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The Report of the Inter‐departmental Committee on the Libraries of the Union of South Africa of 1937 resembled closely in substance and in spirit the Report on New Zealand libraries of Munn and Barr in 1934, and that of Munn and Pitt on Australian libraries in 1935, a resemblance arising no doubt from a similarity of historical circumstances within the three dominions: new countries with small populations; the institution, to meet the needs of small reading circles in scattered areas, of libraries like those of nineteenth‐century England; the preoccupation of the peoples with the more immediate demands of living and with the exploitation of natural resources. These old institutions have tended to linger, being private or semi‐private, less susceptible to change and becoming more and more anachronistic, less able to play the part expected of a modern library, while the new have developed slowly and only here and there as yet will they bear comparison with the best in the older countries. These reports of the thirties witness the fact that the majority of public libraries were ‘subscription’ libraries of nineteenth‐century pattern, small in size and lacking in quality of stock; that the largest municipal libraries and the university libraries were insufficiently stocked, the chief strength reposing in the national libraries. And the reasons: lack of money or, more truthfully, the withholding of money needed for library and bibliographical purposes, itself the outcome partly of public and official apathy and procrastination, and partly of ignorance of the advantages derivable from modern library and bibliographical services; the paucity of trained staff to teach and by practical example to spread ideas and increase understanding; in the case of Australia and South Africa, the vastness of the territory to be covered and the sparsity, of settlement involving intricate organization and considerable costs, and in South Africa the existence of two European racial groups and consequent bilingualism which often call for parallel collections. A decade has, of course, elapsed since Munn and Pitt wrote that ‘most Australians have had no contact with a progressive and complete library system and know nothing of its functions and facilities’ and since the South African committee reported that ‘in library development the Union of South Africa lags behind the rest of the civilised world’; and much has been accomplished in the meantime, but the South African condemnation is still broadly justified, though there are individual libraries to which it does not apply.

The study aims to present a comparative analysis of available Web 2.0 tools in library websites of selected Nigerian and South African universities.

Content analysis was adopted as the design for the study. Twenty university library websites comprising ten top-ranking Nigerian universities and ten top-ranking South African universities were sampled for data collection. Five research questions developed and answered.

The findings show that the use of Web 2.0 tools in the selected universities is encouraging. There are more Web 2.0 tools available on the South African university library websites. The South African university libraries are ahead of their Nigerian counterparts in terms of the integration of Web 2.0 tools, e-resources and e-databases and provide platforms for easy retrieval of information by their users. There are more e-resources available on the South African university library websites compared with their Nigerian counterparts. e-Journals are the most available e-resources in the selected university library websites of both countries. Similarly, more academic e-databases are available on the South African university library websites, whereas only few are listed on the web pages of the selected Nigerian university library websites.

Because available studies seem to ignore the possibility of comparing one university library’s website with another, conducting a study such as this will provide an insight and idea on the types of features, tools and applications to be included on university library websites. This will be useful for university whose library is planning to develop a website.

Because of the wide variation reported in this study concerning available tools and resources on the university library websites in South Africa and Nigeria, it is recommended that African universities should come up with a standard that will mandate universities to have a certain number of tools identified in this study on their various university websites.

GUEST editor of this South African issue of THE LIBRARY WORLD is Hendrik M. Robinson, Director of Library Services, Transvaal Provincial Administration, Pretoria.

The purpose of the article is to review the historical development in South Africa of library and information service associations, and to highlight events in the process that culminated in the founding in 1997 of the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA).

This is a general review from 1930 to the present, based on published and unpublished material and personal engagement. Some analysis of the significance of events from a current perspective is included. The paper covers the founding in 1930 of the South African Library Association, attempts in the 1960s and 1970s to achieve greater recognition for libraries by government, the transformation of SALA in 1980 into the graduate South African Institute for Library and Information Science; and, in the early 1990s and the first years of democratic rule in South Africa, the emergence of “alternative” “democratic” library and information science (LIS) associations and initiatives. Participation in the 1991‐1992 African National Congress‐based National Education Policy Initiative (NEPI) led to a number of shared LIS events in the mid‐1990s that bridged the apartheid years and prepared the ground for LIASA. The rise of other significant but smaller specialist associations and their subsequent relationship with LIASA is also described.

In addition to documenting events, this paper reveals the continuing efforts on the part of members of the LIS sector over 75 years to exercise influence on government and in the broad community. Problems identified in 1929 are still reflected in 2005.

The value of the paper lies in its use of unpublished ephemeral records and the use and consolidation of information in scattered and previously unused published sources.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the historical development of libraries in South Africa against a backdrop of poverty and social inequality. In particular, this paper illustrates how the development of libraries in South Africa both reflected and influenced information poverty and has as its goal to increase awareness of the role of libraries in the alleviation of information poverty.

The information in this paper is based on doctoral research completed by the author who investigated the role of libraries in the alleviation of information poverty in South Africa. The methodology for the research included two case studies, interviews, examination of library records, and observation. An extensive review of the professional literature and recorded histories provided imperative context for that research and this paper.

Findings indicate that libraries can play an important role in the alleviation of information poverty in South Africa. Libraries are underutilized in this role and in order to increase their capacity in addressing information poverty, one should consider the historical circumstances behind the dispossession of library services. Understanding the development of libraries in South Africa and sociopolitical ramifications of this development can encourage and inform greater participation of libraries in the alleviation of information poverty in the future.

