Page 32 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
The landmark South African publication that was first published during this period is the handbook Infectious Diseases of Livestock with Special
Reference to Southern Africa, Cape Town: Oxford University Press,
Southern Africa, 1994), edited by J.A.W. Coetzer, G.R. Thomson and R.C. Tustin, and its expanded second edition in 2004. This was
the first major handbook in this discipline since that by Henning in 1932. A more specialized work was The Genus Rhipicephalus (Acari, Ixodidae):
A Guide to the Brown Ticks of the World by Jane B. Walker, James E. Keirans and Ivan G. Horak (Cambridge University Press (2000)).
carried out at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and is reflected in the titles of journals subscribed to. The highly specialized nature of these journals means that they are not easily available on interlibrary loans. The collection develop- ment policy therefore needs to focus on them. In fact, the subscription list of 2007 hardly resembles
case. Air-conditioning for the reading room, a major issue in 1975, was at last resolved in 2007. The function of the hall as an assembly utility was restored in 2002, but in 2007 it was decided to put it under shelves again. Plans for additional shelving on rollers could not be implemented for financial
reasons.
The years 1998 to 2004 were very diffi-
cult from a financial point of view. In 1998 almost two thirds of the subscriptions were cancelled due to a cut in the overall budget of the ARC. It was even worse towards 2001 when the Rand became a very weak curren- cy but the situation slowly improved as the currency regained its strength. By 2007 strategies were developed to upgrade all ARC libraries, including a move to electronic corporate-wide platforms for journals. The library’s electronic catalogue already runs on a joint, corporate-wide system, according to modern principles.
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that of a veterinary library, being dominated by biotechnological, medical and other ancillary titles. The number of titles is also low compared to that reported at the 50th anniversary of the Institute. Then there were more than 700 titles, compared to 70 in 2007. These figures are misleading, however, taking into account that the 700 probably included non-active subscriptions as well as those later transferred to the faculty library.
Today few library processes do not
involve computers. However, much more
needs to be done to computerize the vast
holdings of the library into the library
management system. The internet had a
significant influence on the library world. Some of the journals to which the library subscribes are entirely in electronic form, others are hybrid and some are still received in paper form only. It is interesting to note that some problems described in a report of 1975, are still encountered in 2007. Photocopiers, like any machine, are always causing hassles. The lighting of some rooms was under discussion in 1975, and it is still the
David Swanepoel is fortunately still at the helm of the library at the time of writing, ably assisted by Alma Liebenberg, who was partially seconded in 2003 to the Public Relations Department to handle the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research. The following assistants were or are still employed: Dorah Chauke, Marthie Degenaar, Shirley Koekemoer, Samuel Lekalakala, Selinah Mataba, Karel Matlala, Rebeccah Matemane and Piet
Modiba.
“By 2007 strategies were developed to upgrade all ARC libraries, including a move to electronic corporate-wide platforms for journals. The library’s electronic catalogue already runs on a joint, corporate- wide system, according to modern principles.”
PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
08-2008
Y ars