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From left: Ms Dudu Nkosi, Unisa; Ms Ujala Satgoor, University of Pretoria; Dr Kay Raseroka, University of Botswana; Dr Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Unisa; Dr Judy Henning, Unisa; Prof Thomas van der Walt, Unisa |
The first of the International Federation of Library Associations' (IFLA) Regional Office/Unisa Library public lecture series was held on 1 September 2008 in the ZK Matthews hall on the Muckleneuk campus. Ms Kay Raseroka, Director of Library Services at the University of Botswana and former President of the IFLA, considered the topic "African librarianship and the academic enterprise".
"I am a true child of orality," said Ms Raseroka, and she appealed to the audience not to forget that Africa transmits its information orally. Oral information is fragile and libraries need to ask if, when an elder dies, their knowledge dies with them.
Ms Raseroka went on to say that in the 21st century, students need to be multifaceted players in the global terrain. "They need to be discerning consumers of information," she emphasised, "capable of drawing connections between ideas and with the ability to think across disciplines." She said that one of the ways in which libraries could facilitate this was to provide supportive social learning spaces.
"The future of Africa lies in the safeguarding of its intellectual properties. The preservation of, research into and analysis of alternative ways of knowing within indigenous knowledge systems is an opportunity that should be embraced by libraries. In this way, we can contribute our own knowledge on our terms to the global sphere." |
