Enjoy the

Festive Season

Geniet die

Feesseisoen

2012

In this issue: / In hierdie uitgawe:

___________________________________________

Birthdays/Verjaarsdae
Januarie/January
Februarie/February
Maart/March
Staff news / Personeelnuus
Did you know? / Het jy geweet?
	Brief van die Redaksie / Letter of the Editor
	Director's Year End Message /Direkteurs Jaareindboodskap
	UPLS 100: A Centenary of Success
	VET Books for Africa
	BMS & Dentistry Library
	How do dogs and libraries go together?
	Honesty in the age of copying and pasting
	A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do…
	Embedded Librarianship at the UPLS
	New e-books
	Special Collections book of the month

If you have any feedback, regarding this newsletter, article ideas or suggestions,

please contact the editorial staff:

Indien jy enige terugvoer, artikels,

voorstelle het vir of oor hierdie nuusbrief,

kontak asseblief die redaksie:

Carin Bezuidenthout

Articles/

Artikels

carin.bezuidenhout@up.ac.za

of / or

Diana Gerritsen

Design and Layout /

Ontwerp en Uitleg

diana.gerritsen@up.ac.za

Birthdays

May this birthday be the beginning of the best years of your life.

Verjaarsdae

Mag hierdie verjaardag die begin wees van die beste jare in jou lewe.

Staff news Personeelnuus

Congratulations to ....... / Baie geluk aan .......

Sonto Mabena attended the last Leadership Academy and received her certificate at a gala event. She passed her Research Report with distinction.

Tomothy Mathebe who was blessed with a daugther.

Elsa Coertze wat 'n kleindogter ryker geword het.

We bid farewell to the following staff members / Ons sê totsiens aan die volgende personeellede

Ivy Khangale who resigned.

Our condolences to ........ / Ons innige simpatie aan ........

Joël & Ernest Sefolo's who's brother passed away.

Rieta Otto wie se seun oorlede is.

Cora Bezuidenhout se man oorlede is.

In Memory of our colleague the late Mr Errol Christy Keet (14/01/1982-18/11/2012)     A Eulogy for Errol Keet   Errol started working at the UPLS in March earlier this year.  Together with Johan he was responsible for the operational management of the Research Commons (RC).  During the hours which he did not work in the RC, he assisted with calls and tasks allocated to him by the IT department.  Part of his responsibilities was to assist in the auditorium and training rooms on level 3.  Therefore most of the UPLS staff knows him as the guy who assisted with IT problems in those areas.  He also assisted many of us when our office computers gave problems.  Colleagues I speak to, remember him as a friendly and helpful person.   While training Errol and Johan on information specialist skills, I was impressed by his intelligence and the insight of his questions. One of the interesting things he shared with us while I was training them on Refworks, was that he wrote a book and might use Refworks to do the citations, as the book had many citations in it.  In the week, after Errol’s death was announced in the RC, one of the students came across a blog of his, called ‘In the shadow of God:  A Blog where he shared his thoughts and aspirations’.  This was the book he told me about.  I read this over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised, especially by his poetry.   From Errol’s book: “God is always the architect of our lives. He alone has the blue print of our past and future. Often in my life I struggled to fit in, or perhaps society struggled to fit in with me, my beliefs, values and perceptions. When I look back on my life I am astonished of all the miracles my Good Lord has done throughout my insignificant life. I’ve always been a dreamer, a visionary; I’ve always seen myself doing the impossible, like the heroes that I’ve read about in books and legends of old. But life is no fairy-tale. Yes I’ve loved, lived to the extreme and died figuratively a million times.   You are the key to your heaven or hell. Never forget that this is a cruel world. It's getting worse by the hour. So everyday take some time to discover you. Aren't you tired of what you've heard other people has discovered about you? You only live once, enjoy living your life. You only love once, enjoy loving for as long as your eyes can see. You only die once, learn to accept the fact that you won't live forever but owes your beautiful life a new beginning and death is merely an eternal passage leading you to immortality. Yes Death is the living's last kind fool. Give as much of yourself to everybody you meet. Smile more, laugh more, explore nature, wish upon stars, and let your life be filled with breath-taking moments. Shame that fool death. I am proud to say that I do not fear death, I embrace it. It serves its purpose just like all of us. But there are evil people that at certain times invite death into our lives a little bit too soon.”   What I have learned from Errol’s tragic death and his blog is this:  We should not be that quick to judge one another.  I have no experience of the life he lived, nor the experiences he lived through.  We should be much more tolerant towards one another and always be aware that we all have an impact on one another’s lives.  We cannot control what is going on at our colleagues’ homes and in their personal lives, but we can strive to make our workplace a place where everybody feels worthy and accepted for who they truly are.   I would like to end with a poem written by Errol in 2009:    Music & my Heart   My breath are taken away Am I alive or am I death I can hear music in the far distance It must be God’s angels singing and Playing sweet melodies on the bridge to sweet eternity  It seems impossible because all I see is musical instruments  It must be true  Music is but a bridge between Heaven and Earth  My heart finds comfort  As I reminisce on days gone by I loved I laughed I lived I owe this world I left behind nothing My heart is free Finally I can see All the Beauty that surrounded me all my life Music in my eyes Oh Music in my heart It must be the sensual sweet seduction of its rhythm and its melodies I will be a lover Still Even in the Heavens   Copyright ©2009 Errol Keet   Contributed by Sunette Steynberg

