Day 15 : Friday 18 November

 The next generation librarians … how will we look?

Prof Theo Bothma discussed the influence of ICT and showed us some amazing apps on his I-pad. He spoke about new trends in broadband, mobile technologies, Web 2.0 and 3.0 and cloud storing. He also said libraries should embrace and utilize the new trends and technologies. We need to become proactive in implementing new technologies. Other areas where we need to focus is capturing of indigenous knowledge, history of our environment and general community training. A practical and informative session.

The way forward for libraries in South Africa

Prof Christine Stilwell identified the main issues for the future. She shared with the group her experiences and outcome of the future librarian by using the Delphi method. We could all relate to these issues in our libraries. She left us with recommendation and a “take home message” : librarians are negotiators, navigators, advocates – engage with change!

Group presentations

The groups presentations were all of high standard, the delegates presented their part of the group presentation clearly, and calmly. Some of the PowerPoint presentations were very good, although some text on the slides tend to be too long.

I stressed a bit, although I have presented at many international conferences before, this was a first  time where assessment came into the picture. My team were tops!

Feedback

Prof Christine gave very apt and constructive feedback on our presentations. Feedback included: the length of the slides, size of fonts, dark and difficult to read backgrounds, use of graphics. She also tipped us to use “saves” – use humour when things go wrong. Prof. Stilwell encouraged us to improve our presentation skills, we were told not to look at the Power Point Presentation when presenting, but to face the audience.

The feedback on the contents of the presentations were positive and she also gave us a few ideas to better our Word documents. A very inspiring and informative session. Although I have presented at a few conferences before, this is an area where I still could develop.

THE GALA DINNER

The gala dinner was the climax of the two weeks. Relaxed after our presentations, all dressed up. The food was good, the company superb and the only problem was our soon to be departure from a group that became friends.

After last minute encouragement from Rachel More and Robert Moropa, everybody hugged greeted with the promise of returning on our graduation day. I felt sad because I knew that I will be in the USA, but perhaps I will be able to Skype on that occasion.

Thanks

I would like to thank Carnegie and the University of Pretoria’s Library Services for this wonderful opportunity. Ujala Satgoor and Martha de Waal, for their caring and the wonderful programme. Also to all my colleagues who attended the 5^th CLLA , you were great, may you all become inspiring leaders!

Day 14 : Thursday 17 November

Advocacy toolkit - Karin Kitching

Several elements of library advocacy were discussed, namely support, educated action, stakeholders and relationships.

Karin also taught us how to present ourselves in 30 seconds. The lift speech. Meet someone in the lift and in 30 seconds make a lasting impression. You should plan by reading the circumstances, correct time and place, and know what you would like to convey, to make an impact. This is all about promoting your library and what you can offer. Build up trustworthy relationships, identify strategic people, people that you know can be your advocate at any times, someone, who can spread the word.

She spoke about the importance of a positive attitude and outlook. Al the delegates enjoy this presentation and took something of value to their future as a leader.

Karin is a director at the Youth Outreach Coordinator, they give grants to South African youths for studies in the USA. On behave of her encouragement I am going to enrol my son in their programmes!  Part of my new networking aims!

Locating libraries on the radar screen – Robert Moropa

Robert showed us what being on the radar was and how we can put our libraries on the radar screen. He discussed the negative and positive reasons for getting on the radar screen and the reasons for falling of the screen. His presentation was fun, direct, positive and practical. Everybody could relate. His sincerity, faith, and character was visible and I felt so proud to be part of his team and the University of Pretoria!

I learned that you need to aim high when you formulate your vision. Thank you, Robert, always a pleasure to listen to you.

Visit to Constitution Hill Museum, Court and Library

The Constitution Hill precinct, located at the western end of the suburb Hillbrow in Johannesburg, is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The first court session in the new building at this location was held in February 2004.

The hill was formerly the site of a fort which was later used as a prison. The Old Fort prison was later extended to include "native" cells, called Section 4 and Section 5, and, in 1907, a women's section was added. An awaiting-trial block was constructed in the 1920s.

Both political activists opposed to apartheid and common criminals were held at the prison. Under the apartheid government, only whites were held in the Old Fort itself, other political prisoners were jailed in the same cells as criminals, murderers and rapists.

The tour through Constitution Hill was a personal journey, an eye opener, a reflection on human behaviour and a social responsive awakening!

