The Executive Mayor of Mogale City Local Municipality, Lynn Pannall expressed her appreciation for the three year partnership agreement between the municipality and the University of South Africa (UNISA) last week.
Kagiso and Krugersdorp Central libraries will be the sites for innovative collaboration between UNISA and the municipality for the benefit of Mogale-based UNISA students.
Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Sports, Arts, Recreation and Culture, Themba Mokoena applauded the initiative and the catalytic role it will play in alleviating the plight of students who are unable to reach UNISA libraries.
“Mogale City has a diverse range of students from different financial backgrounds ranging from the haves, who can afford to visit this institution of higher learning to go and utilise the available resources to the have-nots whose main concern is where the next meal is coming from. This is an indication that going to the UNISA library in Pretoria is an insurmountable hurdle for these students,” MMC Mokoena said.
UNISA students can now access the following services from the two libraries:
• Request items from UNISA library to be couriered to either Kagiso or Krugersdorp Public Libraries for collection
• Return requested items to Krugersdorp or Kagiso Public Libraries to be couriered to UNISA library
• Information literacy training and support on use of technology and library resources
• Internet access and usage in relation to databases, electronic reserves and journals as well as electronic books
• Provision of study space
The event was attended by officials from the municipality, Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Recreation and Culture; UNISA led by their Director: Information Resources Distribution, who also doubles up as president of Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), Ms Segametsi Molawa as well as Mogale-based UNISA students.
MMC Mokoena encouraged all students to embrace this opportunity with both hands and make the best use of it so that they can be the best that they can be. He sealed the agreement by quoting the words of Mahatma Ghandi when he said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Issued by Mogale City Local Municipality