Genevieve Hart - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Genevieve Hart

anniversaire de la venue de la democratie en Afrique du Sud, en 1994, ce semble le bon moment pou... more anniversaire de la venue de la democratie en Afrique du Sud, en 1994, ce semble le bon moment pour examiner les fortunes plus ou moins confuses qu’ont rencontre les bibliotheques dans notre jeune democratie. Ces dernieres annees, quelques 20 bibliotheques ont ete detruites au cours d’emeutes populaires, quand bien meme les professionnels de l’information et des bibliotheques arguent que les bibliotheques sont les agents du developpement et d'un renouveau social. Cet article analyse les forces politiques et professionnelles qui ont influence le processus de redaction de la Charte, mais nous estimons que la version finale de la Charte de Transformation porte la vision d’un reseau de bibliotheques integrees et renouvele qui fait sens dans tous les secteurs d’Afrique du Sud.

This thesis is dedicated, in loving memory, to my late parents, Benjamin and Mary Williams as wel... more This thesis is dedicated, in loving memory, to my late parents, Benjamin and Mary Williams as well as my nephew Kurt Connor Williams, whose encouragement, support and guidance have enabled me to fulfill my potential.

The article reports on a study of the challenges facing a liberation archive which is attempting ... more The article reports on a study of the challenges facing a liberation archive which is attempting to digitise its collections and of how the Archive has responded to the challenges. The article is framed by the critical writing on digitisation which looks beyond the surface issues identified by technical and management research and uncovers the power contestations which arise as part of the digitisation process. It focuses particularly on whether the digitisation process alters the power relations within the Archive and between it and other role players within the South African context. The role-players include the state and the Archive’s external management, artefact copyright holders, digitisation vendors and organisations, and Archive users. The research investigates: the rationale for digitising archival collections; who the stakeholders in a digitisation project are, how they relate to each other and what the power relations between them are; the risks of digitisation; and the i...

37 slides created with MSWord 2003 and migrated to pdf using Adobe PDF.Paper presented at the Ste... more 37 slides created with MSWord 2003 and migrated to pdf using Adobe PDF.Paper presented at the Stellenbosch University Library 2010 Symposium / IFLA Presidential Meeting. Knowing is not enough: Engaging in the knowledge economy, 18 to 19 February 2010. South Africa is aligned with other emerging economies, like Brazil and India, whose voice is growing stronger and who might in future improve their position in the global knowledge economy. But surely the biggest hurdle must be the huge gap in South Africa between rich and poor – claimed by some to be the biggest in the world. More than 48% of South Africans live below the poverty line. Other speakers at the symposium will provide evidence of the role of information in the sustainable development required to narrow the poverty gap. The developed countries of the so-called “North” have systems for easy and wide access to information – by means of e-government, e-medicine, e-education, and, so on. However, less than 10% of South Africans...

The article describes an interpretive case study of a group of six dual use school community libr... more The article describes an interpretive case study of a group of six dual use school community libraries in one remote region of South Africa. Its focus is rather more on the libraries as school libraries than public libraries. The recent government sponsored LIS Transformation Charter has placed a spotlight on the backlogs in school and public library provision. The case study, conducted in April 2009, investigates if dual or joint use libraries might help fill gaps and, if so, under what conditions. The article describes background, research questions, methodology, site and some of the findings. The study highlights the relationships among role-players, the realities of dual use functioning and the complex issue of librarian identity. The study concludes that, although many of the international criteria for dual use libraries are not met, the six libraries do provide a crucial service for their schools and other schools in the surrounding areas. And they offer a tantalising picture ...

The paper reports on a qualitative case study of one high school library. It forms part of a broa... more The paper reports on a qualitative case study of one high school library. It forms part of a broader study of the Bookery’s School Library Project which has established 40 libraries in disadvantaged schools in Cape Town. The paper examines what difference the library is making to the school. The overarching aim is to find what might be learned from the Bookery’s Library Assistant (LA) programme about the staffing of school libraries in the South African context, where fewer than 20% of schools have functional libraries. The case study over two weeks comprised observations, interviews, and a questionnaire survey of the teachers. The working relations between the Bookery library assistant and the “teacher-librarian”, a full- time class teacher and the library’s driving force, are found to be crucial to the library’s sustainability. The library is clearly playing an important role in the students’ school experience and in meeting the information needs of teachers in their classroom tea...

A survey of 16 South African library schools was undertaken to identify children's literature... more A survey of 16 South African library schools was undertaken to identify children's literature courses. Eighteen courses were found at eight institutions. The lecturers responsible were then interviewed - giving details of course content, resources available and their perceptions of their challenges. The courses are clearly under threat and very little emphasis is placed on South African literature. The intervention of the Library and Information Association of South Africa and library organisations is called for.