Het jy geweet .......

Macadamia neute is giftig vir honde.

Did you know.......

When lightning strikes it can reach

up to 30,000 degrees Celsius

(54,000 degrees Fahrenheit).

Hoe vinnig het die jaar gevlieg! 2012 is op sy rug. Dit    was ‘n besige jaar propvol opwinding en harde werk. Die jaar se nuusbriewe het berig gelewer oor boekdonasies, die e-Learning Seminaar, konferensies en symposia wat  plaaslik en oorsee bygewoon is, aktiwiteite in die Africana-afdeling, LIASA se bedrywighede, die Open Access kantoor se werk, die nuwe verbeterde Musiekbiblioteek,  nuus van Sirkulasie, nuus van die Katalogiseerders, Ujala se afskeidsbrief, die Carnegie-projekte, nuus van die Mediese Biblioteek, die inligtingsgeletterdheid opleiding aan die eerstejaar studente, die biblioteek se gewysigde ure, ‘n Springer werkswinkel, die nuwe UPSpace 1.7.2, die Silence Campaign, studente met spesiale behoeftes, die E-Strategy Marketing and Training event en nog vele meer.

Hierdie oorsig laat mens opnuut besef hoe bedrywig die jaar was en hoeveel ons bereik het. Baie geluk aan almal wat doelwitte bereik het en projekte suksesvol afgehandel het.

Die Redaksie wens al die personeel ‘n rustige, vreedsame  en geseënde vakansie en Kersfees toe. Mag julle gevul word met die ware betekenis van Kersfees.

Kersseisoengroete van die redaksie

Carin Bezuidenhout

en

Diana Gerritsen

How fast the year has passed! 2012 is over. It was a very busy year filled with excitement and hard work. The year’s newsletters reported on book donations, the e-Learning Seminar, conferences and symposia attended locally and abroad, activities in the Africana unit, LIASA’s affairs, the work of the Open Access office, the new improved Music Library, news from Circulation, news from the Cataloguers, Ujala’s farewell letter, the Carnegie projects, news from the Medical Library, the information literacy training for the first year students, the library’s new opening hours, a Springer workshop, the new UPSpace 1.7.2, the Silence Campaign, students with special needs, the E-Strategy Marketing and Training event and much more.

This overview makes you realise how busy we were during this year and how much we have achieved. Congratulations to all on goals reached and projects successfully completed this year.

The Editors wish all the staff a calm, peaceful and blessed holiday and Christmas. May you be inspired by the true meaning of Christmas.

