SABC Information Library Socks Drive for Mandela Month #67minutes

SABC Information Library Socks Drive Campaign

The SABC Information Library run a successful campaign for Mandela Day, doing 67 minutes at Soweto Letsibogo High School.

The photos of the day can be found here: SABC Information Library Sock Drive 2017

SOCK DRIVE REPORT  

BRIEF 

– Vision

Katleho Foundation is a non-profit making organisation formed in 2016 with the goal of providing disadvantaged youth and children with sustainable social and economic empowerment initiatives. Last year they celebrated Mandela day at Tshepisong in Roodepoort. A great number was donated; school shoes, food, sanitary pads, etc. on the day from different companies and media was also there to cover the initiative.

To commemorate Mandela day this year, Vision Katleho organised another event in Soweto Letsibogo High School. SABC Information Library received an invitation to donate anything to the school on the day. Socks and books were to be donated.  The Information Library also wanted to celebrate 67 minutes for Mandela Day. While the Information Library was brainstorming on a few ideas, they received an invitation to be part of the initiative.

IMPLEMENTATION

To celebrate 67 minutes for Mandela, Information Library decided to run a Sock Drive Campaign which were a huge success!. SABC staff was asked to donate new and old socks with no holes. Some of the Media Library staff contributed money towards the socks. Socks were bought with all the money that was contributed. All the donated socks were donated to the school. Communication about the drive was sent via corporate communication mail to all the staff. The socks were placed in branded boxes throughout the SABC in Auckland Park.

OUTCOME 

Approximately 300 Socks were donated in 2 Weeks. SABC Foundation came on board and 500 books were donated to the school. The principal together with the learners were happy to receive the books. The principal informed the Information Library team that the books will be kept safe in the school’s library and the socks will be given to Grade 8 learners. The event and the handover went very well.

28 JULY 2017 
 
GUESTS PRESENT AT EVENT 

SABC Information Library Team: Nomakhosi Mthembu, Justice Leshilo, Vuyelwa Mfula and Marks Moseri

SABC Foundation: Seipei Shole

Vision Katleho Foundation: Sylvia Kgoadi, founder and MD

Paramount Chief of Africa: His Excellency Francis Nwaneri

Andile Nebulane – Igazi Actor (MC at the event)

Gabriel Temudzani –Chief Azwindini Mukwevho from Muvhango

Zinhle Mthembu - Marketing Manager @ Tshepo Themba Private Hospital

Lorraine Steenkamp – Founder & CEO @ Start My Biz

Boo Prince – Professional Voice over artist

Nwabisa Bunde – Motivational Speaker

Dumisani Shabalala - Chief Education Specialist @ the Department of Education

Duma Mboni Chairperson @ Vision Katleho Foundation


SPECIAL THANKS

SABC MEDIA LIBRARIES' contributions towards the socks and SABC News Staff. SABC Foundation especially Seipei Shole and Katlego Tsholo. They managed to donate 500 books and also accompany the Information Library staff to the event on short notice. The Corporate Communication Team, specifically Lungelo Mbulwana for the marvellous work he constantly does, taking pictures effortlessly and with a smile.


Thanks to the SABC staff at large and finally to the SABC Information Library team for making this happen!

World Book Day on 23 April 2016

World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Day) is a yearly event on 23 April. The day is organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to promote reading, publishing and copyright.

"A book is a link between the past and the future. It is a bridge between generations and across cultures. It is a force for creating and sharing wisdom and knowledge.
Frank Kafka once said, “a book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul.”
A window onto our inner lives, books are also the doorway to mutual respect and understanding between people, across all boundaries and differences."

Read more at UNESCO 

Librarian review: THE POWER OF PRAYING WOMAN, by Stormie Omartian

The power of a praying woman

"Just like 'God's Word for the Single Believer' I don't really regard this as a book that I've 'read', but will perhaps continue to refer back to it for the rest of my days. 

It was on page 60/61 that I realised that the best way to read this book was not to read each chapter sequentially - instead this book requires life application, prayer and a heart that sincerely seeks change and spiritual growth through a closer walk with Jesus. To get the best out of this book (for me anyway), is to spend time in the relevant chapter at the point of need or spiritual prompting - pen and paper at the ready too! 

You see, there are so many areas of one’s life that are covered in this book, and the neat little index is like a spiritual A-Z of areas where we all need spiritual refreshing, pruning or an outright overhaul! 