The case study describes a service learning project in Library and Information Science. In 2002, ... more The case study describes a service learning project in Library and Information Science. In 2002, 14 students enrolled for the service learning elective-the 4 th year second semester module, Children's and Youth Library and Information Services (LS 421). The final year second semester programme comprises four equally weighted modules: an elective, a bibliography project and two fieldwork modules. In 2002 the strategy for LS 421 was to merge it with the two fieldwork modules. Students spent two days a week in the three libraries in Delft, Delft South and Bellville South and attended a weekly seminar. The aim was to embed the learning of the LS 421 course in their experience in the libraries. The children and youth of the Delft and Bellville South face huge challenges arising from the histories and socio-economics of their communities. The lack of literacy and information literacy was identified as an area for the intervention of librarian students. The case study reports the vario...

The article argues that the construct of social capital offers South African public librarianship... more The article argues that the construct of social capital offers South African public librarianship fresh vision – urgently needed if it is to fulfil its potential role in social inclusion. Social capital refers to the stocks of social trust, norms and networks that a community can draw on to solve common problems. A wide body of research in Southern Africa bears witness to its role in the success of development projects. Restrictive economic policies, coupled with new demands, have put pressure on public libraries and research points to a prevailing low morale among their staff, who, it is suggested, find themselves caught in the transition towards new models of service. Government’s acceptance of social capital as a crucial tool in the developmental state and the news of its intervention to transform South African public libraries suggest the need to articulate the library as “a place for all”. In reaction to neglect in the literature of social capital, internationally, librarians h...

The article reflects on a case study of a group of six school-based dual use libraries in rural S... more The article reflects on a case study of a group of six school-based dual use libraries in rural South Africa – focusing specifically on their community role. Its starting point is the library and information services (LIS) Transformation Charter’s vision of public libraries that play a meaningful role in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The study employed a mix of data gathering methodologies – interviews, observation and analysis of documents. The key question that emerges from the study relates to the rather low usage of the libraries by the adults in the surrounding villages. All six libraries claim to provide “access ” but it is not clear what they provide access to. The study suggests that a sharper focus on their community information services is required. More leadership, staff education and focused programming might enable the libraries to fulfil their exciting potential. Key words: Dual use libraries; community libraries; millennium development goals; rur...

The article reports on a study of the capacity of public librarians in South Africa for informati... more The article reports on a study of the capacity of public librarians in South Africa for information literacy education. The first phase explores the conceptions of public library staff of their role in information literacy education. The second phase comprises a participant observation case study in two public libraries and interviews with teachers. The public librarians are found to have rather limited conceptions of information literacy. They tend to see their role as the provision of resources for projects on demand and the prevailing information literacy education is once-off library orientation. The teachers are positive about the role of libraries and are unanimous that the new curriculum means that children need access to more resources. Closer probing reveals that they make very little use of libraries in their personal and professional lives. They lack cognizance of the role of librarians in information literacy education and, in common with the public librarians, tend to s...

It is an honour to write a foreword for the Bibliotek I Samehalle's book on the Library Pract... more It is an honour to write a foreword for the Bibliotek I Samehalle's book on the Library Practice for Young Learners project (LPYL) and also a challenge. The "honour" is due to the significance of the LPYL project, which is a project rooted in our past and present realities but which reaches out to future possibilities. I believe that it thus has a real chance of "making a difference" to South African education. The vision of the original partners, the Library & information Workers Organisation (LIWO), BIS and the Education Policy Unit (Natal), deserves gratitude and respect. They realised the importance of school libraries as a force for educational transformation an area of action often neglected by the mainstream library profession. They then recognised that the South African landscape called for innovative models of school libraries. It is important perhaps to acknowledge upfront the links between the LPYL project and the national Department of Education&#...

The paper describes an investigation of school learners' use of the two public libraries in a... more The paper describes an investigation of school learners' use of the two public libraries in a disadvantaged community on the outskirts of Cape Town. Over 850 school learners were interviewed using a structured questionnaire in late October 2002. The study supports claims that public libraries in South Africa are having to compensate for the shortage of school libraries and are playing a crucial role in formal education. It recommends that this reality be recognised by the libraries' governance structures, by provincial and local government authorities, and, above all, by national and provincial education authorities. Questions are, however, asked about the capacity of the public libraries for an enhanced role in information literacy education.