Festive season regards from the Editors

Carin Bezuidenhout

and

Diana Gerritsen  

Congratulations to all of us – the staff members of the

UPLS!!!

This is a strange but at the same time an appropriate way to start my end of the year message to you. Yes it is appropriate that we congratulate ourselves on a  job well done. The users of our services have confirmed this by ranking the Library number one out of the ten support services that they evaluated in the first half of 2012. Thank you to all of you for enabling the Library to achieve such excellent results in this survey, the purpose of which was to gauge the level of satisfaction among the UP staff members with these support services.

2012 has been a unique year for the UPLS. It was made unique and special by the centenary celebration that we had on 12 October. A centenary is a significant milestone. We are privileged in that the responsibility of taking the UPLS into the 2^nd century of its existence has fallen into our hands. This is a huge responsibility.

2012 ushered in the new five-year strategic plan for the UPLS. It is significant that this new plan was launched this year since it is through this plan that we will launch the UPLS in its second century of its existence. Those who will come after us will refer to this strategic plan as the first strategic plan of the 2^nd century of the UPLS. Our biggest challenge will be to implement this plan successfully. I am certain that we are equal to the task as has been demonstrated by the many achievements that the UPLS has attained up to  now.

These achievements were made possible by the dedicated and committed staff members of the UPLS and the on-going support afforded by members of the UP Executive. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to say thank you to the UPLS staff members for their hard work, professionalism and dedication. On behalf of the UPLS staff members I wish to thank the members of the UP Executive for their support and encouragement.

I wish you and your families blessed Christmas holidays. May 2013 bring with it health, happiness and prosperity for each one of you.

Robert Moropa

Director

Geluk aan almal van julle – die personeel van UPBD!!!

Dis ‘n eienaardige maar ook baie geskikte manier om my jaareindboodskap aan julle mee te begin. Ja, dis baie reg dat ons onsself geluk wens op ‘n taak wel gedaan. Die gebruikers van ons dienste het dit bevestig toe hulle ons in die eerste helfte van 2012 aangewys het as eerste uit die tien ondersteuningsdienste in ‘n opname wat daarop gemik was om die UP personeel se vlak van tevredenheid met die dienste te bepaal.

2012 was ‘n unieke jaar vir die UPBD. Dit is uniek en spesiaal gemaak deur ons eeufeesviering op 12 Oktober. ‘n Eeufees is ‘n belangrike mylpaal.  Ons is bevoorreg deurdat die verantwoordelikheid om die UPBD in sy tweede eeu in te lei op ons skouers rus. Dit is ‘n groot verantwoordelikheid.

2012 is gekenmerk deur implementering van die nuwe vyf-jaar strategiese plan. Dit is betekenisvol dat die nuwe plan hierdie jaar geimplementeer is, want dit is met hierdie plan dat ons die UPBD in sy tweede eeu inlei. Diegene wat nà ons kom, sal na hierdie strategiese plan verwys as die eerste strategiese plan van die UPBD in sy tweede eeu. Ons grootste uitdaging sal wees om die plan suksesvol te implementer. Ek is seker dat ons opgewasse vir die taak sal wees soos gedemonstreer deur die UPBD se baie prestasies tot op datum.

Die prestasies is moontlik gemaak deur die toewyding en harde werk van die UPBD personeel en die voortdurende ondersteuning wat hulle van die UP uitvoerende bestuur ontvang. Ek wil derhalwe van hierdie geleentheid gebruik maak om dankie te sê aan die UPDB personeel vir hulle harde werk, professionalisme en toewyding. Namens die UPBD personeel wil ek graag die UP uitvoerende bestuur bedank vir hulle ondersteuning en aanmoediging.

Ek wens julle en julle gesinne ‘n geseënde Kersseisoen toe.

Mag 2013 vir elkeen van julle net geluk, voorspoed en gesondheid bring.

