenges identified included unawareness of services, too few copies of materials and lack of information literacy skills. Recommendations included the enhancement of community participation in decision-making concerning services, that relevant and enough materials be supplied, and that effective marketing be employed to improve access and to promote services among users and potential users.

South Africa’s historically disadvantaged university libraries are, like others, challenged to meet patrons’ demands through the provision of relevant infrastructure, services and information-related skills to enable users to function in the digital information age. Their historic disadvantage is compounded by two levels of the digital divide: their situation within a developing nation (the ‘global divide’), and contending with a relative paucity in skills and resources within this context (the ‘local divide’, as a legacy of apartheid). This paper reports on a master’s study undertaken to explore whether the electronic services initiated in post-apartheid South Africa by University of the Western Cape (UWC) Library are perceived by primary stakeholders (users and library staff) as effective in bridging the digital divide. The study employed a phenomenological qualitative design, supported by critical theory. Purposive sampling was used to select two sets of samples for data collection: postgraduate students and UWC librarians. Data was collected from forty students through an online questionnaire, and interviews were held with six UWC librarians. Findings suggest that the UWC Library has emerged as a competent agent of democracy: most of the users perceive the e-services being offered as useful and meeting their needs, and the library currently provides ICT infrastructure, internet access and information-related skills programmes to support the university community. However, challenges encountered include slow internet connection, security concerns, shortcomings in information literacy, problems of access and accessibility (including language), and reluctance to engage with unfamiliar technology. While the institution does make an effort to bridge the digital divide, recommended further research, such as evaluating the impact of slow internet speed on research and learning or enhanced interventions in information literacy, could further support more equitable access to information.

The lack of well-structured capacity building programmes is a serious drawback to the effective development of small-scale business enterprises (SBEs) in Kenya. Public libraries as community information centres can collaborate with other stakeholders in facilitating the required skills. This study investigated the training needs of SBE traders and public library staff with the aim of proposing capacity building modules that can be considered by public libraries in Meru County, Kenya in their endeavour to support the SBEs. In implementing the study, a mixed methods approach was used and the survey research design adopted. Cluster and systematic sampling techniques were used in getting 355 SBE traders while census was used on twenty-one library staff and on two staff from Meru County government. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect the required data. The response rate was 83.4% and 95% for SBE traders and public library staff respectively. Descriptive statistics and thematic techniques were used to analyse the data. We used the findings of this study and the scholarly insights from previous studies to propose two sets of capacity building modules: for SBE traders and for the public library staff. The training areas comprise business information literacy, technology competency, and nature of information in the business domain. We recommend the adoption of the proposed modules in public libraries in Kenya in elevating support and value contribution in the development of the small business community. We further recommend a training policy for SBEs and the recruitment of experienced, skilled and knowledgeable business librarians.