Shift happens - The time for libraries is NOW - Ned Potter

The time for Libraries is NOW

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Inspiring Slideshare by Ned Potter about "a call to arms for libraries, inspired loosely by the famous SHIFT HAPPENS deck."

Interview with the Librarian at the SABC Newspaper Cutting Section

Themba Mtshali
SABC Newspaper Cutting Section

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 Themba Mtshali, the Information Librarian who works in the Newspaper Cutting Section of the SABC Information Library.

This section has a collection of 3200 000 newspaper articles. The following newspapers are ordered for this section: Beeld, Sowetan, Business Day, Star, Citizen, Mail and Guardian, Rapport, Sunday Times, Sunday Independent, Sunday World and the City Press. Every day articles are scanned in on the Newbase System and then electronically get cut, pasted and indexed.

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

Answer: My name is Themba Mtshali. I was born in Soweto. I studied and passed my matric in KZN during the 1976 unrest. In 1981 I joined Standard Bank and worked as a Clerk. After that I worked at a NGO Company in Braamfontein as project coordinator for 5 years. In 1995 I joined the SABC as Desk Help Officer for late Dr Ivy Matsepe Cassaburi’s office. In 1996 I joined the SABC Media Libraries at the Cutting Service Section.

Please tell us about a normal day in your office. What newspaper articles do you give priority to?

Answer: My normal day in office starts with fetching newspapers from the security office at ground floor in the morning. I look through the papers for SABC articles to be scanned first and start scanning other newspapers thereafter. We give priority to current affairs news mostly form politics, sport, health etc. I also give attention to information requests that come to our office and cut, paste and index sports articles.

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

Answer: Our collection consists of newspaper articles that are scanned as well as newspaper articles that were cut and pasted and filed into files before we got the digital system. The focus is mostly on politics of the past and present government; SABC collections from when the SABC was established to present date. The newspaper collection is very vast and varied in its scope.

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

Answer: Not much, but when we do have problems with our system server, we have BIT to assist us.

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

Answer: As I am a sports fan, particularly soccer fan, I would like to preserve the history of soccer in South Africa.

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

Answer: The job keeps me well informed about what’s happening around me.

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

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

Interview with a systems administrator in the SABC Record Library

Marinda Wolmarans
SABC Record Library

This is the second interview as part of a series of blog posts to gain a better understanding of the SABC Record Library, as well as part of a series of blog posts about the SABC Media Libraries. It is a way of generating a better understanding of what we do in the different sections that we belong to.

The interview is with Marinda Wolmarans, a Systems Administrator in the Record library. The SABC Record Library houses recorded music, previously unavailable, as well as all genres of recorded music, including Jazz, Gospel, Kwaito, Rap, Rave, Classical, World, Light, Mood, Sound Effects and others. The music is regularly accessed by staff and made available to internal clients of the SABC.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself. (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined the SABC Record Library)
I was born in JHB. I worked at Trust Bank now Absa and from there started at the SABC.

Please tell us about a normal day in your office.
When I arrive in the morning the first is checking e-mails and regularly during the day as well.  The Regions and JHB send performers and labels to be added on the system to be able to capture the information on the system.  Not one day is the same, some days problems that affects all the Regions will be send via e-mail or I’ll be contacted telephonically to rectify the mistakes made on the systems.  I check CD information and send the mistakes back to the regions and JHB personnel to rectify.  It takes a lot of time because you have to check who added the CD first, everything needs to be written down and checked thoroughly. People need to be focused when capturing of CDs are being done.

What does the future have in store for us digitally?
I can’t wait for the Digital System but I foresee we might have problems with the information on the CD’s and the actual songs on the disc. I hope that all the information that we currently have will be transferred without any major problems.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.
Every day has a different challenge.

Related post:
Interview with a Record Librarian at the SABC record Library

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

The SABC Media Libraries and Web 2.1

The SABC Media Libraries and it's presence on Web 2.1:

As an information hub for broadcasting, our collections are broadcast specific. Accessibility to them is determined more by complex copyright matters coupled with the limitations of the various formats on which our audio and print material is preserved, rather than by our preference. To migrate our collections to platforms that will be accessible via the Internet will be expensive, but we hope to achieve this with at least some of our collections in due course.

In the meantime, we will continue with the information sharing platform in which you are able to participate, and so generate stimulating debate on the various issues impacting on the work we do. We encourage you to take part and enrich the work we do.

Ilse Assmann
Manager: SABC Media Libraries