Robert Moropa

Direkteur

When Robert asked me in January of this year to organise the library’s centenary celebration activities, the committee came up with some ideas and we are very proud of the outcome. We decided on 10 goals that we wanted to achieve, to contribute to the celebration of the library’s century of success.

The goals were:

Digitisation of Hans Merensky collection: The collection is fully digitised and will move back to Westfalia in the very near future.

Creating a UPLS collection on UPSpace: (Long-term project)  We identified more material to be added to the collection, but the planning will be done when the Digitisation Office has the capacity to manage the project.

Publication of “The Merensky Story”: The book was published and available at the celebration function on 12 October.  It will be available on UPSpace before the end of the year

Powerpoint presentations for the plasma screens:  The PowerPoints featured on the plasma screens in the Merensky as well as Faculty libraries the month before the celebration function.  They will also be available on UPSpace.

Robert Moropa (UPLS Director) and Eggie Gerryts (former UPLS Director)     

The e-marketing project in September: This was a huge success and shows the way forward for the next century

The Newsletter: A special column dedicated to the Centenary.

Retired staff: The retired staff were invited to the function on 12 October and they enjoyed it very much.  They were grateful that we still acknowledge them as part of the Merensky family

The staff mosaic: This was one of the big hits of the celebrations.  We are sure that every staff member will know that he or she is a very important part of the success of the library

Celebration Day: The pictures tell the story of the successful celebrations...

...and what is a celebration without a cake with candles?

End-year function: This occasion will be the final function at the Blue Crane for the staff to celebrate the centenary.

To see more Year End function 2012 pictures click on the following URL:

Thank you to everyone who played a part in the celebrations. Your cooperation was the key to the success of the year long project.  We believe that the next 100 years and the generations to come will build on the success of the first Century of the UP Library Services.

Contributed by Magriet Lee

VET Books for Africa (VBFA) is almost synonymous with the Faculty of Veterinary Science and the veterinary library.

The project started in 1993 as a joint initiative between Erica van der Westhuizen, former head of our library and the then Onderstepoort Veterinary Student Council’s President, Gerhard Steenkamp, who is currently the veterinary dentist at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Animal Hospital. In that year, during April, three students went to veterinary university libraries in Zimbabwe and Zambia to donate books and journals. Erica joined the team and saw to it that 22 boxes of books were safely handed over to the libraries.

During the past decades this project has grown to become a full component of the Students’ Outreach Programme, with a trip undertaken every second year by a group of 6 to 8 students.

The goal is to assist fellow African veterinary students by supplying their university libraries with relevant learning material while at the same time building positive relations among aspiring veterinarians. The Veterinary faculties of universities in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique have been visited in the past.

The journeys last approximately six weeks when students leave Pretoria in late October or November in 4x4s filled with veterinary material and heads north into Africa for an exciting adventure.

A committee of approximately eight passionate students is formed for every new adventurous trip. The committee members are responsible for fundraising, finding sponsors, planning all the logistics and making the trip a reality. Their needs are vast and include veterinary textbooks, other publications and teaching material, 4×4 transportation, accommodation, fuel, food, visas, vaccinations and various other miscellaneous supplies. In the years before electronic communication was well established the students used the library’s telephones and fax machine to arrange all this.

This year the team departed on Monday, 29 October. They will be visiting the veterinary faculties of universities in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique. The group of exciting students sorted material stored in the library during the week before they left in preparation for the long awaited trip.  Alongside visiting the veterinary libraries they also planned to visit a number of charities, donating time as well as some much needed items! The charities they planned to visit are:

The KSPCA (Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals)
Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust
Wildlife Action Group
LSPCA (Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals)
Mamoli Mission Mozambique
AWARE (Animal and Wildlife Area Research and Rehabilitation)
Tanzania Animal Welfare Society

Institutions like Norpharm, Hydr8 Still Mineral Water, Educos, Boehringer Ingelheim and Avimune were included in the list of sponsors for the 2012 trip. Isuzu was one of their main sponsors who once again generously sponsored two 4x4 vehicles. Chris Cook from Valentine Design sponsored the team with the design of a brand new logo.

