Page 30 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

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ERSTEPOORT 100
upper floor area of the western wing was used as a reading room until 1985. It was occasionally also used as a function room. Librarian Yolanda Grundling moved the reading room back to Room 1, the original reading-cum-seminar room, which had also often been used as an examination room. New journals were originally placed on the tables in this room, proper display shelves only being introduced in the late 1970s. Before the western wing was built, Room 5 was divided into a toilet and a storeroom, according to the original plans. At one stage it also housed the Theiler museum which was subsequently moved to the old post office, originally built as a hostel. At present it houses the S.A. National Veterinary Museum.
The legacy of one bad decision can have an effect for many years afterwards. The contract for the binding of journals used to be held by a particular company with a good reputation. However, during the 1970s the contract was awarded to a different company. In addition to generally poor workman- ship, it used a type of vinyl which melts in hot weather and fuses volumes together. This still causes much frustration in summer. Sometimes it is necessary to literally rip volumes apart and damage is unavoidable. In addition, a letter by the librarian at the time complained that rats damaged the journals while they were in the company’s workshops!
Inside the library
Faculty remained dead, but from scratch it was alarmingly clear that such an arbitrary selection was not foolproof. Some of the dead classes subsequently became very much alive again. One interesting case is Agriculture. Though the Institute traditional- ly reported to a state Department of Agriculture (of which the name and organisational structure changed many times) and thereafter to the Agricultural Research Council, agricul- ture as a topic never featured prominent-
Political influences played a role in this era. One journal exchange agreement after another was terminated due to the intel- lectual boycott against apartheid South Africa. Interestingly, there was an instruction from DNE in the late 1980s that showed how far the government of that time was prepared to go in developing homelands. A list had to be compiled of veterinary books and journals with a budget for the founding of a homeland library. It is not clear whether this was for a veterinary library or a veteri- nary collection in a library of broader scope. However, the maintenance of a collection of journals duplicating that of Onderste- poort would have been very expensive. There is no indication that this library was ever founded. The reason is not known, but
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ly in the library. This is to some extent still the case. However, with the present emp- hasis on resource-poor agriculture, this class grew significantly in the 1990s. The animal production class, which is more the domain of the Animal Production Institute at Irene, also accumulated more books.
“The first computer entered the library in 1986. There was an investigation specifically about library computerization in 1985 and a submission was provided to the 1987 Infoplan investigation aimed at computerization of the Institute.”
The fact that disciplines often revolve
around the aetiological agents causing
disease, leads to the library often holding
information, especially journals, covering
ancillary disciplines. For example, an ento-
mology journal may cover human, animal
and plant entomology. The library could
therefore always participate actively in the
inter-library loan scheme of the country,
supporting medical and other libraries,
often as a major provider. In a report of 1967, it was men- tioned that in a 6-month period, the library requested 195 items, but delivered 1085 items! The library had just as good a standing as the Institute itself.
it occurred shortly before the political changes of the 1990s. The first computer entered the library in 1986. There was an investigation specifically about library computerization in 1985 and a submission was provided to the 1987 Infoplan investigation aimed at computerization of the Institute. The resulting formation of a Division of Information Management, which existed from 1988 to 1992, clustered the library together with other information related sections such as the
Computer Centre and Public Relations.
A Mrs Williams was apparently head librarian around
1950. Anna S. du Plessis reported that there was a formidable assistant with that name, and the good work that she performed is clear from the records. A leave form for a
The 50-year celebrations of the Institute in 1958 were still conducted in the central hall, but in 1961 it was converted into a stack facility in order to solve increasing space prob- lems. Two different types of shelving may, however, indicate different stages of occupation. Ten years later space was again a problem and plans for a western wing were drawn up. Building commenced in 1976 and was completed in 1978.
Over the years several reorganizations took place and different rooms were used for different purposes. The large
PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
1908-2008
Years