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In this article we consider the configuration of the South African library and information services (LIS

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Mpumalanga Provincial Library Services offers public library services in a largely rural "new" province that was created in 1996 after the elections of 1994. Many of the libraries are in isolated areas and have to meet the very diverse needs of their communities. This paper reports the results of an information literacy intervention designed for public library workers in this province. The campaign, a first of its kind in Mpumalanga (and South Africa), gave public library workers the opportunity to develop their information literacy skills and to apply them in their libraries. This paper discusses the information and training needs that were identified, the campaigns that were constructed, their progress and the outcomes. From the outset, emphasis was placed on the importance of measuring and evaluating activities throughout their campaigns in order to be able to assess the impact of their interventions. The paper attempts to show what difference even small public libraries with unqualified library workers can make in tackling social exclusion in disadvantaged communities.

PurposeThis article explores how an innovation in the University Management Information System was leveraged to incorporate library data by an initially sceptical strategic management team. The rationale was to extract evidence of correlations between library use and student achievement. This kind of information is of particular interest to the institution, which is at present dealing with crises popularly summarised in the slogan "#FeesMustFall" among students who suffer from the effects of poverty and exclusion in higher education. • ApproachThe data extracted from the Data Warehouse was approached from the comparative demographic perspectives of students' degrees of disadvantage in an effort to uncover any hitherto hidden patterns of library use. • FindingsThe use of the library as expressed by footfall and loans was mapped against students' pass rates and their collective grade point averages, indicating a positive relationship between library use and improved academic performance. Comment is offered on some of the relationships between student library behaviour before, during and after the nationwide disruptions that destabilized universities and threatened their survival at the end of 2016, just before the final examination period. The effects on library use of library closures (under threat of damage) at a critical time in the academic year and on student performance are interrogated. • ConclusionsStudents on financial aid, the indicator of disadvantage, come from schools and environments where access to information technology and libraries is very limited, so that library habits are either poorly established or are wholly lacking. At the University of Cape Town, considerable support is in place to encourage the development of library habits among students. Initial analysis of available data indicates that students who have acquired library habits, regardless of unfavourable financial circumstances, do not exhibit behaviour and academic outcomes markedly different from that of their more privileged peers. • Originality and value of the proposalCombining library data with data from the university data warehouse is a new approach in South Africa. It is an approach that is of value both to the library and to the institution at large and it has brought meaningful insights into the role the academic library might be seen to play in promoting student academic achievement.

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The origins and evolution of the concept of the information society are sketched with a view to assessing the extent of its development in South Africa. Key features of the concept are outlined as expressed in seminal writings, global conferences, and declarations from prominent proponents such as the European Union and the G7 group of nations. Using the application of information communication technologies (lCTs) as an important benchmark, the situation in developing countries, including South Africa, an important regional leader, is explored. Opportunities for library and information services in the realisation of an information society in South Africa are identified, highlighting in particular the creation of partnerships in the development and spread of Multi-Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs).Die oorsprong en evolusie van die konsep van 'n inligtingsgemeenskap word geskets met die doel om vas te stel in watter mate dit reeds in Suid-Afrika ontwikkel het. Sleutelkenmerke van die begrip 'inligtingsgemeenskap' word omskryfsoos dit reeds uitgedruk is in kerngeskrifte, wereldkongresse en verklarings van belangrike voorstanders soos die Europese Unie en die G7-nasies. Die toepassing van inligtingskommunikasietegnologie word as 'n belangrike maatstaf gebruik om die toestande in ontwikkelende lande, insluitende Suid-Afrika, te ondersoek. Geleenthede vir biblioteek-en inligtingsdienste vir die daarstelling van 'n inligtingsgemeenskap in Suid-Afrika word gei'dentifiseer. In die besonder word die skep van vennootskappe in die ontwikkeling van veeldoelige gemeenskapsentrums beklemtoon.

This paper reports on the findings of a research investigation into the role of