Useful website: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Hill,_Johannesburg

Day 13 : Wednesday 16 November 2011

Ethics and the dynamic organization – Prof Willem Landman

Good speaker used practical exercise to show us that there is more to ethics than just straightforward values. The circumstances in a specific situation can also play a role. Ethics is a triangle relationship between you and somebody else. Trust and be faithful to your values.

Digitization and preservation – Ria Groenewald

Digital information is important for an institution or an organization.  Any organization depends on its own knowledge, the knowledge of its past and the constant creation of new knowledge. So we preserve this knowledge and make sure it is available in future.

Ria showed us the importance of preserving your records and data, raw research data, and other documents of importance to your organization. You can also use these principles in your own private life. She stressed the importance of giving metadata to all digitized or preserved items so that easy retrieval can be ensured.

Useful website : http://www.ais.up.ac.za/openup/docs/UPmandateAfrica.pdf

Online gaming – Bettie de Kock

Bettie showed us the gaming orientation programme that was developed for students at the University of Pretoria. This is a fun way to introduce library literacy in a way the students can relate to. The group was fascinated and several questions was asked. Bettie gave tips, and offered her expertize to people who would like to embark on this new technology.

Gaining a competitive edge – Nishe Sewdass

Although it was the graveyard shift and all participants was tired after too many late nights, Nishe kept us awake with her lively personality and perky voice! She covered a lot of information without us realizing it.

Competitive intelligence asks what is our core value, providing a service? Libraries are still very important but we need to sell ourselves.

Competitive Intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers in making strategic decisions for an organization.

Useful website : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_intelligence

Day 12 : Tuesday 15 November

Responsible leadership – Dr Eben le Roux

Introduction to knowledge management – Marietjie Schutte

For me this was a refresher course on Knowledge Management, I attended a workshop a few years ago. Marietjie knows her topic very well although it is very theoretical and a difficult concept to understand. I realized that a project that I working at is actually knowledge management, with my new knowledge I am going to improve on this project. Marietjie said I am welcome to contact het.

Innovations and thinking outside the box for South African libraries – Prof Johannes Cronje

Practical exercises lead us to use our creativity and out of the box problem solving. As individuals and in team work we reached higher results that we ever could have imagined. He also gave us a wonderful graph on time management, one of my areas where I need to develop.

We do have to be innovative, creative and still be able to work together as a team. Each one has to find his/her niche in which we can contribute to the overall success.

We were asked to be creative for example, to weave a paper matt, to name five uses of paper clip and to draw an elephant. I won the prize for the best circles, the total amount of 5 cent!

The four Learning styles were discussed namely Accommodator (Learns by experience, solves problems by trial and error), Diverger (Views situations from different angles, tends to be imaginative and emotional), Converger (Likes to focus on specific problems. Interested in technical matters.), and Assimilator (Learns by reflective observation, and abstract conceptualization).

It closely resembles the results we received in the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI).

Day 11 : Monday 14 November

The dynamic organization – Johan Greeff (Founder Treetops)

Johan is an engaging, humorous and interesting speaker. Without much effort he took us through a heap of information without anybody realising it. His practical exercises and video clips all contributed towards a very good presentation.

We did the PENST analysis and the Swot analysis. From the “holy exercise” I learned that we tend to look at a situation from a certain angle without realizing that we do not see the big picture. Even in ‘n group we could not communicate what we saw, because everybody had their own angle. We need to be  open-minded. Sometimes we as so stuck in our own views, that we forget the bigger picture. We need to have a keen interest in things. We need to take ownership.

Day 9 & 10 : Saturday/ Sunday

Weekend, catch up on washing, rest (?) and doing projects individually and in groups!

Day 8 : Friday 11 November

Day 8 : Friday 11 November

Marketing, branding and effective communication – Prof Ronel Rensburg

Another extraordinary eccentric speaker, who knew her topic well. She spoke about branding, communication, marketing and reputation management.  She used very good and recent slides of people in the news to demonstrate the theory to us. Informal and Formal communication are the very important means of organizational communication. It is vital for organizations to market their services to their client and customers .

Branding defines what your organization is, what you stand for, what makes you unique, how do people perceive your organization, whether you could change peoples’ perception about your organization and if your organization can live up to the new brand it has created for itself.

Ronel sang for us in her opera voice, and we returned the compliment.