If you are already walking with God, you will hopefully be aware of areas in your life that God wants you to focus on. and commit to him in sincere prayer. This book is a really good study aid and reference point. Apart from covering a broad range of development areas for your prayer life, it also contains some model prayers that you can work into your own prayer life as you diligently seek change and refreshing through the work of the Holy Spirit. Each section also contains a reminder of some of God's promises relating to the topic in focus. 

An excellent book and guide, one which will not sit on my shelf and gather dust!"

REVIEW BY Agrineth Mashile

Let's act on World Book and Copyright Day 2015 - Focus on Mobile

"World Book and Copyright Day is an opportunity to recognise the power of books to change our lives for the better and to support books and those who produce them."

The following Infographic about Reading in the Mobile Era shows how much reading habits have changed in the Mobile Era. 

World Book and Copyright Day is will again be celebrated on 23 April this year!

Related post:

- World Book and Copyright Day 2015 - How to join in the celebration 

World Book and Copyright day 2015 - How to join in the celebration

World Book and Copyright Day is again on 23 April 2015 this year.

UNESCO WBCD Bookmarks

UNESCO has compiled 10 ways to join in the celebration this year:

• Download books published for 70 years on UNESDOC, it's free!

• Share your passion for an author and offer his book to someone!

• Take this opportunity to discover something new from what you're used to read.

• Write a note in a book saying “Happy Book Day!” drag one of our bookmark in it, and leave it on a park bench or a metro seat!

• Give books that you are no longer using to associations.

• Print out our campaign materials and organize a book sell around your place!

• Plan local reading events in schools and libraries and encourage famous guest readers to get involved.

SABC Media Libraries sharing some of their collections for National Women's Day on 9 August

The SABC Media Libraries are sharing some of their collections on social media in preparation for National Women's Day on 9 August.

The SABC Information Library has been posting photos of collections on Facebook:

Post by SABC INFORMATION LIBRARY.

Post by SABC INFORMATION LIBRARY.

Post by SABC INFORMATION LIBRARY.

The SABC Radio Archives shared a short video clip on Instagram of one of their oldest recordings in the Archives: The voice of Florence Nightingale from 1890 recalling the Battle of Balaclava. The original recording was done on a wax cylinder, and this specific recording is a copy that was done in 1984 on a reel-to-reel tape.
It was part of a series of recording from the SWABC, from a programme by Percy Sieff, This Week in Time.

One of the oldest audio recordings from 1980: Florence Nightingale

Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

National Book Week 2 - 7 September #NBW2013

National Book Week

The ‘Books of Our Lives’ lies at the core of
National Book Week 2013
2-7 September

Johannesburg, South Africa (25 July, 2013) – Promoting and sharing the joy of reading books lies at the core of the South African Book Development Council (SABDC), in association with the Department of Arts and Culture, as they announce National Book Week 2013 (NBW), which is to be celebrated nationwide from 2-7 September 2013.

Reading statistics report that only 14% of the South African population are active book readers, and a mere 5% of parents read to their children. National Book Week is an important initiative in encouraging the nation to value reading as a fun and pleasurable activity and to showcase how reading can easily be incorporated into one’s daily lifestyle.

READ MORE

World Book & Copyright Day 2012 #WorldBookDay

LIASA poster: World Book Day 2012

Read Embrace Tomorrow

Today is World Book Day! It is a day of reflection and reading of books.

UNESCO describes the theme as a specific focus on books and translation this year:

"23 April is a symbolic date for world literature for on this date in 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.
It was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity. In this respect, UNESCO created both the World Book and Copyright Day and the UNESCO Prize for Children's and Young People's Literature in the Service of Tolerance.
The year 2012 also marks the 80th anniversary of the Index Translationum. This international bibliography of translation provides a unique tool for the monitoring of translation flows in the world. UNESCO will celebrate this anniversary by organizing a debate on this instrument."

                                                            - UNESCO World Book Day 

Read more about the background of World Book Day.

The message from the Director-General of UNESCO can be found here, and there are resources available on the UNESCO website.
The events of World Book Day 2012 that have been planned around the world are listed as well.

The Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) has made a poster available (see above), but unfortunately it seems that there are no specific events planned for today that's listed!

How should we celebrate this day?
Should we still reflect on the importance of books?
What about e-books and the proliferation of reading in the digital sphere?