IASL Annual Conference Proceedings

The paper describes a case study of a group of six dual use school community libraries in one rem... more The paper describes a case study of a group of six dual use school community libraries in one remote region of South Africa. The recent government sponsored LIS Transformation Charter has placed a spotlight on the backlogs in school library provision. The study, conducted in April 2009, investigates if shared libraries might help fill gaps and, if so, under what conditions. The background, research questions, methodology and site are described but only an outline of possible findings are provided here. A fuller picture will be ready for the IASL conference in September.

This paper uses the lens of information literacy and information literacy education to view educa... more This paper uses the lens of information literacy and information literacy education to view educational change in South Africa. Although the focus is on South Africa, I hope that the paper might resonate with delegates from other countries and that this might lead to the exploration of common ground. I have decided to focus on school education rather than tertiary because there is consensus in university circles that the issues of information literacy education at tertiary level have their roots in shortcomings in our schools (Walker 2001; De Jager & Nassimbeni 2002). It is a truism that if our school leavers are information literate then our university educators and employers can only benefit.

Paper presented at the Libraries for young people: Breaking through boundaries, IFLA section libr... more Paper presented at the Libraries for young people: Breaking through boundaries, IFLA section libraries for children and young adults, Joensuu, Finland, 9-10 August 2012

The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in de... more The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the 20-year anniversary of the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries in our young democracy. In recent years, some 20 libraries have been destroyed in social protest; yet the LIS profession would argue that libraries are agents of development and social transformation. The paper reports on the work of the authors on the LIS Transformation Charter which, after a start-stop-start process of two phases over six years, has now been handed to government. The paper analyses the political and professional forces that influenced the Charter writing process; but we argue that the final Transformation Charter offers a vision of a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning to all sectors of South African society.

The paper comes out of a month-long case study of information literacy education in two public li... more The paper comes out of a month-long case study of information literacy education in two public libraries in a small South African town in the rural province of Mpumalanga, undertaken in October 2004. The participant observation study is the second phase of a two-phase mixed methods study, which explores the capacity of public libraries in South Africa for information literacy education - in the context of the dire shortage of school libraries. The focus in the second phase is on the connections between public libraries and schools. However, the relations between the two libraries and their staff members are found to impact on these relations with the study finding that historical context and the conflicts arising from unequal positions of power impact significantly on information literacy education in the town. The paper concentrates, however, on just two threads of enquiry: the views of teachers and principals in the seven schools of the town on the educational role of libraries as...

anniversaire de la venue de la democratie en Afrique du Sud, en 1994, ce semble le bon moment pou... more anniversaire de la venue de la democratie en Afrique du Sud, en 1994, ce semble le bon moment pour examiner les fortunes plus ou moins confuses qu’ont rencontre les bibliotheques dans notre jeune democratie. Ces dernieres annees, quelques 20 bibliotheques ont ete detruites au cours d’emeutes populaires, quand bien meme les professionnels de l’information et des bibliotheques arguent que les bibliotheques sont les agents du developpement et d'un renouveau social. Cet article analyse les forces politiques et professionnelles qui ont influence le processus de redaction de la Charte, mais nous estimons que la version finale de la Charte de Transformation porte la vision d’un reseau de bibliotheques integrees et renouvele qui fait sens dans tous les secteurs d’Afrique du Sud.

This thesis is dedicated, in loving memory, to my late parents, Benjamin and Mary Williams as wel... more This thesis is dedicated, in loving memory, to my late parents, Benjamin and Mary Williams as well as my nephew Kurt Connor Williams, whose encouragement, support and guidance have enabled me to fulfill my potential.

The article reports on a study of the challenges facing a liberation archive which is attempting ... more The article reports on a study of the challenges facing a liberation archive which is attempting to digitise its collections and of how the Archive has responded to the challenges. The article is framed by the critical writing on digitisation which looks beyond the surface issues identified by technical and management research and uncovers the power contestations which arise as part of the digitisation process. It focuses particularly on whether the digitisation process alters the power relations within the Archive and between it and other role players within the South African context. The role-players include the state and the Archive’s external management, artefact copyright holders, digitisation vendors and organisations, and Archive users. The research investigates: the rationale for digitising archival collections; who the stakeholders in a digitisation project are, how they relate to each other and what the power relations between them are; the risks of digitisation; and the i...

