Mousaion - Volume 31, Issue 3, January 2013

This article argues for the theory of information worlds (TIW) by Burnett and Jaeger (2011) as a possible theoretical framework for information behaviour research. The theory draws from various disciplines in social and management sciences. Jürgen Habermas and Elfreda Chatman are the main contributors to the TIW which acknowledges three worlds, that is: the small worlds, the middle worlds and the lifeworlds; three levels of access to information, namely, physical, intellectual and social access; and five social elements in the investigation of information behaviour. As context is becoming an integrated multiple in the dynamic world of Web 2.0, the interactive online media, the TIW provides an inclusive theoretical framework for the investigation of information behaviour in various contexts and can be applied in the study of virtual communities; information policy and political analysis; information and gender; ethnicity and cultural difference; media studies; users studies; library services and community service; and popular culture studies.

One of the fundamental missions of public libraries in the twenty-first century is that of reaching out to all members of society. Based on a literature survey, this article reviews the situation around public libraries in a culturally diverse environment such as South Africa, and whether according to the authors under discussion, these libraries are taking into account the multicultural composition of their clients in the collections and services they offer. The article also examines the meaning of cultural diversity in the library and information field, and the implications of this multicultural reality with regard to the rendering of equitable public library services in South Africa. Finally, practical recommendations based on international best practice and the local context are made, which may assist South African public libraries to move towards a more equitable and representative approach in the collections and services they offer their diverse constituencies.

The current European Data Protection Directive is widely viewed as limited in its ability to respond to privacy threats posed by new technologies and media. In response, a draft European General Data Protection Regulation has been proposed, which currently exists in two draft versions - that written in 2012 by Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, and the 2013 amendments by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and rapporteur Jan Philipp Albrecht. Further, a Compromise Text from the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (CEU) has recently appeared and another Compromise Text is reportedly being prepared by the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. At the time of writing, little analysis has been made of the draft Regulation's implications for archives. This article undertakes a close reading of the currently available drafts in order to determine what level of accommodation is envisaged for archival practice, and compares these provisions with the exception made for freedom of expression.

It is crucial for university students to become information literate in order to succeed in their studies; even more so in the current social media environment. Educators need to become part of this social world in order to ensure that their teaching stays relevant. This article reports on a project undertaken at the University of Pretoria with the aim of introducing social media to the campus-wide Information Literacy (IL) course offered. A research project was launched in which the IL course was assessed and new ways of presenting the current material were developed. This involved repackaging the course content and developing a toolkit with built-in activities for students. Interactive class exercises to ensure student engagement aimed at acquainting students with various social media tools and encourage academic networking and cooperation were introduced. It is believed that this new approach in presenting and teaching the IL course will not only have long-term benefits for students in their on-going studies, but will impact on their future work-lives as well.

Dié artikel stel dit ten doel om verbande te ondersoek tussen die leesgedrag van 'n aantal eerstejaarstudente aan die Universiteit van Pretoria en hulle taal- en akademiese geletterdheidsvaardighede. Die studente is getoets as risikostudente op grond van hulle swak taalvaardigheid. Verskeie aspekte van hulle leesgedrag word ondersoek, soos die studente se ervaring van lees as skoolaktiwiteit. Daar word ondersoek ingestel na moontlike veranderende leesgewoontes in 'n tegnologiese era deur onder meer te probeer bepaal of studente gedrukte media vir elektroniese media verruil het, watter spesifieke leesgedrag studente openbaar, hoe lees as 'n ontspanningsaktiwiteit onder studente daar uitsien, sowel as die vlak van leesfrekwensie onder studente oor 'n breë spektrum gedrukte en elektroniese media heen. Laastens word die gebruik van tegnologiese hulpmiddele en sosiale netwerke ook onder die loep geneem. Die bevinding is dat studente met lae taalvaardigheid leesgedrag openbaar wat nie hulle taalvaardigheid of hulle akademiese leesgedrag sal verbeter nie.

The purpose of this article is to investigate relationships between the reading habits of a group of first-year students at the University of Pretoria, and their language and academic literacy skills. The students were tested as students who are at risk on account of their poor language proficiency. Various aspects of their reading habits were examined, such as the students' experience of reading as a school activity. Furthermore, possible changes in reading habits in a technological era were investigated by determining whether students have exchanged printed media for electronic media, which specific reading behaviours students reveal, how reading as an activity of relaxation is approached amongst students, as well as the level of reading frequency amongst students over a broad spectrum of print and electronic media. Lastly, the article touches on students' use of technological resources and social networks. The findings show that the reading habits of students with a poor language proficiency are such that they will not improve either their language proficiency or their academic reading habits.

Information communication technologies (ICTs) have changed the workplace, education delivery and information platforms but the fundamentals of working with information have not changed. Learners and students must still investigate, reason, review, analyse and synthesise information regardless of the diversity of the platforms. This article reflects on information literacy and explores the notion of social media in the South African school context. Standards for information literate learners are discussed, as well as the teaching of information literacy in the 21st century, with reference to the Big Process Model. In the South African context the authors look briefly at two important documents namely, the National Guidelines for School Library and Information Services published in April 2012 by the Department of Basic Education (DoE) and the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) that came into effect in January 2011. Neither CAPS nor the National Guidelines mention social media literacy per se, but the authors assume that it is implied under digital literacy, teamwork and communication. It is therefore argued that the diverse learner body and the disparities in digital access complicate information literacy teaching. However, the authors are of the belief that this should not continue to be an excuse for negligence in the teaching of information literacy.

This article examines academic librarianship in South Africa; general trends and challenges in academic librarianship; and the higher education (HE) environment in which academic libraries exist. The authors propose that South African academic librarians adopt several key professional principles to best support the priorities of their institutions. Academic librarians who understand and respond to trends occurring in the larger context of HE will continue to have a critical role in their institutions. As libraries have continually adapted to the information needs of their institutions and stakeholders in the past, they can continue to adapt by embracing these principles:

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Be institution-centric, rather than library-centric.

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Use existing research and theories to develop and provide services and resources that will make the most effective use of staff and financial resources. Make assessment an integral part of library operations.

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Conduct practice-based research.

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Engage in ongoing professional development.

African and other developing countries face problems of making their scholarly output widely visible and accessible. This is partly attributed to the fact that most scholarly output from this part of the world is documented in low circulating journals and grey literature in print format. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been acknowledged to have the potential to reduce that problem. A study was conducted to examine the extent of ICT application by Inter University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) member institutions in documenting and disseminating scholarly output. The research involved 28 (10 private and 18 public) institutions selected from among 67 IUCEA member institutions from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda during the 2009/2010 academic year. A combination of approaches including face-to-face interviews, self-administered questionnaires, and analysis of institutional web-sites were used for data gathering. Sixty-one respondents (14 deputy vice chancellors/vice rectors, 22 directors of research and 24 directors/heads of institutional libraries) participated in the study. Content analysis was adopted for analysing data from open ended questions whereas data from structured questions was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) V16 software. It was established that most institutions in the region were still documenting and disseminating their scholarly output using conventional methods with little exploitation of ICTs. The study recommends the need for the IUCEA and its member institutions to spearhead effective exploitation of ICT developments to facilitate the documentation and dissemination of scholarly output among researchers in the East Africa region and beyond.