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

#Followalibrary Day 1st October 2011

#Followalibrary poster

On Saturday October 1st it will again be Follow a Library Day.
Wilma van den Brink introduces the Twitter initiative for 2011 in a blog post:
#Followalibrary Day 1st October 2011

See FollowaLibrary blog for all the details.

The added subject this year is  "My favourite book".
Use the hashtag #myfavoritebook when tweeting.
Remember to include the hashtag #followalibrary

The SABC Media Libraries and SABC Information Libraries will be taking part.
You will find us here on Twitter:
@SABCMediaLib
@SABCInfoLib

Please follow us!

Tell us what is your favourite book of all times!
What would happen if everybody on Twitter could tell us what is their favourite library on Saturday?


Blog post by Karen du Toit @karentoittoit

Interview with an intern at the SABC Information Library: Veronica Machate

Veronica Machate
Intern: SABC Information Library

The SABC Information Library has acquired the services of two interns since March of this year.
The interns are here in the SABC Media Libraries for a couple of months to acquire valuable skills, but also to help with the workflows in the SABC Information Library.

Veronica Machate is a qualified Librarian.

Questions are asked to understand the type of skills that they have to offer, but also to get a better understanding of what they are doing here in the SABC Information Library.


Please tell us about your personal history as well as your studies. How did you become an intern here at SABC?

I was born and raised in Bushbuckridge in a place called Acornhoek. I started school in 1994 and matriculated 2006. I went to the university of Limpopo Turfloop campus in 2007 where I studied for a bachelor degree in information studies which I obtained in 2010 and I will be graduating on the 14th of this month. During my final year of my study I worked as a part-time student assistant in our university library and also worked as a computer laboratory assistant. I heard about this internship from our lecturer. I applied and fortunately I was called for an interview. In January I was called and told that I was appointed.

What does your job entail here at SABC?

My job differs according to the sections in the Information Library. They have a newspaper, magazine and book section. After every three months I have to rotate. During my first three months I have worked in the newspaper cutting section where my job entailed the scanning of daily newspapers, using a flatbed scanner, indexing SABC articles and also responding to requests. From May until July I will be working in the magazine section and in this section my job entails indexing and cataloguing magazines articles. Thereafter I will be rotating to the book section.

What have you learned already while you have been there?

I have mastered responding to requests, scanning of daily newspapers and more especially indexing of SABC and magazine articles.

Tell us of any interesting anecdotes story with regards to your internship

During my first month I was always hanging my access card on my neck even on the street where I live so that people could see that I’m working at the SABC.

What are you planning to do after this?

My plan is to get a job as librarian either in the SABC or any other sector and to further my studies in the field of Information Studies.


Related posts:

SABC Radio Archives: Interview with an intern - Thakhani Ramufhufhi
Interview with an intern at the SABC Radio Archives: Obakeng Phiri
Interview with an intern at the SABC Radio Archives: Nokuthula Mzelemu
Intern in the SABC Radio Archives: Mbali Jezile - an interview

Questions and blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

Interview with the Principal Librarian at the SABC Information Library

Monica van Deventer
SABC Information Library

This is an interview as part of a series of blog posts to gain a better understanding of the SABC Media Libraries and what we do in the different sections that we belong to.

The interview this week is with Monica van Deventer, the Principal Information Librarian who overseas the Newspaper Cutting Section, the Book Lending Section as well as the Magazines in the SABC Information Library. She has been with the Information Library for almost 21 years.

“The core business of the Information Library is to deliver a World Class Service to the users of the library. When given a request to handle, this must be done immediately and very professional.
 Staff must also have sufficient knowledge of the unique nature of the broadcasting environment, in which they work. They must be able to work under stress and also to understand that the journalists work under stressful circumstances.”
(Quote from the SABC Media Libraries website)


Monica, please tell us a little bit about your life and career (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined the SABC Information Library)

I was born in 1961 and grew up in Westdene, Johannesburg.  I studied at Vorentoe High School and after that at the Rand Afrikaans University (now UJ). There I obtained my BA Social Work Degree – at that stage it was still a four year degree. After that I worked as a Social Worker at Transvaal Cripple Care Association in Westcliff, Johannesburg for a period of 2 years. After my resignation there, I started to work as a Library Assistant at Rand Afrikaans University at the circulation desk. I studied part-time for my B.Bibl Degree and obtained that a week before our daughter was born. After that I moved to the cataloguing section as a Junior Librarian. I worked there for almost 6 years, resigned and started my career at the SABC – and I am still here! I am also still a registered social worker and would like to practise social work again when I retire from the SABC one day.
On 30 July this year I will be married for 28 years. My husband works at UJ. We have 2 children – a daughter (23 years) and a son (20 years). We love the outdoors and like to do camping, boating, diving and we also like to fish. We live in Krugersdorp and have 3 dogs and 1 parrot.

