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.