37 slides created with MSWord 2003 and migrated to pdf using Adobe PDF.Paper presented at the Ste... more 37 slides created with MSWord 2003 and migrated to pdf using Adobe PDF.Paper presented at the Stellenbosch University Library 2010 Symposium / IFLA Presidential Meeting. Knowing is not enough: Engaging in the knowledge economy, 18 to 19 February 2010. South Africa is aligned with other emerging economies, like Brazil and India, whose voice is growing stronger and who might in future improve their position in the global knowledge economy. But surely the biggest hurdle must be the huge gap in South Africa between rich and poor – claimed by some to be the biggest in the world. More than 48% of South Africans live below the poverty line. Other speakers at the symposium will provide evidence of the role of information in the sustainable development required to narrow the poverty gap. The developed countries of the so-called “North” have systems for easy and wide access to information – by means of e-government, e-medicine, e-education, and, so on. However, less than 10% of South Africans...

The article describes an interpretive case study of a group of six dual use school community libr... more The article describes an interpretive case study of a group of six dual use school community libraries in one remote region of South Africa. Its focus is rather more on the libraries as school libraries than public libraries. The recent government sponsored LIS Transformation Charter has placed a spotlight on the backlogs in school and public library provision. The case study, conducted in April 2009, investigates if dual or joint use libraries might help fill gaps and, if so, under what conditions. The article describes background, research questions, methodology, site and some of the findings. The study highlights the relationships among role-players, the realities of dual use functioning and the complex issue of librarian identity. The study concludes that, although many of the international criteria for dual use libraries are not met, the six libraries do provide a crucial service for their schools and other schools in the surrounding areas. And they offer a tantalising picture ...

The paper reports on a qualitative case study of one high school library. It forms part of a broa... more The paper reports on a qualitative case study of one high school library. It forms part of a broader study of the Bookery’s School Library Project which has established 40 libraries in disadvantaged schools in Cape Town. The paper examines what difference the library is making to the school. The overarching aim is to find what might be learned from the Bookery’s Library Assistant (LA) programme about the staffing of school libraries in the South African context, where fewer than 20% of schools have functional libraries. The case study over two weeks comprised observations, interviews, and a questionnaire survey of the teachers. The working relations between the Bookery library assistant and the “teacher-librarian”, a full- time class teacher and the library’s driving force, are found to be crucial to the library’s sustainability. The library is clearly playing an important role in the students’ school experience and in meeting the information needs of teachers in their classroom tea...

A survey of 16 South African library schools was undertaken to identify children's literature... more A survey of 16 South African library schools was undertaken to identify children's literature courses. Eighteen courses were found at eight institutions. The lecturers responsible were then interviewed - giving details of course content, resources available and their perceptions of their challenges. The courses are clearly under threat and very little emphasis is placed on South African literature. The intervention of the Library and Information Association of South Africa and library organisations is called for.

The case study describes a service learning project in Library and Information Science. In 2002, ... more The case study describes a service learning project in Library and Information Science. In 2002, 14 students enrolled for the service learning elective-the 4 th year second semester module, Children's and Youth Library and Information Services (LS 421). The final year second semester programme comprises four equally weighted modules: an elective, a bibliography project and two fieldwork modules. In 2002 the strategy for LS 421 was to merge it with the two fieldwork modules. Students spent two days a week in the three libraries in Delft, Delft South and Bellville South and attended a weekly seminar. The aim was to embed the learning of the LS 421 course in their experience in the libraries. The children and youth of the Delft and Bellville South face huge challenges arising from the histories and socio-economics of their communities. The lack of literacy and information literacy was identified as an area for the intervention of librarian students. The case study reports the vario...

The article argues that the construct of social capital offers South African public librarianship... more The article argues that the construct of social capital offers South African public librarianship fresh vision – urgently needed if it is to fulfil its potential role in social inclusion. Social capital refers to the stocks of social trust, norms and networks that a community can draw on to solve common problems. A wide body of research in Southern Africa bears witness to its role in the success of development projects. Restrictive economic policies, coupled with new demands, have put pressure on public libraries and research points to a prevailing low morale among their staff, who, it is suggested, find themselves caught in the transition towards new models of service. Government’s acceptance of social capital as a crucial tool in the developmental state and the news of its intervention to transform South African public libraries suggest the need to articulate the library as “a place for all”. In reaction to neglect in the literature of social capital, internationally, librarians h...

The article reflects on a case study of a group of six school-based dual use libraries in rural S... more The article reflects on a case study of a group of six school-based dual use libraries in rural South Africa – focusing specifically on their community role. Its starting point is the library and information services (LIS) Transformation Charter’s vision of public libraries that play a meaningful role in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The study employed a mix of data gathering methodologies – interviews, observation and analysis of documents. The key question that emerges from the study relates to the rather low usage of the libraries by the adults in the surrounding villages. All six libraries claim to provide “access ” but it is not clear what they provide access to. The study suggests that a sharper focus on their community information services is required. More leadership, staff education and focused programming might enable the libraries to fulfil their exciting potential. Key words: Dual use libraries; community libraries; millennium development goals; rur...

