Category: General

From 18-26 May 2019, a team of four staff members from the Library and Information Service visited four institutions in the United States of America (USA). The purpose of the visits was to engage with libraries which have an established and substantial research data management (RDM) offering. Engagement with librarians in the USA who are working with researchers in terms of RDM services, training users, managing data repositories and are involved with various other RDM related activities, should provide essential insights and allow the Library to learn from their best practices.

The staff who participated in the visits were: Ellen Tise (Senior Director: Library and Information Service), Mimi Seyffert-Wirth (Deputy Director: Digital Scholarship), Samuel Simango (Manager: Research Data Services) and Marié Theron (Faculty Librarian: Science & AgriSciences). The four institutions visited were: The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Purdue University, Carnegie Mellon University and University of California (Berkeley and California Digital Library).

 

 

The ultimate objective of the visits was to achieve proposed outcomes of the Library’s RDM strategic actions, which include the following:

• • Librarians who are familiar with data management planning, data collection, processing and analysis, as well as data sharing, dissemination, curation and re-use;
  • Preservation of and access to institutional research data;
  • Insight into the role of researchers and the decisions they have to make regarding RDM.

Some of the many insights gained from the visits include:

• • Libraries played a leading role in the establishment of research data services (RDS) on campus.
  • RDS is integrated within the entire university community.
  • RDS is a collaborative project between librarians, RDS partners and the academic community.
  • Consultation and engagement with clients is crucial.
  • Different types of data exist: raw data (size/sensitivity varies), processed data and analyzed data (repository); infrastructure and types of data can be matched.
  • The Library should proceed with the implementation of RDS, based on a long-term (multi-year) roadmap (objectives, outcomes, actions, deliverables and target dates/phases).

After the informative visits, key library staff members were invited to an RDM session on 19 June to develop a roadmap for RDM at the Library and Information Service, Stellenbosch University.

Henri Wirth, well-known art and book restorer, passed away on 1 June 2019. Henri became a legend in his lifetime. Through his excellent work some of South Africa’s most important cultural heritage has been preserved for generations to come. He has rescued works by artists such as Pierneef, Thomas Baines, Hugo Naudé and Maggie Laubser from total ruin and destruction. These works now form part of SU’s art collection.

Henri was born in Fulda, East Germany in 1941 and received training in the art of bookbinding and restoration in West Germany. In 1964 he emigrated to South Africa to take up a position as book restorer at the Carnegie Library of the SU. He retired in 2009.

Henri was generally acknowledged for being a craftsman of the highest order and enjoyed worldwide acclaim. At the time of his appointment the intention was that he would mainly concentrate on fine book binding. After his appointment, however, he also applied himself to the restoration of a variety of other library material such as maps, documents, manuscripts, graphic works and paintings. It included valuable antiquarian maps, of which the oldest dates back to 1672.

Some of his most important work included the restoration of all Maggie Laubser’s paintings, which were bequeathed to SU upon her death. Some of the paintings were discovered in her garage in Strand and were so damaged that they could hardly be handled. Other important work was the restoration of the 168 aquarelles in the Solomon Ceasar Malan collection.

Other work of Henri’s included further developing the technique of “conservation framing” for the conservation of works of art and original maps, and designing the Pro Bene Merito medal, which is awarded for exceptional service to SU. Two television programmes were made, and numerous newspaper and journal articles were published about his work.

In 1996 he received the medal of honour from the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns for his outstanding work. The award was considered a fitting tribute to someone who had made an immeasurable contribution to the conservation of irreplaceable South African cultural heritage in the preceding decades.

Twice, Henri was the recipient of a bursary of the Kaapse Drie Eeue Stigting, which enabled him to undergo further training, in the restoration of books and documents, in Europe.

“There is one way only, and that is the correct way”, were Henri’s words, and that attitude ran like a golden thread through his 45 uninterrupted years of service at the University. As a result of this, the University Library and the SU campus became a much more beautiful place. His legacy will live on for a long time.

On 20 June 2019, the manuscript collection of the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA) was handed over to Stellenbosch University (SU) by Her Excellency Mrs Helene Budliger Artieda, Ambassador of Switzerland to South Africa. The IDASA collection was acquired by SU with the financial support of the Swiss Confederation. The ceremony took place in the Special Collections division of the SU Library.

