Department of Information Science

Research Areas

The Department of Information Science offers three Master's programmes (Master of Arts in Information Science; Master of Information Science; Master of Information Science in Archival Science) and a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in Information Science.

Our programmes are primarily research-based – students choose their own topics, with the provision that the topics fall within the specialisation areas of the department.

Research focus areas/niches:

  1. Archival Science
  2. Archives and records management
  3. Data curatorship
  4. Diplomatics
  5. Digital Records Forensic
  6. Bibliometrics, informetrics and webometrics
  7. Social informatics
  8. Information sources
  9. Children's literature and services
  10. Library and Information Science education and training
  11. Current trends in LIS (Library and Information Science)
  12. Library and Information Science
  13. e-Records and e-Government
  14. Indigenous knowledge systems
  15. Information access, information use, information behaviour and information seeking
  16. User studies and user education
  17. Information for development and change 
  18. Information governance
  19. Information security
  20. Information and society/culture
  21. Information society
  22. Information literacy and family literacy
  23. Information organisation, representation and retrieval
  24. Information dissemination
  25. Information law, ethics and philosophy
  26. Information and knowledge management
  27. Political economy of information
  28. Libraries and information centres or agencies (school, public, academic, private, national and provincial libraries)
  29. Research trends in LIS
  30. Infopreneurship
  31. ICTs in Library and Information Science

Research interests or areas of expertise of academics/supervisors:

Academic person

Research interests

Prof O.B. Onyancha

Altmetrics, infometrics and webometrics; current trends in LIS; information and knowledge management; libraries and information centres or agencies; research trends in LIS; information for development and change; information and society/culture; ICTs in LIS; social informatics.

Prof P. Ngulube

Archival Science; archives and records management; libraries and information centres or agencies; LIS education and training; current trends in LIS; indigenous knowledge systems; information and knowledge management; information for development and change; information and society/culture; research trends in LIS; ICTs in LIS; LIS; e-government; social informatics.

Prof MA Dikotla

Records; Information and Knowledge management; school and public libraries; teaching and learning; information organisation and retrieval; public service delivery.

Prof L. Dube

Libraries and information centres or agencies; LIS education and training; current trends in LIS; indigenous knowledge systems; information and knowledge management; information for development and change; information and society/culture; research trends in LIS.

Prof M. Ngoepe

Archival Science; archives and records management; data curatorship, information governance, social media, archival diplomatics, digital records forensics, auditing, informetrics, cloud computing, legislation and standards

Prof T. Rodrigues

Archival Science; archives and records management; information for development and change; information and knowledge society/culture.

Prof I. Schellnack- Kelly

Archival Science; archives and records management; information for development and change; information and society/culture.

Prof N.P. Saurombe

Archives and records management; Information for development and change; Information literacy; School libraries; Community libraries

Dr K. McGuirk

LIS; philosophy of information; political economy of information; libraries and information centres or agencies; infopreneurship; social informatics, current trends in LIS, user behaviour, IR and language, information and society/culture.

Ms L. Geyer

Indigenous knowledge systems; Information access, information use, information behaviour and information seeking; User studies and user education; Information for development and change; Information and society/culture; and Political economy of information.

Prof S. Mojapelo

School libraries, Libraries and information centres or agencies; information literacy and family literacy; information dissemination.

Prof M. Fombad

Information for development and change; Information and society/culture; Information and knowledge management; and Libraries and information centres or agencies (school, public, academic, private, national and provincial libraries).

Prof J.R. Maluleka

Informetrics, Scientometrics and webometrics, Indigenous knowledge systems, Altmetrics, Information and knowledge management, Information seeking behaviours.

Mr L.S. Mncube

Web-based for information access; E-learning ; Information Systems, ICT 4D, and Developments in information domains.

Ms N. Langa

Information dissemination; libraries and information centres or agencies, information governance and security, Information organisation, information society, information literacy and family literacy, information access, information use and information for development and change

Prof I.K. Hlongwane

LIS education and training; current trends in LIS; information and knowledge management; information and society/culture; information for development and change; ICTs in LIS; school and public libraries; management of libraries and information centres or agencies; Recognition of prior learning (RPL) in LIS; ethics and philosophy; research trends LIS

Prof L. Jacobs

Archival Science; archives and records management; data curatorship, legislation and standards, LIS education and training; current trends in LIS; information for development and change; information and society/culture; ICTs in LIS; LIS; Information dissemination; libraries and information centres or agencies; e-records and e-government; Research trends in LIS; Information law, ethics and philosophy; Information behaviour and information seeking.

Prof N. Marutha

Archival Science; archives and records management; data curatorship, information governance, archival diplomatics, digital records forensics,   enterprise recordkeeping and cloud computing, records management legislation and standards.

Dr M.T. Modiba

Application of AI & robotics, Internet of Things, Cloud computing, Big data and Blockchain technology in the LIS sector. 

Models of supervision:

Direct supervision (meetings at the department or via e-mail)

External supervision:

The department has 10 external supervisors who are renowned researchers from the world over. However, the department maintains the sole mandate over the final draft of the proposal.

Departmental contact details:

COD: Prof L Jacobs +27 (0) 12 429 2694 or Email: ejacobl1@unisa.ac.za
M&D coordinator: Prof Maluleka +27 (0) 12 429 4847 or Email: maluljr@unisa.ac.za

Admission requirements:

Students’ admission will be based on the suitability and viability of the intended research, adequate supervisory capacity and research expertise in the discipline or department. The student should submit a 2-5 page research outline in LIS field covering the title, introduction, problem statement, purpose, objectives and research methodology.

  • Master of Information Science
    An appropriate honours bachelor degree, or an appropriate postgraduate diploma, or a 480 credit bachelor's degree with a minimum of 96 credits at NQF level 8 in Information Science with an average of 60%.

  • PhD in Information Science
    A master's degree in Information Science or MInf degree or its equivalent, a master's degree in a subject field related to the broad multidisciplinary field of Library and Information Science and relevant to the topic in which the student wants to specialise.

College/School/Department/Institute specific additional requirements/criteria.

None at this time. However, we will support language proficiency testing for foreign students.

Procedure by which selection of candidates will be made, for example, as batches or individual:

There is no concrete selection process – all students are welcome if the requirements are met. The Topic Proposal Committee and the Higher Degrees Committee consider the viability of the proposals as they come in.

When to apply:

As per University regulations.

Last modified: Mon Apr 22 10:07:03 SAST 2024