2009 achievements : Jotello F. Soga Library, University of Pretoria

DIGITISATION / WEB PROJECTS:
• The 2 veterinary journals of South Africa have been scanned from their first volume. The Onderstepoort J. of Veterinary Research is being prepared for web publication (derivation process) and the first volumes have been uploaded in UPSpace, the institutional repository of the University.
• A special web face has been created for the South African National Veterinary Repository (SANVR) showing all the veterinary collections in UPSpace.
• The slide project has been started with the uploading with metadata of the unique slide collections of the Departments of Pharmacology & Toxicology and Pathology as well as Veterinary Tropical Diseases. The slides of the Department of Production Animal Studies are being processed now. Those of the other departments (Companion Animal Clinical Studies, Anatomy & Physiology will follow in 2010.
• The Phytomedicine webpage has been created: http://www.ais.up.ac.za/vet/phyto.htm

2. NAMING CEREMONY. The function celebrating the New Name of the Veterinary Science Library, namely the Jotello F. Soga Library, was held on 5 May 2009. It was a most successful occasion with a special invitation and brochure commemorating J .F. Soga. Handouts about the library and its role were also produced for this event. The Chancellor of the university was the host and many leading figures in the university and veterinary world attended.

3. TRAINING of students and staff took place with group sessions for BScIII and BVScIV (the former 5th years). Lunch hour sessions were held for postgraduate students and lecturing staff or researchers.

4. COMMUNITY OUTREACH. • An end-of-year visit to the Onderstepoort Primary School will take place at the beginning of December. Donated toys and books and drawing materials will be distributed. Library staff made posters focusing on pet ownership as well as the role of the veterinarian. These will be displayed in the classrooms.

• The Library’s Vet Books for Africa project continued with support from the library. The students’ bi-annual trip to other African countries will take place at the end of November 2010 but they are already busy with the planning. They have managed to obtain donated books of recent publication date from the Commonwealth Veterinary Association.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHIES. The 2000-2009 update of the Ostrich Bibliography is almost complete.
6. MARKETING. Various displays were held in the Library throughout the year such as the one highlighting the Darwin centenary and the Open Access international project.
During Faculty Day on 27 August faculty staff and students and visitors were shown the veterinary collections in UPSpace. The library’s home page is an important medium for featuring library activities e.g. the Naming Ceremony and awards won by library staff. http://www.library.up.ac.za/vet/index.htm

The new updated library pamphlets or brochures which were created for the Naming Ceremony are an effective marketing tool. They were also handed out at Faculty Day in August as well as at the veterinary librarians conference in Australia in September (6 ICAHIS).
INVOLVEMENT IN FACULTY ACTIVITIES
The Onderstepoort Calendar for 2010 will feature library staff as May Month. This is a student charity initiative in support Animals in Distress. The library staff were delighted to be part of this worthwhile project.

7. TRAINING OF LIBRARY STAFF. Joe Sindane completed courses in Introduction to computers and Windows. Antoinette Lourens and Marguerite Nel completed a course on Presenting Papers. Amelia Breytenbach completed an online course on the Semantic Web and Thesauri presented by the University of Wisconsin, USA.

8. CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE AND VISITS. International: 10 ICML (International Congress of Medical Librarians) and 6ICAHIS (6th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists) September 2009 attended by Tertia Coetsee and Marguerite Nel. They presented the following papers:

Information services and products for Phytomedicine and Ethno-veterinary medicine: supporting new research niche areas in Africa, was delivered at the ICAHIS session by Tertia and Marguerite. Marguerite also presented another paper, An Investigation into the Information Behaviour of Veterinary Practitioners in South Africa at the same conference. Erica van der Westhuizen presented a paper, African indigenous knowledge: dissemination of IK related information in the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library and the Jotello F. Soga Library, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, which she prepared in collaboration with David Swanepoel, from the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library. All these papers are held in a collection in the UQ eSpace repository. The URL is: http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/collection/UQ:179364. It will soon also be available on our own repository, UPSpace.

They visited the University of Queensland Libraries in Brisbane, and the University of Sydney’s Badham Library which serves the veterinary faculty.

National: African Digital Scholarship Conference in Pretoria, attended by Amelia Breytenbach and Antoinette Lourens. Amelia and Ria Groenewald delivered a paper: The use of metadata and preservation methods for continuous access to digital data.

9. INVOLVEMENT IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS. Marguerite Nel as Hon. Secretary of HICSA (Health Information Community of South Africa) arranged the annual meeting (held at the Hatfield campus of UP in November). Feedback sessions were given on 10 ICML and 6 ICAHIS (see above) by Prof Ina Fourie and Marguerite and Tertia.
Marguerite delivered a paper at this meeting:The role of health and medical library associations in the facilitation and sharing of information and knowledge.

10. RESEARCH ENABLEMENT (RESEARCH SUPPORT). Training sessions were held as usual for postgraduate students and staff, with emphasis on Enhancing research output.

As part of the UPLS survey of data management practices 3 faculty researchers and 3 postgraduate students were interviewed in November and reports compiled.

11. QUALITY ASSURANCE. The Libstats program was implemented showing work output of the information specialists for management information. The LibQual survey showed where action needs to be taken to better serve clients and communication with academic staff in particular will be the main focus now.

12. PHYSICAL FACILITIES. Unfortunately the budget for 2009 could not cover our request for a carpet in the walk area next to the study desks. It stands over for the 2010 budget.