Useful website:http://www.liasa.org.za/advocacy/advocacy.php

Multi-culturalism and the diverse workplace – Lizette le Roux

Lizette only started on her theoretical information on multi-culturalism, try to build up to a point where we, the audience should get involved in sharing our stories. It was not needed, the group was ready, we spend the rest of our session, telling our personal experiences and hurt. We learned the not only one group or race was hurt but every person had their own story. What is really interesting was confessions that it was not only the opposite race that was the culprits but often their own people. We cried together, hugged, forgave and hopefully moved on.

Day 7 : Thursday 10 November

Visit to the Merensky Library, University of Pretoria

I really felt proud showing the delegates our campus, library and our new facilities. The research commons is really stylish, yet practical and spacious. The new furnishings and artworks complement the atmosphere.

The new computer training centre with all the computer facilities and the new auditorium are functional yet very professional. It complements the rest of the facilities.

The strategic organization in practice - Dr Heila Pienaar

Dr Heila, as usual, the strategist, the vertex of vision. Dr Heila took us through the e-strategy for scholarship at UP.  She also included e-services, e-learning and governance. She also talked about the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) and Open Access. She asked me to speak to the group on the topic of e-products and services of the veterinary library.

Quality Assurance – Christa North

Christa spoke on what quality is and what not, and how it is embedded in the management system. She talked about external evaluation and accreditation and quality promotion. She showed us a UP example, what we aiming for and the objections was. She end with a very interesting comparison of where we were in terms of leadership and where we aim, ending with “have fun”.

Visit to the National Library of South Africa – Rachel More

The new National Library is spacious, impressive and owns beautiful artworks. I loved the beadwork, plants, wall hangings and the wooden feather. I was impressed with the study space and computer workstations. An information session was held explaining the ins and outs of the National Library’s collections, how they work and legislation. The tour to the digitization offices and the binding, cleaning, de-acidification and drying of the books was extremely interesting. De-acidification, is a process of treating paper documents for the purpose of neutralizing acids within the paper and to create an alkaline buffer. High acidity levels contribute to the deterioration of paper, causing yellowing, brittleness, and instability.

Thank- you also for the LIASA offices for our goody-bags!  

Useful website : http://www.nlsa.org.za

Day 6 : Wednesday 9 November

Optimizing Human Capital for sustainable organizational performance – Prof Yvonne du Plessis

Structure do not excel, people does! The focus for the day was on what human capital is, why do we need to optimize human capital and how, and what is the manager's role. Get the right person at the right time.

Transformation and change, organizational values and culture and talent management is some of the topics discussed.

I would have like if she did not keep recapping the previous day’s work, it would have given us more time to finish without rushing through the last slides. I also feel it is not the place to mention your personal negative feelings towards your company, seeing that members of the same company, was also present.

Day 5 : Tuesday 8 November

Organizational leadership in practice

One Organization, many leaders - Prof Yvonne du Plessis

Yvonne took us seemingly effortlessly through the theory of leadership. Her easy and practical way of explaining the complexity of organizational leadership made it clear and understandable to me.

Don’t assume, know what your expectations are and also consider other’s. Leadership is never just about an individual, it is a process of engagement towards achieving organizational goals. Being a leader is influencing others to voluntarily follow you.

The art exercise, draw a self portrait of your leadership, helped me to get a clearer picture in my mind of my leadership style, and where to position myself! I prefer the practical to the theory.

Day 4 : Monday 7 November

Day 4 : Monday 7 November

Location libraries on the national agenda - John Tsebe

John informed us about legislation concerning the Library and Information Services (LIS), he referred to the legislative framework. Background was given on the National Council of Library and Information Services (NCLIS) and the act. He spoke about the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) and the National Council of Library and Information Services (NCLIS), and their roles were outlined. He shared with the group NCLIS's strategic direction regarding vision and mission. He stressed the importance.

Leading LIASA & LIASA leading the profession – Ujala Satgoor

She passionately spoke about the association and how important it is for librarianship in the country. She also passionately pleaded for librarians to take part in the activities of LIASA and to advocate the importance of the association.

We should ask ourselves: “what can we do for LIASA and not what LIASA can do for us”.

In my first years of student life and also in the beginning of my career, I have been a member of SAIBI. I even help organize one of their conferences. Later I felt disappointed in this professional association.  So I have been inactive in our professional association for many years. Now, hearing about the huge role LIASA plays in the profession, and its vision, I realized one should have passion for you professional association.

