VUT Library’s celebrates the South African Library Week 2024
By: Thabisang Thebeeapelo- 28 March 2024
As From March 18 to 24 March 2024 libraries across the country celebrated the South African Library Week (SALW), and the Vaal University of Technology’s (VUT) Library was no exception.
The South African Library Week which is driven by the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) in partnership with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, is an annual event celebrated by all libraries in South Africa. For the year 2024, the library week was themed: ‘Libraries Fostering Social Cohesion.’ According to LIASA, the theme underscores the role libraries play in uniting communities, as they serve as hubs where people from diverse backgrounds can come together to exchange ideas, and to learn and engage in cultural and intellectual activities.
This year, the VUT Library team reached out to the university community about their understanding of Social Cohesion and how they think the library can foster social Cohesion at VUT.
Mr. Sihle Blose, Marketing and Quality Assurance Coordinator at the VUT Library stated that, they would like to see positive interpersonal relations between students and staff members. He added that this will foster a sense of belonging for all university community members, where each member contributes to the bigger picture of the university.
Here are some of the responses on social cohesion that were received by the library team from the students:
“I think there are few ways the library can promote social cohesion. Firstly, the library could host events and activities that bring students together, like book clubs, study groups or guest speakers. Secondly, the library spaces that encourage collaboration and conversation like open work areas or social lounges and thirdly the library could offer programs and resources that helps students to develop sense of belonging and connection to the university community” – Providence Hlatswayo
“The university library has played a vital role in both my academic and social life, because since going to the library I managed to make some friends and grew my social intelligence and one thing I will like the library to change is increasing computers because sometimes it is full and want to study to do an assignment” – Kholofelo Maidi
“Social Cohesion is a term that describes inclusiveness and solidarity within a society. The VUT Library can encourage social cohesion by creating a space where students from diverse backgrounds, and across different faculties can access information and collaborate to exchange knowledge via various organized community-building workshops, events or even activities.” – Refilwe Moloi
According to Mr Blose, based on these responses, the VUT Library proves to have a great potential to provide a platform for meaningful engagement on various topics on social cohesion and they are open to partnering with any department in the university to realise this. “Moreover, it is essential for academic institutions like VUT to actively promote social cohesion among its members as promoting social cohesion can be one of the pillars of marketing the university to attract funders and fuel the university’s endeavors. This will assist the university in attracting the best students from all over the country.”