The 19th LIASA Annual Conference 2018

The 19th LIASA Annual Conference 2018 took place in Cape Town at the International Convention Centre 2 between 8 and 12 October 2018. The following staff members were privileged to attend the conference: Suzy Nyakale (incoming Chair of the Gauteng North branch), Josephine Modiba (outgoing Chair of the Interlending Interest Group, ILLIG), Elsabé Olivier (outgoing Chair of the Marketing and Advocacy Interest Group, MAIG) and Danie Malan (outgoing Treasurer in the Executive Committee). They formed part of the LIASA Representative Council and as such met on Sunday 7 October 2018.

The theme of the conference for 2018 was: “Library & Information Services (LIS): agents of community development and social transformation.”

The official opening of the conference took place on Tuesday 9 October and was a spectacular event. After the welcoming by the LIASA President Mr Mandla Ntombela, journalist and writer Mr Fred Khumalo did the conference address which was followed by the opening address and keynote presenter, the honourable Mr Nathi Mthethwa, Minister of Arts and Culture. The opening ended with a lovely performance by the Gugulethu Tenors – our own Afro-Operatic pop quartet.

Two of the topics that were discussed at length at the conference were the restructuring of LIASA and LIASA’s status as a professional body.

The interest groups’ annual general meetings took place on Wednesday 10 October 2018. As the current chair I was pleased to deliver my Chairperson’s report and hand over to the new MAIG Committee chaired by Theresa Schoeman from the University of Cape Town Libraries. I also formed part of the LIASA Conference Poster Evaluation Committee and with the help of Norah Moerat, Ingrid Thomson and Nazeem Hardy the poster entries were evaluated and judged. The final winner was Rhodes University Library with their poster titled “Rhodes University pop-up library: libraries as agents of change”. The judges viewed the poster as well executed with a good layout, accessible content, an attractive colour scheme, logical flow and good quality images. 

A few of my personal highlights:

• The inspiring session by award-winning poet and social philosopher Mr Athol Williams titled “Academic, advocate, advisor, author.” Mr Williams challenged us to consider our dreams, to overcome our hardships (boulders) and to write our own life stories and to follow our dreams. We often have a dream, he said, but we don’t do anything about it.
• Ujala Satgoor, previously a Deputy Director of the UP Department of Library Services, then the Director of the Rhodes University Library Services and now the Director of University of Cape Town Libraries, was the first recipient of the Executive Librarian Award. This award is aimed at recognising the role models in the Library and Information Services (LIS) community whose contributions have made a lasting impact on the sector.
• The closing session sponsored by Sabinet featuring internationally renowned speaker Douglas Kruger focussed on high IQ leadership. He recommended that leaders should adopt a frame of mind for seeing things differently as your framework influences the way you look at the world and react on problems.
• For the first time ever, LIASA was also livestreaming parts of the Conference sessions – if you would like to listen to the closing session, the address by the incoming President Ms Nikki Crowster, the introduction of the new Executive Committee and Representative Council 2018 to 2020 as well as Douglas Kruger’s presentation, just click on this link: https://livestream.com/accounts/15332300/LIASA

If you consider being a first-time presenter at a conference, join LIASA and consider presenting at the next conference in 2019!

From left to right: Suzy Nyakale, Cora Bezuidenhout, Elsabé Olivier and Nompumelelo Shongwe

LIASA AMG