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Nthabiseng Kotsokoane to lead activities of international library association

08 June 2021 | Story Legopheng Maphile | Photo Charl Devenish

Nthabiseng Kotsokoane in front of the Sasol Library on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State. She is wearing a pink blouse with floral patterns and leaning with her left elbow against a ledge whilst looking into the camera. — Nthabiseng Kotsokoane is a renowned library professional whose passionate efforts to advance library and information services in Africa and beyond are widely acknowledged Photo: Charl Devenish

The University of the Free State is proud to announce the appointment of Nthabiseng Kotsokoane as chairperson of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) new Regional Council and member of the IFLA Governing Board 2021 – 2023.

IFLA is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.

Nthabiseng Kotsokoane is currently the Assistant Director at the University of the Free State Library Information Services. She previously worked at Monash University for 10 years as a director of the library services. Ms Kotsokoane is a renowned library professional whose passionate efforts to advance library and information services in Africa and beyond are widely acknowledged. She has vast experience in serving at various committees regionally and internationally. She served as a member of the IFLA women information Libraries Special Interest Group. She was later elected by LIASA into the IFLA IT committee. She is the current IFLA Africa section Chair 2017-2021.

Serving the international library community

Nthabiseng is not only active in IFLA but on the African continent as well, she is the past chair for the African Library & Information Associations & Institutions (AfLIA) academic library section Chair and a member of the AfLIA Governing Board.

As IFLA’s Regional Chair her key role will be to in increase the presence of world regions in IFLA and IFLA’s presence around the world focusing on advocacy and building capacity. She will lead efforts to provide input on IFLA advocacy work and review success in developing the regional dimension of the IFLA Strategy, as well as work to promote IFLA membership and fundraising in the regions.

This will include coordination and development of Regional Division action plans, review Regional Division activities in the following regions Regional Council and Regional Divisions for Asia and Oceania, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America and Sub-Saharan Africa. With her passion of developing and mentoring new library professionals we are certain that this new role will be of benefit to the international library community.

News Archive

Penny Siopis recipient of the prestigious Helgaard Steyn Award

2015-12-15

Vanya Terblance (ABSA Trust representative) hands over the award to Penny Siopis
Photo: Valentino Ndaba

On Friday 4 December 2015, Penny Siopis, the well-known Cape Town-based artist, who has been exhibiting her work locally and internationally since 1975, was presented with the 2015 Helgaard Steyn Award and a prize of R 550 000 for her painting entitled Swarm.

A quadrennial award lunch was hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS) Johannes Stegman Gallery in conjunction with the Helgaard Steyn and ABSA Trusts. The Helgaard Steyn Trust was established by the estate of Dr Jan Steyn and was named after his father and his brother who was the last president of the Orange Free State Republic.

Swarm, a 2011 painting using ink and glue on canvas, depicts a swarm of bees in a complex, dynamic, and intense manner. It earned the prestigious award that is dedicated to the promotion of artistic culture based on the adjudicators’ unanimous decision. Angela de Jesus, curator of the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery at the UFS, Annali Dempsey of the University of Johannesburg Gallery, and Prof John Botha, Associate Professor in Art History at North West University, made up the 2015 panel of judges.

On receiving the award, Siopis thanked the Steyn family, the judges, and the people who nominated her. “I am struck by how fantastic it feels to be acknowledged. It is extraordinary when people are struck by what was your own world and the intensity buzzing in your head.”

According to Prof Botha, “Naturally the work of art is chosen on grounds of artistic merit and in the context of contemporary values with regards to both form and content.”

The award-winning painter studied Fine Arts at Rhodes University and Portsmouth University in United Kingdom. Apart from lecturing Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, she is an honorary professor at University of Cape Town Michaelis School of Fine Art. She has also taught at the Natal Technicon in Durban.

Siopis has received numerous awards for her work, including a British Council Scholarship, a Merit Award at the 2nd Cape Town Triennial, and the Atelier Award for a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, in addition to the Alexander S Onassis fellowship for research in Greece.

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