Another partner which joined the Vet Books for Africa project this year is the Silent Heroes Foundation (www.thesilentheroes.org). They made VBFA one of their many sponsored projects of 2012. Silent Heroes Foundation works in the field of wildlife conservation and veterinary medicine and has a variety of health projects throughout the region. They currently support 11 projects in 8 African countries and focus on a One Health perspective.

Although the students have by now taken complete ownership of this bi-annual project, it is good to know that the library was part of the birth of the project and is still actively involved in it. 

vbfa2012 Mozambique: The Team at the Veterinary Faculty of the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique, Nov 2012 — with Drikus Jansen Van Vuuren, Michael Ignatius Ferreira, Ben Muller, Alicia Chow, Andries Benjamin Fourie, Diana Fisher, Ashleigh Knowles and Jacqui Stafford

route2006: A Typical route for the VBFA project

vbfa logo: The VNFA logo designed by Chris Cook from Valentine Design

 

vbfa Lusaka Zambia 1993: Dean of the University of Zambia, School of Veterinary Medicine, members of the UNZA Student Committee & UP veterinary students Gerhard Steenkamp and Mark Penning

VBFA 1993: Gerhard Steenkamp, Johannes Moropotli, Ansie Earl, Sanah Mphaga, Antoinette Lourens, Amelia Breytenbach en Erica van der Westhuizen

Contributed by Susan Marsh

Jotello F Soga Library

Faculty of Veterinary Science

BMS & Dentistry Library centenary exhibition

BMS & DENTISTRY LIBRARY STAFF

Standing: Patrick Maibelo; Kabelo Nzima, Sophie Silinda

Seated: Suzy Nyakale; Amos Lusenga

Mamphuthi was absent due to examinations

Contributed by Suzy Nyakale

It was just after lunch during the quietest time in the library, after exams, when a client walked in to donate books. All of a sudden, there was this loud huffing and panting sounds following her... we all turned to have a look and two dogs made their entry. Oh dear, oh dear!! There were two huge Boerboels, not on leashes, black and white, one noseless, huffing and panting past our office doors. They went from one dustbin to the next, obviously looking for food.

Bang!! The office doors shut, leaving the poor circulation staff open and alone at the desk area.  The next thing we saw was one of our petite circulation staff members perched on top of the counter, crawling as she assisted the client.  All the while the client kept on saying “they are friendly dogs” not even calling them back. Imagine the terror having to do your job while surrounded by strange, huge, panting dogs! Everyone was so scared that we couldn’t remember Security’s numbers, just when we needed them.

The client marched out, leaving the dogs behind. Fortunately a student came in just at the right moment and led the dogs out and closed the door. Phew!! What a day it was. It’s funny now, but surely wasn’t that day.

Contributed by Suzy Nyakale

Honesty in the age of copying and pasting

Some days in your life you’re just taken by total surprise and confronted by the uniqueness of the human being!

I present the CIL 121 course to a specific group of students.  An assignment is part of the formal evaluation process, which I mark and then present the results to the lecturers. I started with real “intensive care” to these students a few years ago, because some of them struggle with all the new concepts. After explaining all the features of a good assignment, the Vancouver Reference Technique and the dangers of plagiarism, they assured me that they understand what we expect from them.  Assignments came in on the due date and as expected, a few students had to be called in to discuss the issue of the high level of plagiarism in their assignments.  They had to redo the assignments.

One student came back to me with his next attempt. I scanned it and noticed, to my horror that the plagiarised parts are exactly as it was before. I breathed in deeply and told him calmly that I think it is not the correct assignment that he presented, because it seemed to be very much the same as the first one.

The student looked at me and with all the honesty of the world in his eyes, voice and attitude he explained to me that he really DID NOT copy and paste; he retyped everything from the source with his own hands!

Sometimes the truth is really stranger than fiction.