This paper compiles the work and findings of previous studies on the history of South African libraries. The information provided here offers an accessible and efficient history of libraries in South Africa. In so doing, it provides context that is invaluable to the understanding of how the development of libraries throughout time can have sociopolitical effects on the people and their circumstances. The paper also encourages increased understanding of the value and purpose of libraries in combating information poverty in South Africa.

South Africa, as a new democracy, is currently driven by a vision of reconstruction and development. In the South African library environment, the focus is on rectifying serious inequalities in access to libraries and information and to address the demand for a more equitable distribution of library resources. These aspects, as well as economic factors, compel South African librarians to rethink the traditional ways of resource sharing and the development of library collections. The shift is towards an innovative resource‐sharing policy and subsequent formation of strategic alliances and the delivery of articles on demand as an alternative to the purchasing of journals. This involves the establishment of a library catalogue accessible to all and effective request and delivery mechanisms to meet the requirements posed by conditions in South Africa. The capabilities of advanced technology offer powerful means to meet these new challenges faced by libraries in South Africa.

This paper investigates the fit for purpose of the flip model proposed by Max Planck Society and Plan S for the African environment. This flipped model is examined against the backdrop of African imperatives, which is much broader than just flipping a journal pricing model from subscription to open access. This paper also seeks a viable alternative model that supports the growth of African scholarship and the dissemination thereof.

This paper adopts a descriptive research methodology, which allows for an in-depth analysis of a phenomenon. By using this method, this paper describes a flip model proposed by global north entities, which do not augur well for the growth of the OA movement in Africa.

The findings demonstrate that the global north centric flipped model exacerbates the inequality in the publishing landscape by further marginalizing the research voices from the global south. Africa is in dire need of an alternative that denorthernizes the publishing landscape, promote equity and equality, and is more inclusive of the research voices from Africa. South African academic libraries have demonstrated their willingness to experiment with and roll-out library publishing services. This proof of concept has been extended into a continental platform for the publication and dissemination of African scholarship.

This paper will be of interest to those who are grappling with viable alternatives to the current flip models, which include, inter alia, university leadership. This paper will also be of interest to global north libraries who are embarking on library publishing without the social justice obligation but are committed to the OA movement.

The purpose of the paper was to survey transformational leadership traits in three academic libraries in the Gauteng province in South Africa. The three academic libraries were chosen based on the fact that two of the universities were residential research-intensive universities and the third was an academic library of a distance learning university.

The study adopted a quantitative approach with a survey design in three academic libraries in the Gauteng province in South Africa in which a close-ended questionnaire yielded quantitative data. The study included 29 academic staff from the rank of assistant librarian to the director from the three academic libraries, as these are the personnel in leadership positions. To code and analyse, quantitative data from a Likert scale, SPSS version 25 was used. Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate the instrument's reliability on the five constructs used in this study to determine readiness to adopt a transformational leadership style. The overall level of internal consistency exceeded the theoretical minimum of 70 percent. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to determine the normality of the data and the p values were greater than 0.05 (p > 0.05). Tables have been used to present descriptive and inferential statistics based on data.

Participants expressed favourable opinions about academic libraries' ability to learn from the best practices of others in the profession, with mean scores greater than 3.5 on a 5.0 scale. Participants' perceptions of transformative versus traditional management styles yielded a moderate mean score of 3.0, with moderate mean scores ranging from 2.8 to 3.3. The average score for talent identification and succession planning in academic libraries was 3.5. Perceptions of leadership responsibilities had a mean score of 4.1, with attributes on leadership responsibilities scoring at least 3.5. Perceptions of problems for the next generation of leaders in academic libraries were moderate, with a mean score of 3.2 on a scale of 5.0.

Only three of the seven public university libraries in the Gauteng province in South Africa were surveyed in this study. The sample size was reasonably small for generalizations beyond the South African Gauteng province academic libraries. However, it was felt useful for this particular case. A survey of all 26 South African public universities is required to assess transformational leadership traits in academic libraries.

Next-generation leaders in South African academic libraries are perceived as not being aggressive in terms of team building, coaching and motivating others.

In the wake of COVID-19, new leadership traits such as scenario planning are needed for academic libraries.

Leadership studies abound in the library and information studies (LIS) profession and they are not new. However, research on transformational leadership in South African libraries is still in its early stages. As a result, this study fills a gap in the literature on transformative leadership in academic libraries in South Africa.

Considers the changes that have taken place, particularly during the past two years, and the impact that these changes have had on the interlending and document supply field in terms of the use of the service by libraries, the quality of the service, bridging the information and digital divide, players in the field, access to information and overlapping services. The focus is on South Africa, but information and experiences from other countries have been used to illustrate the South African situation.

The purpose of the paper is to present the influence open access initiatives (OAIs) have on journal cancellations in university libraries in South Africa.

The paper is based on part of a doctoral research project which examined the crisis in scholarly communication and its effect on university libraries in South Africa that was carried out at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 2005 to 2009. Part of the investigation focused on open access (OA) and how it influenced journal cancellations. The survey methodology was adopted and the study used a quantitative approach to collect data on the influence of OA.

The findings revealed that OAIs had a very limited influence on journal cancellations in South African university libraries.

The study presents data that can be used by university libraries to develop, support and facilitate access to local research.

The study provides data on which future developments in OA as a solution to university library journal cancellations could be based.