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10 December 2020 | Story Jóhann Thormählen | Photo Anja Aucamp
Library Read More Anja Aucamp
Proud UFS LIS staff members. From the left: Ronet Vrey, Betsy Eister, Lee Goliath, Kegomodicwe Phuthi, and Jeannet Molopyane.

When students and staff speak, the University of the Free State Library and Information Services (UFS LIS) listens. Not only does this result in maintaining high service delivery, but it also led to producing accredited research that can assist other libraries.

The UFS LIS research shows that it values the “voice of the UFS community and thus pauses and touches base”, says Betsy Eister, Director: Library and Information Services.

LIS published an article, How is our service delivery? How can we do better? A total quality management (TQM) analysis of an academic library, in a DHET-accredited journal, Innovations: journal of appropriate librarianship and information work in Southern Africa in June 2020.

An urgency for information needs

Eister is very proud. “An academic library is an extension of what happens in lecture halls and in research, and for the LIS staff to be researchers themselves is testimony to the belief and the high regard they place in their work.”

She says it is important to determine the relevance of the LIS services. They experienced concerns from staff and students and conducted a ‘holistic needs and concerns assessment’.

The LIS has learnt a few lessons in the research process, says Eister. Firstly, they can also contribute to the existing body of knowledge by sharing experiences. “We learnt that we are producing a lot of data on a regular basis, and that can be used for action research purposes – through ethical clearance, of course.”

The research also helped them understand what academics go through to publish papers and the urgency of their information needs.

News Archive

UFS academics serve high in ranks of Cereal Science institutions
2017-10-10

Description: Cereal Science Tags: Cereal Science

Dr Angie van Biljon, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), was elected as president of Cereal Science and Technology South Africa (CST-SA) at their bi-annual general meeting, in Pretoria.

Prof Maryke Labuschagne, Professor in Plant Breeding at the UFS and official representative of South Africa in the American Association for Cereal Chemists International from 2007, was re-elected as the South African representative to the American Association for Cereal Chemists. She attends the annual conference in the US as well as the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (the European counterpart of AACC) regularly. “I use these conferences to report on the research done by the research team at the UFS on gluten protein, baking quality and nutritional value of cereals,” she said.

Prof. Labuschagne was also involved in a training course for the baking industry. 

Both Dr Van Biljon and Prof Labuschagne are involved in research on wheat gluten proteins, which is critical to the baking industry. CST-SA is a platform to disseminate this and other research, not only locally but also internationally. The aim of this society is to advance cereal science and technology both in the public sector and in the industry of Southern Africa.

CST-SA creates an opportunity for staff and
students working on cereals to interact
with the industry. This prevents research
from being just academic and creates
an opportunity to bring the research and the
industry together.

Wheat research not just academic
According to Prof Labuschagne CST-SA creates an opportunity for staff and students working on cereals to interact with the industry. This prevents research from being just academic and creates an opportunity to bring the research and the industry together. This has been very useful for students at the university working on cereals, as they have made presentations at the “New Voices” symposium, a forum for postgraduate students to present their research.

“Through CST-SA we have also, through the years, presented our research on an international level at the annual meetings of the American Association for Cereal Chemists and the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology,,” said Prof Labuschagne.

The science of cereals
CST-SA is an association of organisations and individuals, from both the private and public sectors, who are actively involved in the science and technology of cereals. Its aim is to promote the dissemination of knowledge and information on cereal science and technology through meetings, publications, workshops and other means. CST-SA also organises training courses for the industry. In the past years there was a course for the baking industry and one for the milling industry and also the “New Voices” symposium”.

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