Browsing by Author "Nassimbeni, Mary"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    A 20-year evaluation of PLAAS research outputs: Impact on the scholarly domain and in social media
    (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2019) Kerchhoff, Gillian; Kahn, Michelle; Nassimbeni, Mary
    Patterns and methods of scholarly communication have changed with the growth in information technology, particularly the Internet and the social web. The changes have necessitated a broader definition of scholarly communication and the role of social media in the research process. We sought to record the body of work that the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), a research institute at the University of the Western Cape, produced over a 20-year period (1995–2015) – the first two decades of its existence – and to measure its visibility and impact using bibliometrics and altmetrics. A survey was also carried out to investigate to what extent PLAAS researchers knew and used social media in their research practice. Scopus and Google Scholar were used as citation indices and Altmetric.com provided Altmetric scores – a measure of impact through social and mainstream media.
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    All together now?
    (International Association of School Librarianship Conference, 2019) Nassimbeni, Mary
    The paper explores the meaning of the recently drafted National Policy for Library and Information Services (NPLIS) for school librarianship in South Africa. It argues that, after years of failed advocacy, a convergence of thinking across the LIS ecosystem enabled the policy project and gives new hope for the transformation of the school library sector. The investigations throughout 2017 sought to find out from a wide range of role-players what and whose behaviour they believed should be changed. The paper describes our evidence-gathering across the country and how the data were analysed into broad themes around which the policy was built. The paper pulls out the threads on school LIS policy but also highlights the principles that tie them to the overarching policy. Thus, the insistence on an ecosystems approach calls for innovative strategies to counter long-established silo-thinking.
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    From borders and landscape to ecosystem: reconfiguring library services to meet the needs of South African youth
    (LIASA, Stellenbosch University, 2013) Hart, Genevieve; Nassimbeni, Mary
    In this article we consider the configuration of the South African library and information services (LIS) sector, and analyse the extent to which its structuring facilitates or hinders optimum service to the children and youth of South Africa. The background to our investigation is the crisis in public schooling and the plight of South African youth who suffer disproportionate rates of poverty and unemployment. In our investigation we examine the planning and practice in two new libraries - one a community library, and one a joint-use library for learners and local residents - in an effort to establish the extent to which libraries may partner with schools to take advantage of new thinking that recommends a whole system approach, encapsulated in the metaphor of LIS as an ecosystem. We conclude that this new approach might generate models of service delivery that transcend boundaries that traditionally delineate and confine sub-sectors in the LIS sector.
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    Libraries and a "Better Life for All": The politics, processes, and promises of the South African LIS Transformation Charter
    (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016) Hart, Genevieve; Nassimbeni, Mary
    The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the twenty-first anniversary of democracy in South Africa, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries since 1994. The library and information services (LIS) profession portrays libraries as agents of development and social transformation; yet, since 2009, more than twenty South African libraries have been destroyed in social protests. This paper reports on the work of the authors of the LIS Transformation Charter, which after a start-stop-start process of two phases over six years was delivered to the government in 2014. The paper analyzes the political and professional forces that influenced the charter-writing processes. The two fundamental arguments of the charter are that access to information, and thus to libraries, is a fundamental justiciable human right, both as a so-called freedom right and as an instrument of other economic, social, and cultural rights; and that transformation will depend on �ecosystems� thinking whereby the various subsectors collaborate to ensure seamless services and the equity of provision. The paper argues that the final LIS Transformation Charter maps a path for a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning for all sectors of South African society.
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    Libraries and a �Better Life for All�: The politics, processes, and promises of the South African LIS Transformation Charter
    (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016) Hart, Genevieve; Nassimbeni, Mary
    The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the twenty-first anniversary of democracy in South Africa, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries since 1994. The library and information services (LIS) profession portrays libraries as agents of development and social transformation; yet, since 2009, more than twenty South African libraries have been destroyed in social protests. This paper reports on the work of the authors of the LIS Transformation Charter, which after a start-stop-start process of two phases over six years was delivered to the government in 2014. The paper analyzes the political and professional forces that influenced the charter-writing processes. The two fundamental arguments of the charter are that access to information, and thus to libraries, is a fundamental justiciable human right, both as a so-called freedom right and as an instrument of other economic, social, and cultural rights; and that transformation will depend on �ecosystems� thinking whereby the various subsectors collaborate to ensure seamless services and the equity of provision. The paper argues that the final LIS Transformation Charter maps a path for a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning for all sectors of South African society.
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    South Africa�s LIS Transformation Charter: policies, politics and professionals
    (IFLA, 2014) Hart, Genevieve; Nassimbeni, Mary
    The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the 20-year anniversary of the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries in our young democracy. In recent years, some 20 libraries have been destroyed in social protest; yet the LIS profession would argue that libraries are agents of development and social transformation. The paper reports on the work of the authors on the LIS Transformation Charter which, after a start-stop-start process of two phases over six years, has now been handed to government. The paper analyses the political and professional forces that influenced the Charter writing process; but we argue that the final Transformation Charter offers a vision of a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning to all sectors of South African society.
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    The value of information in South Africa�s new democracy
    (Emerald, 2018) Hart, Genevieve; Nassimbeni, Mary
    PURPOSE � The purpose of this paper is to trace and analyse the relationship between information and democracy in the old and in the new South Africa. The authors interrogate the applicability to the situation of the famous quotation attributed to Thomas Jefferson, �Information is the currency of Democracy�. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH � The authors frame the argument by analysing the differences in philosophy underpinning the state�s attitude to the free flow of information between the pre-democratic regime (often referred to as the Apartheid regime which came into power in 1948) and the current democratic state established in 1994. FINDINGS � While the philosophical approach between the two regimes is demonstrably different � the findings show the discontinuities � the authors also find evidence of continuities. The authors examine traces of recurrent patterns and propose reasons for their persistence. ORIGINALITY/VALUE � Because South Africa is a very young democracy it presents unique opportunities for social scientists to analyse the unfolding of challenges and opportunities not readily apparent in mature democracies. The theme of the issue allowed us to study and observe the evolution and growth of policy related to the free flow of information, and also to examine the current drift between policy and practice.