Research data management practices and services in South African academic libraries

Research data is being produced at a rapid rate in a wide variety of digital forms in academic and research institutions, however, this data is most prone to loss due to mismanagement. Proper management and preservation of this research data is essential for productivity, securing grant funding, enabling collaboration, increases data sharing, ensuring accessibility and the future use of data. Although academic libraries have recognised a need for effective management of research data, however, the management of their fast-growing number of research data poses major challenge to academic librarianship. The purpose of this study was to investigate the research data management practices and services within academic libraries in South Africa, in order to suggest solutions for effective research data management. Review of literature revealed that academic libraries are experiencing difficulties in managing their research data because of the absence of established policies and standards, inadequate standardised storage infrastructure, time constraint to organise data, limited funding, inadequate resources, lack of skills and training in managing research data and lack of incentives for researchers to share their data. All these challenges have created the dire need for best practices and solutions in ensuring proper management and long-term preservation of research data of enduring value in the academic libraries. Effective research data management strategies are thus needed to protect the enormous financial and time investments that have been made by mitigating data loss and avoiding the need for duplication of efforts to recreate lost data. The study suggests the need for implementation of research data management policies and strategies, provision of adequate resources, sufficient funding, collaborative approach and capacitating research data managers and administrators

Reflection on supervising Information Science and Technology postgraduate students at South African Universities: best practices for transformational learning

Supervising postgraduate students especially online supervision can be a daunting task that brings several unique challenges. This article reflects on my supervision experiences, the challenges faced by research supervisors in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the strategies to improve the research supervision practices. The article draws upon my own experiences at both residential and distance learning universities and for the past four years as a research supervisor. My supervision reflection begins with my time at the University of South Africa (UNISA), where I cut my teeth as a Senior Lecturer, and have learned several valuable experiences and practices related to teaching undergraduate students, supervising postgraduate students (honours, masters and PhDs), writing research articles and be involved in community engagement or research projects. I have learned that students need to be prepared for postgraduate level and research supervision thus need to be treated with as much significance as teaching at undergraduate levels. I have also learned that the success of postgraduate education largely relies on effective supervision, however, the effective supervision is a two-way process involving both supervisor and student’s commitment. more about humanizing pedagogy. In addition, I have learned that supervisors need to develop and maintain good and harmonious relationship with their student, for the successful completion of postgraduate study or research project. As supervisors we thus need to apply humanizing pedagogy in the supervision relationship. I hope that my reflective experiences and suggested strategies will assist in providing effective supervision and the highest standards of scholarship in Higher Education Institutions, globally and South Africa in particular

A framework for preservation of digital resources in academic libraries in South Africa

The aim of the study was to examine the implementation of digital preservation practices in academic libraries in South Africa in the light of the rapid changing information environment. The study looked into the strategies, systems and tools being employed to support digital preservation programmes and the costs associated with the various digital preservation programmes. The study was guided by various digital preservation theories and models,namely Davies’ (2000) Policy, Strategy and Resources (PSR) troika model, Kenney and McGovern’s (2003) three leg stool, Corrado and Moulaison‘s (2014) preservation triad and the Carnegie Mellon University’s (1990) Digital Preservation Capability Maturity (DPCM) model and Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model by OCLC (2002), underpinned by the survey research design, triangulation of questionnaires and document analysis as data collection methods. Out of 27 questionnaires distributed to academic institutions, 22 (81.5%) were completed. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive analysis whilst content analysis was used for qualitative data obtained from document analysis. Findings revealed that academic libraries in South Africa were significantly affected by the changes to the digital environment. Most academic libraries face many challenges that hinder the effective implementation of digital preservation. The problems include: lack of funding, lack of skills and training and technology obsolescence. The study identified migration, bit preservation, replication and risk management approaches as the most widely implemented preservation strategies to address preservation challenges faced by academic libraries in South Africa. Although various preservation systems and tools are being developed to enable description, discovery, delivery and preservation of digital collections, there was expressed lack of awareness about digital preservation standards and preservation support organisations. The study also observed that, in some instances, the academic institutions were not fully involved in collaborative and partnerships with other institutions. By collaborating and partnering with other institutions, they would be exposed to new ideas, strategies and tools, and be able to acquire knowledge and skills needed to successfully preserve and manage their digital resources. The findings revealed that the implementation of policies and strategies, provision of adequate resources, sufficient funding and digital preservation knowledge and skills are some of the major factors influencing digital preservation sustainability in academic libraries. This study, therefore, recommends that these institutions can address some of the digital preservation challenges if they leverage on these factors. The study also made several recommendations on how digital preservation can be successfully implemented, and it further proposed a framework for preservation of digital resources in academic libraries, mapped to international preservation models and standards.Information ScienceD. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science

Trustworthiness of institutional repositories in academic libraries in South Africa

The open access movement in scholarly communication has grown considerably over the past two decades and it has driven an increase in the number of Institutional Repositories (IRs). Academic libraries in South Africa have so far made great advancement towards developing IRs to preserve, manage and to provide open access to digital scholarship of the universities. Open access’s fundamental principle is to make the intellectual output more visible, accessible, searchable and useable by any potential user, and that is indispensable in the quest for long-term access and delivery of authentic digital information. Although many researchers believe that open access has positive implications for research, open access platforms such as IRs are often not trusted, especially because they are offering free access to digital scholarship. Therefore, the question is whether the institutional repositories implemented in South African academic libraries can be regarded as Trusted Digital Repositories (TDRs) to achieve their mission as to provide reliable, long‐term access to managed digital resources to its designated community, now and in the future, and if they meet the criteria and requirements of the TDRs. This underscores the need to assess the trustworthiness of IRs by looking at the entire system in which the digital scholarship is managed, including the institution running the repository; its governance; organizational structure and staffing; policies and procedures; financial fitness and sustainability; legal issues, security issues, compliance with standards, liabilities under which IR must operate and trusted inheritors of data, as applicable. Recommendations suggest the need for implementation of policies and strategies, provision of adequate resources, sufficient funding, collaborative approach and capacitating IRs managers and administrators

The use of metadata systems for the preservation of digital records in cultural heritage institutions

Many studies concur that most of the world’s heritage resources, including digital records, are highly vulnerable to loss, and some cannot be recovered due to neglect or mismanagement. Strategies are thus needed to ensure long-term preservation and global access to digital records of enduring value. Metadata systems have been regarded as a suitable strategy to support digital preservation processes and prevent digital records loss within cultural heritage institutions. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the adoption of metadata systems in cultural heritage institutions in South Africa. This study utilised literature review to critically examine the use of metadata systems for the preservation of digital records in cultural heritage institutions. Although various preservation systems and strategies are being developed to enable description, discovery and delivery of digital records, the findings revealed that South African cultural heritage institutions’ level of metadata system adoption is low. This is due to lack of awareness about metadata schemas and standards, lack of technical expertise, inadequate funding and lack of technological infrastructure. Several recommendations are made to enhance preservation of digital records, including increasing awareness and the implementation of metadata systems, schemas and policies