HumBlog

SA Library Week 2010 will be celebrated nationally from 22 - 27 March 2010 with the theme "Reading Changes Lives".    

UCT Libraries invites you to join us in celebrating SA Library Week with these events and activities:-

*  Join the Libraries in supporting Equal Education's "1 school, 1 library, 1 librarian" campaign for school libraries by signing their petition online and/or donating books for rural and township school libraries.  There will be collection points in the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, Law Library and Health Sciences Library.

*   Reading changes lives:-  Did you know that Alex D'Angelo of the Humanities Library is a published children's author with several books to his name, including two stories in Madiba Magic: Nelson Mandela's Favourite Stories for Children?  Alex will be sharing some of his favourite stories with us at a brown-bag  lunchtime event  on Wednesday 24 March 2010 at 1 pm in Ulwazi, Knowledge Commons, in the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library.

 *  New electronic resources:  join us for an introduction to the new online resources that UCT Libraries have acquired for 2010.  Caroline Dean, Electronic Resources Librarian, will show us new and upgraded packages of online journals, as well as new databases.  Resources on the list include Project Muse, Sage Journals online, and IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL).    This is also a brown-bag lunchtime event on Friday 26 March 2010 at 1 pm in Ulwazi, Knowledge Commons, in the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library.

No need to book, just bring yourself and your lunch and spend an hour or so with us celebrating SA Library Week.

In support of the SRC Academic Awareness Fortnight,  the Libraries has set up a couple of tables in the Leslie Social Science (on the wooden floor outside iKhaya) over lunchtimes (12 - 2 pm) this week -  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

This is an opportunity for students (and staff) to find out what the Libraries have to offer  -  two subject librarians will be on duty at a time to answer questions, search the databases and so on.   There's some free stuff to give away as well!!   

Dr Cathy Ward from Psychology and Celia Walter, Psychology Subject Librarian will speak about how a subject librarian has worked together with the PSY1001W course convenor and students via Vula.

At the end of last year, there were accolades for Celia from the PSY1001Ws.   Celia's interaction with the course and the students happened not only physically within the library, but also on Vula  - so this is a great opportunity to hear how it was done, and what is possible.

If you haven't yet signed up to attend the CET Seminar on Thursday 19 March from 1 pm - 2 pm in Hoerikwaggo 3A, don't delay - sign up today! 

UCT Libraries in association with CET are running a number of lunchtime sessions during South African Library Week which runs from 16 - 21 March 2009.

The sessions are:-

Monday 16 March 2009 at 13h00-14h00 in Ulwazi Training Room, Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, Main Campus.  

Get to grips with the Electronic Journals.
Did you know that through UCT Libraries, you have access to more than 34 000  full-text electronic journals?  And these are available to you through the journal portal?  Explore the rich pickings of the portal with Humanities Library Head, Alex D'Angelo who will show you how to customise the journal lists, get search alerts via email and more.      SORRY FULLY BOOKED!  . 

with a repeat (by popular demand) on

Friday 20 March 2009, same time, same venue.    (Watch for the sign-up on the CET page)

and

Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 13h00-14h00 in Ulwazi Training Room, Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, Main Campus.

Surviving the Information Tsunami
When you consider the amount of information available out there, and how you use the internet to stay abreast of new developments, new research, new search engines, new sites, new journals, going back and checking your favourite or bookmarked sites, looking at each page for updates and new information ....   when you remember and when you have the time!  If you haven't discovered the joys having the information come to you, rather than you going to the information, then this session is for you. This lunchtime session will be run by Ingrid Thomson, Humanities Librarian.   There are still a few places left. 

Sign up here:  http://teaching.cet.uct.ac.za/events/signup/180   

Is there Life Beyond Google?   Yes, of course there is!

Next week, Associate Professor Mary Nassimbeni of Centre for Information Literacy and Ingrid Thomson, from the Humanities Library, in conjunction with the CET, are running mini-workshops on going beyond Google.    

When?

Monday 9 March  1.30 pm - 4 pm in the Upper Campus Student Learning Centre Labs

with a repeat on 

Friday 13 March 1.30 pm - 4 pm in the Upper Campus Student Learning Centre Labs

Sign up here. 

Congratulations to Khumbulele Alfred Faltein on being selected as an intern for the Carnegie Project.   He is part of the second group to attend the Librarians' Academy (a two week residential programme to be held in Stellenbosch).   Khumbulele is currently the subject librarian for South African Languages & Literature, Sociology, Social Development and Social Anthropology.  

 Read more about the joint  UCT, KZN and Wits libraries project  entitled "A new model for research support: integrating skills, scholarship and technology in a South African library consortium" in the Libraries Update.    

Ever wonder what the Humanities librarians actually do during the day, besides sitting at the reference desk?      Alex has mused about it in A day in the life of a Reference Librarian 
but each day is different.

Not all the Humanities reference librarians are fulltime in the department.  Antoinette works half days with us, and the other half is spent in Cataloguing; while Tanya is the Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian for most of the day.  Alex manages the whole division, which includes Music Library and Hiddingh Hall Library.   The remaining reference librarians are Celia, Ingrid, Khumbulele and Amina.

Each reference librarian has at least one subject area (but often more) that we take responsibility for - whether that is buying material for that subject, liaising with the academic department,  providing assistance and training for undergraduate or postgraduate students or academics.  It's a lot more complicated than it sounds.   Often the librarians have a background in their particular subject area - either an undergraduate degree  [perhaps as a major] or an honours or masters, or have been working in that field for years.  (Collectively, your humanities librarians have over 200 years experience!)

 The Humanities reference desk is manned Monday - Thursday from 8 am until 10 pm at night, until 6 pm on Friday and on Saturdays until 5 pm.    There are usually two people on the desk, except early mornings and evenings, and Saturday afternoons.   It may be two librarians or a librarian and a student assistant.    We also work regular evening shifts which is why we are not always around during the day.    But there will always be a reference librarian on duty somewhere in the library, at either the commerce desk or the science desk.

Celia Walter, the Psychology Subject Librarian, was given an honorary merit award and big bunch of flowers by the First Year Psychology students.