According to Director Betsy Eister, the
library team is ready to assist with any
enquiries, and librarians are
equipped – although working from home
– to deal with their information needs.
Photo: Supplied
How does one borrow a book when your local library is closed? The South African lockdown posed severe challenges for students and researchers alike. However, says Director Betsy Eister, the UFS Library and Information Services (UFS LIS) has always had a mission statement that supports virtual access to services.
This mission has ensured that the university community has access to the wealth of information resources available in the digital space.
These technological developments have made it possible for LIS to enhance this service quickly and move swiftly to online delivery of services.
Use of tech
The library has already made preparations to equip mainly undergraduate students with literacy skills through the research skills training module. However, this was initially introduced as a face-to-face training module. The lockdown required a swift change to the Blackboard Collaborate digital platform. The university’s Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) then used Skype for Business to train our librarians, enabling them to offer live classes via this platform. The Sasol Library (Bloemfontein), Neville Alexander Library (South Campus), TK Mopeli Library (Qwaqwa Campus), and the Frik Scott Library (Faculty of Health Sciences) have Blackboard organisations set up for this purpose.
Short training videos were made using Office Mix, and the Digital Scholarship Centre assisted with creating a link to YouTube. Training videos include instructions on how to use the databases to find journal articles related to assignments, how to access KovsieCat to look for information resources, as well as how to use the e-books platform. The above training consists of videos that were widely shared on student platforms, as well as on an internal newsletter, InTune@SC, for South Campus staff members.
“Services do not only concentrate on
service beneficiaries. LIS already started
to equip staff with digital librarian
skills before lockdown.”
Keeping in touchLibrarians developed podcasts with messages of support during the lockdown, reaching out to students, and reminding them of the help available to them. A LiveChat was installed and set up so that patrons could communicate with librarians online, with a low bandwidth solution. The Neville Alexander Library also did a quick survey, using LibWizard to determine students’ preferred communication platform and how often they wanted to hear from the library. The survey indicated that the students preferred WhatsApp and that they would like to hear from the library every week regarding training and textbooks that are available in electronic format or chapters that are available on Blackboard. Blackboard Collaborate was indicated as the second-favourite choice of communication.
Staff interventions Services do not only concentrate on students. LIS has already started to equip staff with digital librarian skills before lockdown. The Digital Operators Reading Group, as part of the
#NoLibrarianLeftBehind drive, had discussions and shared ideas on digital literacy. Another session on how to use Zoom for training was subsequently conducted. Capacity-building for librarians, driven by Digital Scholarship Services, included training librarians on digital scholarship, research data management, data management plans, and much more.
Additional support was given to researchers and postgraduate students, including search assistance, helping researchers to conduct reviews of data, support through the Digital Scholarship Centre, and upgrading the Open Journal Systems, which houses the academic journals of the UFS.