“This has been an amazing journey. Switzerland is proud to be associated with this archive and these manuscripts. We have been working on this since late 2015. I’m happy that there will be a lasting memory at Stellenbosch University and that this collection is where it needs to be,” said Artieda during the handover.

The IDASA collection comprises correspondence, interviews, photographs, speeches, pamphlets and reports depicting South Africa’s political history during the 1980s and early 1990s, which Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of SU, believes will be of great benefit to researchers and students.

“Stellenbosch University is committed to ‘research for impact’ – that is a core theme in our strategic framework. It is our vision to become Africa’s leading research-intensive university, globally recognised as excellent, inclusive and innovative, where we advance knowledge in service of society and this manuscript collection will help us do exactly that”, said Prof de Villiers.

Drs Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and Alex Boraine formed the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA), later known as the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, in 1986. IDASA’s initial focus from 1987 was on creating an environment for white South Africans to talk to the banned liberation movement in exile, the African National Congress (ANC), prior to its unbanning in 1990 by then President FW de Klerk. After the first democratic election in 1994, IDASA’s focus changed to lead towards the establishment of democratic institutions in the country, political transparency and good governance. The Institute was dissolved in 2013.

Slabbert, who passed away in 2010, was an alumnus of SU and the institution’s 13^th Chancellor. The IDASA collection complements other similar collections in the Library, including the Frederik van Zyl Slabbert collection, which was donated to SU in 2014 and opened in 2015.

“We owe Drs Slabbert and Boraine and IDASA a debt of gratitude for helping to shape the environment within which Stellenbosch University could grow more inclusive to the point where we are today, an integrated academic community that celebrates critical thinking, promotes debate and is committed to democracy, human rights and social justice, with an outward, international focus on the future”, said Prof de Villiers.

Also in attendance at the handover ceremony was Mr Paul Graham, former executive director of IDASA, who gave an overview of the history and significant role the organisation played in shaping South Africa’s democracy. He stated that IDASA was always committed to building capacity for democracy amongst citizens and their governments and is a model that is still worth following today.

“I remain convinced that these tasks are necessary in South Africa as elsewhere and am glad that the Stellenbosch University Library will continue to contribute to that task through the materials made accessible to scholars, and we hope practitioners”, said Graham.

Some of the items in the IDASA collection have been digitised and are available on the Library’s Digital Heritage Repository, SUNDigital Collections – https://digital.lib.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.2/15313. More digitised items will be added in the future.

Adapted from a news article by Rozanne Engel, Corporate Communication, IDASA collection handed over to Stellenbosch University, 20 June 2019.

Photographs by Hennie Rudman and Bronwyn Bruton

The Library recently acquired online access to the Rand Daily Mail (RDM), a critically important newspaper that pioneered popular journalism in South Africa and was published daily in Johannesburg between 1902 and 1985. From its beginnings in 1902, the RDM was known for its controversial yet courageous journalism. Despite significant pressure from the conservative government, its writers openly addressed issues that white readers knew little about. This fully searchable online resource contains every article, advertisement, editorial, cartoon and photograph and offers a wealth of unique perspectives on 20th-century South Africa. It is expected to add considerable value to historical research on campus.

To access the RDM from the library homepage, http://library.sun.ac.za, click on FIND > E-databases > R > Rand Daily Mail.

 

On Wednesday 20 February, four visitors from the African Studies Center at Michigan State University (MSU), USA, visited the Stellenbosch University Library. They were hosted by the University Museum. In the Library they met with colleagues regarding digital humanities, and also visited the Special Collections division. The visitors were accompanied by the Director of the University Museum, Mr Bongani Mgijima.

Pictured below (left to right), in the Manuscripts section of Special Collections, are: Prof Kurt Dewhurst (Director of Cultural Initiatives, MSU), Mr Bongani Mgijima (Director, University Museum, SU), Prof Marsha MacDowell (Curator, MSU Museum), Ms Marieta Buys (Head: Special Collections, Stellenbosch University Library), Ms Lisa Hinds (Financial Administrator, MSU) and Prof Jamie Monson (Director of the African Studies Center, MSU).

