The 17th Annual LIASA Conference

Posted on January 19, 2017

The 17th Annual Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) conference was held in Durban from 10 to 14 October 2016 at the Durban International Convention Centre. The theme of the LIASA conference 2016 was “Libraries in Action: Transformation and Development towards 2030.”  The conference was attended by Cora Bezuidenhout, Martha De Waal, Gerda Ehlers, Danie Malan, Josephine Modiba, Jacob Mothutsi and Elsabé Olivier.

Feedback was received from the following attendees:

Gerda Ehlers: “I think the LIASA 2016 conference was a constructive conference where we could network and share knowledge. The most important highlights were the discussion around the burning of libraries and the Fees must Fall issue. A decision was made that LIASA should not only write a document to government on the LIASA standpoint on these issues, but also to establish a committee to drive discussions and actions on behalf of LIASA.  LIASA represents all librarians and there was a clear indication that LIASA has to have specific goals and play a role in finding solutions and identify strategies to reach these goals. The Second highlight was the constructive discussion on national Information literacy activities and the way forward.  The networking and sharing of ideas was amazing. Our department was well represented and some of the staff members play key roles in the different interest groups and the Gauteng North Branch of LIASA.  However, it is important that more of our staff members should present papers at the LIASA Annual Conference. The 2017 LIASA conference will be in in the Gauteng Province.  Join LIASA, participate and become an active member of this South African professional organisation for librarians.”

Cora Bezuidenhout: “I had the privilege to attend the LIASA conference during October - a first to attend the full conference spread over 5 days. The pre-conference workshop on Digital Citizenship was of great value.  We were introduced to many open access tools to use to enhance our service to our clients. The program was very full and with many parallel sessions at the same time it was difficult to choose which one to attend. The topics were very relevant (#Fees must fall) and well presented. In my opinion the best session was the presentation by Ms E Sadleir on “The South African Social Media Landscape: Are you breaking the law?” She gave us much food for thought especially regarding our online presence. I also had the opportunity to take part with a poster presentation titled:

The Engineering Librarian – do you have the knack?  I found that not many people took time to look at the posters as it was presented in the same venue as the food! ;-) With around 800 delegates at the conference one also has wonderful networking opportunities with fellow librarians. Thank you to DLS management for the opportunity to attend the conference.”

Elsabé Olivier: “My conference highlights were twofold – I really found all the sessions on social media very interesting and my new term as the Chair of MAIG (Marketing and Advocacy Interest Group) commenced. The keynote presenter Emma Sadleir’s session hosted by Sabinet, was an eye-opener and she guided us on social media reputation management. She reminded us of the following golden rule;”If you won’t put it on a huge billboard next to the highways with your face and name, do not post it!” I am also very fortunate to have both my colleagues Gerda Ehlers (as Public Relations Officer) and Cora Bezuidenhout (as Treasurer) as members in the Executive Committee of MAIG and we are looking forward to serve our library colleagues, our profession and the organization in the next two years. Also congratulations to Josephine Modiba who is the Chair of ILLIG – the Interlending Interest Group and Danie Malan, who was re-elected to the executive Committee as Treasurer. 

- Author Elsabé Olivier, Marketing & Quality Assurance

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