The article reports on a study of the capacity of public librarians in South Africa for informati... more The article reports on a study of the capacity of public librarians in South Africa for information literacy education. The first phase explores the conceptions of public library staff of their role in information literacy education. The second phase comprises a participant observation case study in two public libraries and interviews with teachers. The public librarians are found to have rather limited conceptions of information literacy. They tend to see their role as the provision of resources for projects on demand and the prevailing information literacy education is once-off library orientation. The teachers are positive about the role of libraries and are unanimous that the new curriculum means that children need access to more resources. Closer probing reveals that they make very little use of libraries in their personal and professional lives. They lack cognizance of the role of librarians in information literacy education and, in common with the public librarians, tend to s...

It is an honour to write a foreword for the Bibliotek I Samehalle's book on the Library Pract... more It is an honour to write a foreword for the Bibliotek I Samehalle's book on the Library Practice for Young Learners project (LPYL) and also a challenge. The "honour" is due to the significance of the LPYL project, which is a project rooted in our past and present realities but which reaches out to future possibilities. I believe that it thus has a real chance of "making a difference" to South African education. The vision of the original partners, the Library & information Workers Organisation (LIWO), BIS and the Education Policy Unit (Natal), deserves gratitude and respect. They realised the importance of school libraries as a force for educational transformation an area of action often neglected by the mainstream library profession. They then recognised that the South African landscape called for innovative models of school libraries. It is important perhaps to acknowledge upfront the links between the LPYL project and the national Department of Education&#...

The paper describes an investigation of school learners' use of the two public libraries in a... more The paper describes an investigation of school learners' use of the two public libraries in a disadvantaged community on the outskirts of Cape Town. Over 850 school learners were interviewed using a structured questionnaire in late October 2002. The study supports claims that public libraries in South Africa are having to compensate for the shortage of school libraries and are playing a crucial role in formal education. It recommends that this reality be recognised by the libraries' governance structures, by provincial and local government authorities, and, above all, by national and provincial education authorities. Questions are, however, asked about the capacity of the public libraries for an enhanced role in information literacy education.

IASL Annual Conference Proceedings

The paper describes a case study of a group of six dual use school community libraries in one rem... more The paper describes a case study of a group of six dual use school community libraries in one remote region of South Africa. The recent government sponsored LIS Transformation Charter has placed a spotlight on the backlogs in school library provision. The study, conducted in April 2009, investigates if shared libraries might help fill gaps and, if so, under what conditions. The background, research questions, methodology and site are described but only an outline of possible findings are provided here. A fuller picture will be ready for the IASL conference in September.

This paper uses the lens of information literacy and information literacy education to view educa... more This paper uses the lens of information literacy and information literacy education to view educational change in South Africa. Although the focus is on South Africa, I hope that the paper might resonate with delegates from other countries and that this might lead to the exploration of common ground. I have decided to focus on school education rather than tertiary because there is consensus in university circles that the issues of information literacy education at tertiary level have their roots in shortcomings in our schools (Walker 2001; De Jager & Nassimbeni 2002). It is a truism that if our school leavers are information literate then our university educators and employers can only benefit.

Paper presented at the Libraries for young people: Breaking through boundaries, IFLA section libr... more Paper presented at the Libraries for young people: Breaking through boundaries, IFLA section libraries for children and young adults, Joensuu, Finland, 9-10 August 2012

The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in de... more The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the 20-year anniversary of the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries in our young democracy. In recent years, some 20 libraries have been destroyed in social protest; yet the LIS profession would argue that libraries are agents of development and social transformation. The paper reports on the work of the authors on the LIS Transformation Charter which, after a start-stop-start process of two phases over six years, has now been handed to government. The paper analyses the political and professional forces that influenced the Charter writing process; but we argue that the final Transformation Charter offers a vision of a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning to all sectors of South African society.

The paper comes out of a month-long case study of information literacy education in two public li... more The paper comes out of a month-long case study of information literacy education in two public libraries in a small South African town in the rural province of Mpumalanga, undertaken in October 2004. The participant observation study is the second phase of a two-phase mixed methods study, which explores the capacity of public libraries in South Africa for information literacy education - in the context of the dire shortage of school libraries. The focus in the second phase is on the connections between public libraries and schools. However, the relations between the two libraries and their staff members are found to impact on these relations with the study finding that historical context and the conflicts arising from unequal positions of power impact significantly on information literacy education in the town. The paper concentrates, however, on just two threads of enquiry: the views of teachers and principals in the seven schools of the town on the educational role of libraries as...