SU Open Day took place on the Stellenbosch and Tygerberg campuses on Saturday 23 February. The Stellenbosch University (SU) and Medicine and Health Sciences Libraries had staff members on duty welcoming the more than 1 915 parents and learners to the libraries. Tours were offered but many preferred to walk around the libraries unaccompanied. The SU Library’s Special Collections division showcased their Africana, rare books and material from their Manuscripts section. Visitors, including many alumni parents, were pleasantly surprised by the new spaces in the libraries e.g. the Learning and the Research Commons, and were fascinated by the wealth of information resources and services available and by the treasures held by the libraries.

Natasja Malherbe and Reinet Faasen

Three new staff members have been appointed in the Library and Information Service since the start of 2019.

 

Ms Busiswa Mofu has been appointed as a Junior Librarian in Special Collections in the Stellenbosch University Library.  Prior to her appointment at SU, Busiswa worked as an archivist for eNCA news channel, in their Cape Town Studios, for three years. Busiswa was an educator at Leiden Secondary School in Delft, prior to that.

 

Mr Letlao Seloma has been appointed as an Assistant Librarian in the Research Commons and Research Impact division of the Stellenbosch University Library. Prior to his appointment at SU, Letlao worked for two and a half years at CPUT as a library assistant, responsible for a variety of tasks. Prior to that, he was an intern at the NRF in Pretoria for one year, where he carried out circulation, cataloguing and information searching responsibilities in the library.

Ms Rachel Nyiramugisha has been appointed as an Assistant Librarian in the Engineering and Forestry Library. Prior to her appointment, Rachel worked in two part-time positions simultaneously.  She was the after-hours supervisor at the CPUT Granger Bay campus library for four and a half years, where she assisted mainly BTech Hospitality Management students with their research needs, which she loved doing. For the past two and a half years Rachel also worked as a part-time librarian at the UCT Graduate School of Business, where she assisted mainly postgraduate students.

We wish Busiswa, Letlao and Rachel every success in their careers in the Library and Information Service.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Afrikaans.

Africa Imagined | Africa Explored : a selection of maps from the Hugh Solomon Collection is the result of a special book project by the Library and Information Service and the Department of Visual Arts, of Stellenbosch University. The book was inspired by the Hugh Solomon historical Africana map collection of the Library and celebrates the research value as well as the aesthetic beauty of these maps. The book also places the collection within the wider context of the history of cartography.

 The book contains information about the Hugh Solomon map collection on which it is based, as well as two essays on early cartography and different mapping systems respectively, which form the first part of the work. The second part contains detailed images and descriptions of a selection of 20 important maps from the collection, as well as an image catalogue of the entire collection.

The valuable Hugh Solomon map collection is housed in the Africana section of Stellenbosch University Library and forms part of the greater Hugh Solomon Collection which was donated to the Library in 1958, consisting of works mainly related to early European accounts of travel to Africa. The map collection, which comprises 97 maps of Africa dating from before 1860, has also been digitized and is available on the Library’s digital heritage repository at http://digital.lib.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.2/653.

The collection boasts several interesting and unique maps in excellent physical condition. The oldest map in the collection is Abraham Ortelius’s “Africae Tabula Nova Edita Antverpia”, dating from 1570. Importantly, the collection also features two irreplaceable manuscript maps of which no printed copies have been traced. These unidentified sea charts depict False Bay and the Cape of Good Hope in 1788 and 1726 respectively. Other significant maps in the collection include 19th century maps of smaller regions of South Africa which are of particular interest to scholars of South African and African history as they display considerable detail on contemporary boundaries and routes.

The two images below depict detail from two of the maps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Africa Imagined | Africa Explored : a selection of maps from the Hugh Solomon Collection was compiled by Keith Dietrich, Elri Liebenberg and Mimi Seyffert, and published by Stellenbosch University in 2017.  The book was designed by Keith Dietrich, Heléne van Aswegen and Neil le Roux.  Heléne van Aswegen also printed and bound the book. The book was published in a limited edition of ten copies and is hand‐bound in pigskin leather.

Mimi Seyffert‐Wirth

The Stellenbosch University Bellville Park Campus Library (USBL) has a new look and feel. Refurbishment of the USBL was completed in December and the Library now boasts a more spacious, brighter and welcoming look than before. There is a redesigned reception/information desk, two offices for the faculty librarians and new signage.

The bookshelving in the Library is now mobile, allowing for changes in the use of the available space. A variety of seating options and study booths are available for users. These changes will facilitate your research, study and collaborative activities. If you have not visited the USBL, then a visit is in order. The motivated staff (who have a new staff room) will be pleased to welcome you.