:: Links
:: Site Guide

:: info@saoug.org.za

:: SAOUG's Blog

The Librarian as author and publisher in the digital environment

Antoinette Lourens, Erica van der Westhuizen, Amelia Breytenbach, Tertia Coetsee & Ria Groenewald, Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria Veterinary Library

The web environment affords the academic librarian exciting possibilities to create and deliver information products for users. Not only in designing layouts to attract information seekers, whether students or staff or serendipitous surfers, but also by adding content relevant to the needs of a specific group, and by using links to further enhance the product and give it the edge necessary in a multitudinous offering on the web, of varying quality.

At the Veterinary Science Library of the University of Pretoria the past years have seen the development of a group of web products geared to the needs of its student and researcher/lecturer market. 

These e-information products (web portals, digitised collections and self-generated electronic publications) are also relevant for the rest of Africa, especially in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region where the faculty plays a leading role in veterinary education and research. 

This paper will focus on the Veterinary Science Library’s digitised information products in the Institutional Repository called UPSpace (DSpace) of the University of Pretoria: 

- the Theiler collection

- the South African National Veterinary Repository

- the Christine Seegers Biomedical Illustrations collection 

The reasons for their creation and development, the processes and staff involved, and the successful implementation of the final product will be discussed. 

The digital environment is the perfect medium for these information products, promoting Open Access and ensuring their preservation. By placing them on the Internet with accessibility optimised through appropriate use of keywords and metadata, interested persons in any country should be able to access them. By including as much relevant material as possible, whether through content or links to other relevant and evaluated websites, value is added for users and easy one-stop searching enabled.

Back to Programme