Useful website: http://www.liasa.org.za

International vs African librarianship – Dr Buhle Mbambo - Thata

Dr Buhle spoke about the difference between European libraries, that mostly supports reading and leisure, and the African Library that is an extension of the school environment. It is a learning centre, where indigenous knowledge should also be included. She also talked about the different international library organizations like IFLA, and how we should participate, by conference attendance and the delivery of papers. She also touched on the preparation to become a library leader in Africa. Hard work and good characteristics is needed. She reminded me of my mother by emphasizing the importance of your good name …

The practicing next generation librarian - Rene Schoombee

This session was practical and informal, an overview of her own experiences as the next generation – to move out of your comfort zone and take the chances. She informed us on how to become a library advocate. To use all opportunities available to you and to become the best you can be. She stressed the fact that you should be happy in your work. You need passion and creativity, not only for yourself but also for your clients and community.

Rene  mention certain values that we need to keep : completing tasks, keeping promises, being positive, sharing knowledge and being loyal.

She also mentioned that we must be passionate about our profession, be enthusiastic and positive about being a Librarian, join  our library association , offer our services to the community and accept invitations to deliver presentations and develop and empower ourselves by applying for grants and scholarships. One of my own objectives is to encourage my colleagues to publish.

Pamoja: group vs team dynamics – Ujala Satgoor

The group was devided into 4 groups. Each country represented a specific colour and in each country the team members were assigned a role, e.g. country representatives, ambassadors and gatekeepers. The currency used was called Mojas. The different countries had to design their own identity, and develop their country’s literacy by universities, public and community libraries, etc.

Although hesitant at first, the game evolved into a cut-throat business of bankers, donors and eager investors. Opportunities, development and even help to those less fortunate were the order of the day. Role play and fun showed us some qualities in ourselves that we were not aware of. We moved out of our comfort zones without even noticing it.

Campbell Leadership Description Tool (Part II) – Ujala Satgoor

We looked at developmental strategies and what our personal action plan will contain. An important element here was that your strategy must be a plan in how to become a different person. To improve yourself, especially in the areas you need to develop or grow.

Day 3 : Sunday 6 November

Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument.(HBDI) - Ann de Boer

The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) is the world’s leading thinking styles assessment tool, developed by the originators of Whole Brain Technology and Whole Brain Thinking.

It identifies your preferred approach to emotional, analytical, structural and strategic thinking. It also provides individuals with a significantly increased level of personal understanding it identifies and measures the strength of preference for each of the four distinct thinking style of thinking.

According to the HBDI, the brain is divided in four quadrants of thinking preferences:
•A. (Blue) Realistic thinking. Keywords associated with this quadrant are logical, factual, critical, technical and quantitative.
•B. (Green) Sensible thinking. Keywords associated with this quadrant are sequential, conservative, controlled, detailed and organised.
•C. (Red) Feeling based. Keywords associated with this quadrant are emotional, musical, humanistic, expressive and sensory.
•D. (Yellow) Idealistic. Keywords associated with this quadrant are metaphoric, integrative, visual, synthesising, conceptual.

Ann is bubbly, energetic and humorous. Ann spoke with authority on the different personality types. Everybody was fascinated. She showed us the way to embrace our strengths and to develop our challenges in an energetic, fun way. The brain dominance made a lot of sense and although I have done a similar test before and the results matched, this was the most thorough. Most of the results were how I saw myself in the past, although a few surprises awaited me, explaining behaviour I could not understand in the past. I found that I am mostly in the red quadrant with the second highest percentage in the yellow. Some green and some blue. However when under pressure I tend to switch to the blue quadrant! I found this exercise stimulating. I am sure the results are going to help me in future especially since the areas where I can develop are now clear. Ann armoured us with the skills and desire to find ourselves within our organizations and to develop into the leaders we hope to be.

Useful Websites: http://www.herrmann.com.au/hbdi-profile.html ; http://www.hbdi.co.za/

Ann’s homepage @ UP :http://web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=12276

Graduation Lunch of participants from the 4^th CLLA

We had lunch with the participants of the 4th Carnegie Library Leadership Academy where all the graduates shared their experiences of the Academy. They mentioned how the Academy enriched their lives and how valuable it was for their careers. At least 7 of the participants received distinctions. Unfortunately not all of the participants graduated.

