Archie L. Dick

The use of ICTs in Namibia's SME sector to access business information services

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to present current state of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Namibias small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME) sector to access business information services.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a doctoral research project on business information needs, seeking patterns and utilisation of ICTs in the SME sector in Namibia that was carried out at the University of Pretoria from 2005 to 2007. The survey methodology using both qualitative and quantitative approaches was employed to collect data.Findings – The findings revealed that there is a very low level of ICTs utilization among SMEs while among business support organisations it is relatively high.Practical implications – The study presents baseline data that can be used by governments and business support organisations in the provision of ICTs to the SME sector to access business information services.Originality/value – The study provides data on which future developmen...

Use of community radio to communicate agricultural information to Zimbabwe's peasant farmers

Purpose – This paper aims to report an investigation into the benefits and limitations of radio to communicate agricultural information to peasant farmers, and how it can be successfully incorporated into agricultural extension service programs in Zimbabwe.Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative and qualitative research techniques were applied to gather, analyze and interpret data. A total of 25 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with peasant farmers in Ward 16 of the Buhera South Constituency, and four in‐depth interviews were conducted with key informants in agricultural extension and radio services.Findings – Extension service programs do not satisfy the agricultural information needs of peasant farmers because: there are not enough extension workers; they do not have the means of transport to reach all households; they lack the communication skills to interact effectively with the peasant farmers; and they lack the motivation to carry out their work. A community radio service was the most pr...

The Hidden History of South Africa's Book and Reading Cultures

Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: The Significance of Common Readers in South Africa 1 Early Readers at the Cape, 1658-1800 2 Literacy, Class, and Regulating Reading, 1800-1850 3 The Womens Building of Nations: History Books in the Early Twentieth Century 4 Books for Troops in the Second World War 5 Politics and the Libraries, Part One: Book Theft, Intellectual Fraud, and Book Burning, 1950-1971 6 Politics and the Libraries, Part Two: Dissident Readers and Librarians in the 1980s Townships 7 Reading in Exile after Soweto, 1978-1992 8 Combating Censorship and Making Space for Books Conclusion: Revealing the Hidden Books and Hidden Readers Notes Index

Social epistemology, information science and ideology

Margaret Egan and Jesse Hauk Sheras original conception of social epistemology has never been defined unambiguously, or developed significantly beyond its early formulation. An interesting consequence of this lack of conceptual clarity has been the application of several interpretations of social epistemology. This article discusses how social epistemology was linked with the ideology of apartheid, and with racially segregated library and information services in the Republic of South Africa. In a fraudulent scientific vision for librarianship, social epistemology was assigned a role that violated its original purpose. The intellectual content of social epistemology needs to be articulated in order to prevent further examples of such conceptual abuse. The paper ends with an attempt to do this with some suggestions based on Sheras own seminal ideas.

To make the people of South Africa proud of their membership of the great British Empire: Home Reading Unions in South Africa, 1900-1914

This article examines the regulation of reading by two home reading unions operating in South Africa from 1900 to 1914. It challenges the view that reading is primarily regulated to sustain and support a particular economic order. The emphasis falls on cultural, gender, and political factors that mediated imperial and colonial views of guided reading during a fluid period in South African history.

Why epistemology matters

Epistemology is traditionally devoted to the study of the justification or the evaluation of the beliefs we have on the basis of some given body of evidence. Epistemology in library and information studies questions its assumptions and methods in order to test the reliability of its knowledge claims and to eliminate false claims and errors in models and theories.

Established democracies, Internet censorship and the social media test

Social media can test how firmly entrenched Internet freedom is in established democracies through a comparison with countries with an authoritarian track record. The method is to evaluate the use of social media in recent protests in a sample of established democracies and authoritarian regimes, and to compare differences and similarities in government responses.

Implementing a common library system for the Lesotho Library Consortium

Purpose – This paper seeks to report on an investigation of the implementation of a common library system for the Lesotho Library Consortium (LELICO). The outcome is to be a strategy for implementing the INNOPAC library system in LELICO.Design/methodology/approach – The paper drew on a survey of LELICO member libraries and the experiences of selected consortia and libraries in the Southern African region. The level of automation, financial status, preferred system properties, and the modules required by LELICO member libraries were the main areas of investigation. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent to the 12 heads of the LELICO member libraries, and there were follow‐up interviews with five library heads. Relevant sources were consulted to provide additional information.Findings – It was found that financial constraints influenced levels of computerisation in the majority of LELICO member libraries. It was also found that the required modules are: Acquisiti...

'Blood from Stones': Censorship and the Reading Practices of South African Political Prisoners, 1960–1990

Abstract This article shows how political prisoners undermined censorship in the apartheid jails of South Africa. The jail diaries, authorized biographies, autobiographies, prison memoirs, interviews, and prison letters of more than fifty political prisoners and two prison censors are analyzed to describe the reading practices of South African political prisoners. The article, demonstrating the ways in which readers regulate their own reading space, concludes that the books that ended up fortuitously or filtered by censors in prison libraries in South Africa and in the possession of political prisoners, profoundly affected their thinking. From information fragments the prisoners reconstructed news and life experiences denied to them by prison authorities. Reading in a way that subverted the intentions of the censors in effect allowed the prisoners to continue their political struggle.

Charting the transformation of library and information services

A charter cannot transform library and information services without political champions, public pressure, norms and standards, legislation, and a transformed mind-set.