Page 11 - Unisa Library Flipbook

7.5. Launch of the Staff Request a Literature Search
The sta Request a Literature Search form was launched towards the end of 2016 and tested. The form enables all Unisa sta to request a literature search online. Another advantage is that it streamlines the administration of these requests and manual capturing of sta requests for literature searches from the Information Search Librarians Team will no longer be necessary.
7.6. Public Library Partnerships
The Library is committed to the establishment of partnerships to enhance services. In our continued e ort to bridge the transactional distance between the librarians and the clients, the library established a total of 41 partnerships with most public libraries around South Africa. To reach Unisa international students, the Library also partnered with libraries in other countries like Lesotho and Ethiopia.
7.7. Open Access Project
SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics) Repository; Knowledge Unlatched. After participating in the launch collection in 2015, the Unisa Library again pledged its support for the second Knowledge Unlatched collection in 2016 and contributed towards the payment of the 58 e-book titles to become open access. The Unisa Library was one of only two libraries on the African continent that participated.
8. Collections
A library’s value is determined by its provision of access to high-quality collections for academics, researchers and students. With the institution’s nancial support, the Unisa Library continued to provide access to high-quality collections to students and researchers through the addition of collections in various formats. Despite the downward pressure on institutional budgets, continuing increases in subscription costs, and uctuations in exchange rates, which made it more di cult to sustain the previous years’ level of procuring information resources, the Library collections still grew in 2016. The diagram below depicts the collections acquired in the year under review:
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