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10 December 2020 | Story Jóhann Thormählen | Photo Anja Aucamp
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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

Advocate Thuli Madonsela leads Law Symposium on corruption
2014-06-05

 

Advocate Thuli Madonsela speaking at the Law Symposium on corruption.

The Faculty of Law, Centre of Business Law held a symposium on corruption in the public sector. The symposium took place on 5 June 2014 in the CR Swart Auditorium on the Bloemfontein Campus.

In her keynote address, Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela highlighted the government’s efforts to curb the high rate of corruption prevalent in the South African public sector. She also pointed out the effect it has had on service delivery, especially in municipalities and key government departments.

This highly-anticipated event drew a large group consisting of members of the public, the judiciary, government, non-governmental organisations, as well as the business and academic sector.

Responding to questions from the floor, Adv Madonsela spoke of corruption as an on-going problem that should be tackled in a collective effort by government officials and the public alike. “Whistleblowers are our main hope in fighting corruption … The Protected Disclosures Act protects them … it is also management’s responsibility to protect whistleblowers,” she said.

The symposium featured several well-respected names, including:
• Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector;
• Honourable Justice I van der Merwe, Judge of the Free State High Court and Chairman of the Council of the UFS;
• Honourable Justice FDJ Brand, Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal; and
• Prof JJ Henning, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law.

Other high-ranking legal professionals from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Free State High Court and the Institute of Security Studies attended the event.


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