2022 Library Lovers' Month competition winners announced!

The Department of Library Services at the University of Pretoria, in partnership with Protea Bookshop Hatfield, celebrated their love of our libraries by running a Library Lovers’ Month competition from the beginning of February to mid-March this year. University of Pretoria (UP) students and staff members were invited to participate by liking and following the Protea Boekwinkel Hatfield and UP Library Services Facebook and Instagram pages, and electronically sharing their love letter addressed to any of our UP campus libraries about how the library has made their lives better. Alternatively, they could also write a break-up letter expressing their frustration towards the library. Protea Bookshop sponsored three wonderful prizes worth over R2 000! We are proud to announce our three winners: Tshiamo Setuke, Karabo Senyane and Desiree Tesner-Smith. 

The competition was promoted on the UP Library Services’ social media platforms. 80% of the entries were from undergraduate students, 10 % from postgraduate students, 5% from professional staff members and 5% academic staff. Deciding on the winners was a tough choice – all the entries were lovely to read and filled with creativity and humour. Ultimately, the winners were chosen according to originality, creativity, humour and clarity of expression. Congratulations to our three winners, their letters are as follows:  

Tshiamo Setuke (postgraduate student) won a Protea Bookshop voucher worth R1000 for this letter:

I sing praise to honour a great library that moulded my life. The nurturer and incubator of strong-willed leaders. A mother and father that suckled and fed me knowledge. Like a calabash my mind holds treasured lessons. Like a sea, my heart leaps and bounds, respect, integrity and humility. Your teachings like a pen to write that which can never be erased (my degree). Unknown to you a journey is chronicled, fruits reaped, imagination captured.

It is because of you, I am inquisitive (Research commons)
It is because of you, I am kind (Library staff service)
It is because of you, I embrace diversity (Inclusive facilities)
It is because of you, I am innovative (Makers Space)

Kudos to you for being an academic trend-setter, a microcosm of African continent and a fountain of knowledge. An embodiment of "it takes a village to raise a child". Thank you for holding my hand to the finish line.

I am because, you are!

Karabo Senyane (undergraduate student) won a Protea Bookshop goody bag worth R750 for this letter:

The library is helpful when we have to print, finding prescribed and recommended textbooks for our modules as well as articles for academic writing. I wrote a short poem about my experience in the library.

Dear Groenkloof Library

I love the library
It actually inspires me
To read more books
Than to worry about my looks

I grab a book from the shelf
Then I carry myself
To the quietest corner
Where I become an explorer

The book engulfs me
As I turn from page one, two then three
I lose track of time
As I continue reading this precious dime

Before I know it, it is time to leave
I look at my watch in disbelief
My heart sinks to the floor
As I head for the door

“See you tomorrow”
As I leave in sorrow

Desiree Tesner-Smith (professional staff member) won a Protea Bookshop voucher worth R500 for this letter:

Dear library

Yô, you and I come a long way, don’t we? Like from before DEMOCRACY!!! Yep, don’t know if you remember this, but I met you the first time in 1988. I was eighteen and you, well, quite a few years older and wiser.

And soooooooo exciting.

You were mysterious and at the same time shared absolutely everything. Oh, my, once we got to know each other a bit better, I could get lost in you for hours at a time!

Back then, I would never take the lift – it was up and down the stairs, with my favourite spot being Level 6 – not because I studied Architecture (well, briefly, until you and your stories lured me to switch to – SCANDAL! – BA!), no, it was because Level 6 just somehow held all the topics that fascinated me. (Read STORIES, POETRY and everything about WRITING, ART and CRAFTS – people stuff, mostly.) Those little displays of yours of new books or books on a specific topic just as one came off the stairs lured me to read books on random topics that often Blew.My.Mind.

I did visit the other levels from time to time, but I always thought of them as your dark side – like Level 4 where the Law books were. Some others (aka the natural science levels) were best left completely unexplored.

Remember when I left you for a couple of years after I got my first degree? I missed you – the city’s libraries in Sammy Marks and Waterkloof (that one moved to Brooklyn later and then closed down) had such pathetic collections when compared to you, and their staff were often grumpy. Sorry if it sounds like I’m dissing your relatives – I know like all of us you can’t choose your family.

When we were finally re-united, there were babies and a full-time job in the mix, so I know I was a bit less adventurous and our interactions became quite transactional. I came with the list of sources I needed and you delivered, often even getting articles and books for me from other libraries in your extended family. It was cool of you not to judge me then. And when I returned to the University as a staff member in 2002, you were still there, still cool and awesome – just more so. I liked the fact that more stuff happened within your walls now – training sessions, seminars, book launches. You didn’t seem to age at all, just to evolve in amazing ways.

When I finally started my PhD you really brought it – that subject specialist was AMAZING: patient, knowledgeable, helpful, just a super-cool human being (I think you tend to attract those).

Anyhoo, I know I’ve been a bit distant since the pandemic, although I did notice the effort you made to make stuff accessible online. It’s not the same though. I think very soon you’ll see me pass through your doors, take the lift up to Level 6 to smell the books, hear the silence above the shuffling of paper and the hum of the air-conditioner and remember all the good times we had together while wandering through the shelves once more.

Love you.

Thank you everyone who participated in the competition!