Contributed by Myleen Oosthuizen

A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do…

On a daily basis the circulation staff has to deal with library users who need to pay fines. Whether it is for overdue or damaged books: when it comes to money matters and getting students to pay, you get to see as many reactions as hairstyles on campus…

The drama student gets a tear in the eye – really! - trying to tell you that she did renew in time etc. etc. Then you get those that pay with a smile – knowing that they are guilty or just don’t care.

But never in the past 20 years, had the Circulation staff experienced a situation like the one we had in March of 2012. This student was blacklisted for a book and when he returned it during the morning, a fine of R100.00 incurred. He was sent to the supervisor’s office to be reprimanded for keeping the book more than 8 months. Now, when you have a fine of more than R20.00 and you are blacklisted, your record is blocked on PeopleSoft as well – meaning you will get no exam results or e-access until your fine is settled. And this student didn’t have a R100.00.

That same afternoon, just after lunch the student reported to the pay point with R100.00 – all in R5 and R2 coins in a paper cup! He made himself a sign to wear around his neck and walked around campus asking fellow students for a donation in order to pay his library fine! This was one creative student -- and for those of you who wanted to know the title of the book that he kept for so long? The Holy Bible!

Contributed by the Circulation Desk

The University of Pretoria Library Services hosted a very successful Embedded Librarianship Seminar in the Merensky Library Auditorium on 31 October 2012.

The aim of the event was to investigate the embedded librarianship model at the University of Pretoria. The program was divided into three main topics: information literacy training; research support and embedded projects. All sessions consisted of vibrant, 10-minute “show-and tell” sessions - which provided an excellent opportunity for a number of colleagues to share their best practices, experience and ideas on this thrilling topic. Susan Scheepers, Sunette Steynberg and Maggie Maropane did a wonderful task in chairing the different sessions and guiding the discussions at the end of each session.

The event was attended by 55 people, which included our own library colleagues, lecturers of the Department of Information Science as well as a few librarians from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Tshwane University of Technology and GIBS.

In the first session Shirley Gilmore, Susan Marsh, Marguerite Nel and Sunette Steynberg enlightened the audience with their presentations on information literacy training embedded in the faculties of law, veterinary science, and chemistry respectively.

This was followed by very interesting presentations from several staff members portraying innovative projects. Estelle Grobler, Tertia Coetsee, Magriet Lee, Antoinette Lourens, Susan Scheepers and Refliwe Matatiele discussed embedded librarianship in context of opportunities ranging from the establishment of a new library at a mental health hospital and at a wildlife research station to an online community of practice and even a unique project involving Kindles as part of the library collection. Other interesting topics that were covered in this session included “’Em-bed’ with the librarian” by Estelle Grobler and “The blended hat of embedded librarianship” by Susan Scheepers.

The final session of the day focussed on embedded librarianship in research support. Aspects such as bibliometrics, research methodology, clickUP and support to postgraduate students in research proposal writing were covered by  Helmien van den Berg, Antoinette Lourens, Danie Malan, Sunette Steynberg and Liesl Stieger.

Ample time was set aside for all delegates to discuss the presentations and to formulate a definition of embedded librarianship at UPLS. Here follow some ideas and remarks that were singled out:

*  Embedded librarians have the ability to see opportunities

*  They know how to exploit technology to solve problems

*  Embedded librarians are inside research; deliver excellent service; are always on time with support and ideas; are available, reliable, creative, innovative, use opportunities and never-say-never

*  Embedded librarianship is all about relationships

Everybody agreed that the presentations were excellent and the discussions enriching. The day also provided novice presenters with a valuable opportunity to practice their skills in conference presenting.

The Power Point presentations and papers will soon be available on UPSpace.

At the end of this very successful day we concluded that our attitude should be the following: “ Just do it!”.