Day 2 : Saturday 5 November

Web 2.0 technologies in the workplace : Blogs – Antoinette Lourens

A blog is an Internet driven tool that enables  report writing, diary keeping e.g.  travel diary, etc. Good presentation with balance between theory and practice. Antoinette managed to get everybody started on a blog in a practical manner, in time, even though we had several computer problems. I started a blog that I intent to use as a logbook for friends and family during my 3 month trip to USA in 2012, I called it Yankee-Google, (not doodle like in the song), to give it a library touch. It is one of my newly acquired skills that I really intend to use!

Useful websites: http://www.blogs.com

Web 2.0 technologies in the workplace : Wiki’s   – Antoinette Lourens

 Wiki is the Hawaiian word for "quick” and refers to a specific application freely available on the Internet. A wiki can be use for workshops, book reviews, notes of meetings and even for editing a textbook. It can also be used as a collaborating tool between members of a team. Antoinette also presented wiki’s to us. Although I can see the possibilities for collaboration, especially for undergrad students working on projects, the lack of privacy is one of the reasons I would rather use a blog setup with restrictions for my students. Privacy is one of their main concerns, as they work on new research and patents for their theses. Good practical presentation.

Librarians can use wikis and blogs to communicate with library users and to market Library services, to promoting our Library online, developing communication channels with our users and improving internal communications. 

Useful websites: http://www.wikispaces.com

Mobile technologies - Janice de Wee and Christelle Steyn



The two presenters were knowledgeable and enthusiastic. I have never used my cell phone to access the web, prefer to use my computer, but believe that every information specialist should know how mobile technology works, in order to help their students. That is the future for our students in South Africa. We should be able to answer their questions and sort out their mobile problems. We should also know the technologies in order to develop new products.

I created my very own QR code and intent to use it in my signature. In our veterinary library we use QR codes to provide more information on some artworks, e.g. the bust of Jotello F. Soga, to tell you who he was, and why we renamed the library.  All our staff names on the web also contain QR codes to take you to our departmental pages.

Introduction to individual assignments and group projects

Ujala Satgoor gave a brief presentation about our assignments and project for the academy

1.Assignment 1: Blogs, keep a diary of the Academy, your expectations, what you intent doing with the new knowledge and at least 5 issues you intent addressing or doing differently in your own library.

2. Assignment 2: Wiki’s , group project. Draw up a strategy, use a wiki as a collaborative tool and submit a word document, and the URL of the wiki. Prepare a PowerPoint and present your teams strategy.

3. Assignment 3: Individual research report on an innovative project in your library. Submission date: 17 February 2012.

Campbell Leadership Descriptor tool (prt 1) – Ujala Satgoor

Ujala is an engaging, and enthusiastic speaker. She knows her topic. I found it very interesting. The Campbell Leadership Descriptor tool was developed to assist in important aspect or characteristics in leadership. The tool touches on six task components of organizational leadership and three personal components of leadership. Through answering the self-scored assessment you can create your own personal profile and with comparing a personal action plan can be developed.

All managers (good or bad) have their better and less good points. It was difficult to evaluate myself, I tried to look at myself though their strengths and failures. In the end I have ended up in the middle between the good and the bad leader’s profiles. That proofed to me that I took their leadership examples and tried to incorporate the good elements into my own. I now have a better idea of my own leadership skills, the areas where I still need to improve, and where I belong.

DAY 1 : Friday 4 November 2011 - Arrival at The Villas

Arrived at The Villas - Luxury Suite Hotel in Arcadia, Pretoria at 12:00 After booking in I was driven to my comfortable room in a golfcart by the hotel porter – D101

I unpacked and was the first person to arrive at the conference facility.

We registered and received a printed bag which contained a file with details on the Carnegie Library Leadership Academy (CLLA) and Centre for African Library Leadership (CALL). Ujala and Martha were there to welcome us. Ujala briefly explained what will be expected of us during our stay. Later the afternoon we had to introduce ourselves by means of the 3 slide PPT we had to submit beforehand. It was really interesting to meet all the new colleagues, hear where they were from, in what sector of libraries they work, their expectations and their hobbies and interests. I again realized we should never generalize or assume things.

Introduction to Web 2.0 technologies – Johann van Wyk

Very interesting, Johann is an engaging speaker who is very knowledgeable on the topic of new technologies. I like the practical way in which he provides tips and facts about this vast array of tools. It is clear that he uses this technology himself. Although I have had the pleasure to hear him speaking on this topic before, I needed the update. I am looking for a collaboration tool to help within my Phytomedicine   post-graduate student’s Community of Practice. Johan mentioned Mendeley, he also spoke about blogs with restrictions. This is two options that I need to research further.