C W Rensleigh: IMPLEMENTING AN ELECTRONIC THESES AND DISSERTATIONS (ETD) INITIATIVE WITHIN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LIBRARIES

1. Introduction

Higher Education in South Africa can be categorized into two distinct groups: the Historically Disadvantage Institutions (HDIs) and the ones that benefited from the ’Apartheid‘ ideology, the so called Historically Advantaged Institutions. In South Africa the term ‘Higher Education‘ is predominately used to refer to learning that takes place in universities and technikons (Letshela 1999). There are currently 22 universities and 15 technikons in South Africa. The number of institutions will change over the next few years as the National Plan for Higher Education‘s (NPHE) proposed mergers realise (Transformation 2002). The same plan also promotes the idea that Higher Education Institutions need to co-operate much closer (SAUVCA 2001).

In the early 1990‘s it became apparent that Higher Education institutions in South Africa could co-operate more effectively in consortia, especially when it came to the utilisation of resources such as shared databases and common applications. One such is the Foundation of Tertiary Institutions of the Northern Metropolis (FOTIM) currently consisting of 16 universities and technikons situated in the Gauteng region.

One of the projects of FOTIM is the Gauteng and Environs Library Consortium (GAELIC). The consortium was formed in 1996 to promote education, research and life long learning in Higher Education. This is achieved through the utilisation of technology, a common library system, the sharing of resources, joint purchasing of expensive databases, skills development, and the sharing of expertise.

Within the GAELIC consortium, like the other consortia in South Africa, various Focus Area Teams (FATs) with there respective workgroups were established, which includes Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Strategic Management (SMT) and Information Resources (IR). These workgroups, representing both the Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDIs) and the Historically Advantaged Institutions (HAIs), work together to find constructive solutions to the challenges facing Higher Education and South Africa (Rensleigh 2002).

The Free State Libraries and Information Consortium (FRELICO) was formed in 1996. There are four universities, SASOL Library and Mangaung local municipality Library participating in the consortium. They have as mission to organise the relevant collections of the participating institutions into a single computerised system that will provide optimal access to information and information resources.

Another consortium is the Cape Library Co-operative (CALICO) which was established in 1993. It is a co-operative venture between the five tertiary educational institutions of the Western Cape, three universities and two technikons. It forms part of the a group of projects administered under the direction of the Cape Higher Education Consortium, renamed from the Adamastor Trust in November 2001 (Alemna 2002). The vision of CALICO is to promote information literacy and to improve access to information in the Western Cape.

In the Eastern Cape the South Eastern Academic Library System (SEALS) was established in 1988. Their main focus areas are Information literacy, Human resources, Resource sharing and a common library system.

Last but not least is the Eastern Seaboard Association of Libraries (ESAL) consortium in Kwazulu-Natal (Darch 1999). In total five regional academic consortia was formed. These make up South Africa‘s five regional Higher Education library consortia.

In July 1999 at a meeting of representatives from these five regional Higher Education library consortia and other stakeholders, the Coalition of South African Library Consortia (COSALC) was established. The main operational and strategic focus of COSALC is at national level and is particularly committed to promote and support national co-operative initiatives. One such is access to electronic information through the establishment of the South African Site Licensing Initiative (SASLI). SASLI‘s role will be to establish needs, negotiate licenses and prices with publishers, co-ordinate access, delivery and training, and to deal with other issues related to the cost-effective use of electronic information and -resources (Rensleigh 2002).



© This publication and its compilation in form and content is copyrighted. Every realization which is not explicitly allowed by copyright law requires a written agreement. Especially, this holds for reprography and processing / storing by electronic systems.

ETD Proceeding DTD
HTML - Version create: Wed May 21 10:55:11 2003