Contributed by Tertia Coetsee

Jotello F. Soga Library

Faculty of Veterinary Sciences

Skyfall …without 007

The Asterix fans will know that the Gauls in the famous cartoon series fear nothing, except the sky falling on their heads.  The staff members at the Medical Library are fearless – not even the sky was a threat – until Thursday 23 November.  We decided to have our annual Strategic Planning session here on campus and not at another venue as usual. Lunch was served in the library and on my way down from the Dean’s Board Room, I saw my colleagues at the Audio-visual section, staring in total disbelief at the chaos where 6 computers and a desk were buried under huge signage beams (by lack of a better description). The steel cables that were fixed into the concrete decided that 19 years is long enough and everything came down with a huge crash and a lot of noise.

The six computer screens, keyboards and mouses were crushed, three of them beyond repair.  It was the first time this year where there were no students working at the computers – usually a very popular place – and due to the planning session, not even Monica van Schalkwyk was at her work station.  Monica’s plants were in a bad shape and apart from the damaged computers and rubble the pots, soil, stones and leaves were all over the place.

Our first concern was the live electric wires. We had some more good luck and the electrician was available and solved the problem.  All the staff members except Mike Volschenk and Magriet Lee continued the planning session at the BMS library. We stayed to assess the damage and tell the story to the security staff, electrician, assessors and construction workers and to keep the users outside.

 It took four construction workers to remove the one beam and by 15:30 everything was almost back to normal – except for the cleaning, which we did the next day.  According to the assessors the damage is quite extensive but we are still waiting for the final quote.  Our main concern now is the other similar beams in the library.  There will be a lot of construction on top of the library next year, which can create a risky situation.

Apart from the sky falling on our heads, we all agree that 2012 was a very good year and that we have achieved even more than the goals we set for ourselves a year ago. With all the changes on the Health Sciences campuses, next year will be full of new challenges and opportunities.

Contributed by Magriet Lee

Shipwrecks & salvage in South Africa : 1505 to the

present © 1988 / Malcolm Turner

Comments  |   Catalogue link

The subject of shipwrecks has always been a fascinating one, and the treacherous South African coast the scene of a great number of shipping disasters. Some have become famous, such as the wrecking of the Grosvenor or the Birkenhead, while others are generally unknown.

In this book, the result of more than eight years' diligent and painstaking research, the author has brought together facts about close on a thousand wrecks that have occurred on the coast of South Africa, from the earliest recorded Portuguese wreck, that of a vessel of which the name has been lost to us, in 1505, to the latest notable shipwreck, that of the Dayang Family, in 1986.

All aspects of shipwrecks and salvage are covered in the text and illustrations, beginning with a historical overview. The causes of shipwrecks, cargoes, treasure hunts, the development of salvage techniques, and underwater archaeology are also discussed.  The lively, authoritative main text, which will delight the expert and the layman alike, is copiously illustrated with photographs (many of which have never previously been published), maps, paintings and line drawings. Many text boxes have been included, containing interesting side-notes to the main text, clarifications or broader perspectives.  The book is rounded off with an Alphabetical, Chronological and Geographical list of all the noteworthy shipwrecks that have occurred on our coast.  Shipwrecks and salvage in South Africa  is without a doubt the most comprehensive publication on the subject and will be indispesnible to anybody with an interest in shipwrecks.

Malcolm Turner was born in Great Britain in 1949 and has been involved in diving for more than 20 years.  His first scuba dive was at the age of 14 in the dolphin tank at the Port Elizabeth Oceanarium. Soon after he began diving in the open sea, and this eventually gave rise to his great interest in shipwrecks. He began his commercial diving career when he joined a team employed by the French diving company Comex, one of the largest and technically most advanced in the world.  His deepest intervention was to a depth of 159 m while diving off the oil-rig Sedco K on the Agulhas bank. He is a trained saturation diver and a registered commercial diving supervisor, and has undergone training as a South African Navy diver. Malcolm Turner has dived extensively along the coast of South Africa and Mozambique and has located and explored a great many shipwreck sites.  At the time of the writing he is living in Cape Town with his wife, Geraldine, and their two children.

Contributed by: Katrien Malan