Sabinet was once again proud to show their support ofLIASA through sponsorship of the 20th Annual LIASA Conference and the LIASA Librarian of the Year 2019 2ndRunner-Up Award. Heartfelt congratulations go to deserving winner Vuyokazi Jamieson.
She brings with her a combination of over a decade of committed service to the library and information servicesindustry, and an innovative outlook for the future.
Vuyokazi has been the chief librarian of the Cawse Library at St Andrew’s College in Makhanda since January 2016.Prior to this, she spent five years at the Rhodes University library where she was instrumental in implementing thePersonal Librarian Programme. The programme, which she modelled on one she personal observed at YaleUniversity, aims to connect each incoming student to a librarian and has proved to be extremely popular amongstundergraduate students.
At the 2019 South African School Librarians’ conference, hosted by Vuyokazi at St Andrew’s College this year, thefollowing statement set the tone for her inspiring presentation: “In the midst of evolving technology, libraries have stoodthe test of time. Where many thought libraries would become extinct, its resilient spirit constantly adapts to a changingworld. With all this in mind: how do we future proof our libraries?”
Vuyokazi was a driving force in the renovation of the St Andrew’s College Cawse Library in 2017. Her wealth ofexperience ranges from 10 years at the University of Cape Town libraries, 18 months at Bishops Diocesan Collegeand a year as a librarian at the UCT Graduate School of Business Library. She has also been commissioned by theHELIG IL (Information Literacy) Committee to adapt an Information Literacy manual for School Libraries as a memberof the HELIG IL (Information Literacy) Task Team.
“School learners often do not have good sources to refer to when it comes to research articles. Their most reliablesource is Google and there is often no librarian or curator to guide the learner on how to use the wealth of informationthat is presented to them on the web. This presents challenges to the South African education system as we havechildren who are overloaded by information.”
Vuyokazi is passionate about conducting research on how students learn and designing library spaces influenced bythese findings. She would ultimately like to share her findings in order to enhance the experience of users in librariesthrough her research. She holds a BBibl degree from Walter Sisulu University, a LIS Hons from UCT and is currentlyregistered for a master’s degree in education at Rhodes University where her research topic is “The Library of theFuture”.
Sabinet applauds Vuyokazi’s commitment and inspiring efforts and proudly supports her vision of empowering theyouth of South Africa through knowledge.