Please tell us about a normal day in your office. What information and tasks do you give priority to?

A normal working day consists of replying to emails; attend meetings as and when requested; requesting quotations from books and magazines agencies. I do my utmost to manage the Information Library the best I can. We handle information requests immediately and our newspaper articles are being scanned in on a daily basis. We also do our best to have a good magazine and book collection. At the moment all SABC related information – old and new – is our main priority.

Tell us more about your collection and the scope of material you need to preserve in the library.

Our collection consists of books, magazines and newspapers and newspaper articles. Our collections are very broad and include broadcasting related material, biographies, and travel books – everything that you will find in any other library. Our newspaper article collection is huge and we have more than 3 million articles in files. We also have a collection of old SABC Radio Bulletins, of which we are currently scanning on our Newbase System and indexing on our Inmagic Genie System.

Do you struggle with technical and other difficulties, and if so, what?

Not really. We have good, solid specialised systems. When we experience problems, we receive good support from Ronnie Singh at BIT, who looks after our systems from the SABC’s side. If he cannot solve the problem, we contact Mindex or Digital Archiving Systems and our problems usually then get sorted out quickly.

If you have an anecdote about a specific piece of interesting information, please share it with us.

A lot of things happened in the Information Library over the years. We had very nice and enjoyable International Library week’s celebrations, where we invited all SABC staff members to the Library and had nice snacks, competitions and prizes.
Once we also had a client, for whom we borrowed an old book on the Olympic Games from another Library. He didn’t return the book and we got a reminder from that library for the amount of R1000-00. He insisted that he had returned the book and complained for a few months about the library staff not believing him. Eventually, one day, he turned up with the book and a very sincere apology. He found the book in his safe at his home! We were just very relieved that the book has been returned.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.

I love working with people and I love handling information requests. The Information Library broadened my general knowledge – specifically when I worked in the newspaper cutting section - and also taught me to build and maintain very good interpersonal relationships. I have a passion for what I do!

Related posts:
Interview with the Librarian at the Newspaper Cutting Section
Interview with the Librarian at the SABC Information Library: Newspaper Cutting Section
Interview with the Information Librarian at the SABC Information Library

Questions and blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

Reading changes lives

Poets and artists, kings and queens,

Old stars and hopeful beginners,

I've been where no-one's been before,

Learned secrets from writers and cooks

All with one library ticket

To the wonderful world of books.

~ Anonymous ~

I’ve been working in the Music Library for 2 weeks. And already I’ve been to Sweden, Germany, France and Italy while sitting behind my desk. I have experienced these countries’ cultures and music.

Grace Slick once said “Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable.”

I’ve had encounters with some of the greatest people to have ever walked this planet including Chopin, Mozart, and Bizet, to mention a few. Let me give you a scenario. So you are out with your friends, one of them asks with excitement “Oh my gosh, have you heard the new song by Andreas Vollenweider, it’s so beautiful!” Or maybe you are having a conversation with someone and suddenly they quote a certain author who said something very wise in his famous book.

The greatest feeling that one gets out of such situation is when once can “strike” back. You may not know who Vollenweider is but you can ask what kind of music he does and comment on that. In terms of a quote, you may not have heard of the author or the book, but you can always respond with something that you have read. This may be something that has never bothered you, because you may think “who cares if I don’t know this or I’ve never heard of that”. That’s just it – it is always your own choice to learn. It makes sense to introduce yourself to new adventures, new places, new people, new ideas, new music and new hobbies. And reading makes that very easy.

Reading may not always be sufficient to get you a promotion, but it will change your life. You might just get the inspiration you need to explore that business idea you’ve shelved for so long.

If this was a TV ad, this is the part where we would say, “and here comes the best part - you don’t have to pay a cent”. All it takes is a few minutes of your time, every day or two. A whole new world awaits you.

Let me end with another quote by Confucius: “No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.

by Ignatia Madelane, SABC Music Library