Towards an Understanding of Annual Reports of University and Technikon Libraries in South Africa

Abstract

Because of the almost total absence of research on annual reports of university and technikon libraries in South Africa, very little is known about the everyday use of their reports outside their institutions.1 This article reports the findings of a survey aimed at obtaining more knowledge on the topic. Areas covered include the purpose of annual reports of university and technikon libraries, issues included in those annual reports, recipients of the reports, promotion and distribution of annual reports, availability of annual reports, and feedback. The findings presented a wealth of information previously not available or known and also draw attention to a number of issues that could lead to further research.

HIV/AIDS Information by African Companies: An Empirical Analysis

“…The company annual report is an important source of qualitative and quantitative information about a business entity (Swanepoel and Smit, 2003). Marston and Shrives (1991: 196), describe the annual report as the 'main disclosure vehicle ', and Parker (1982: 285) from a communication perspective concludes that the annual report is 'a useful reference point', and 'a mass communication medium ' (1982: 279).…”

Towards an assessment of strategic credibility in academic libraries

“…Comparative analysis of these reports revealed three types of documents:brief reviews of current issues and need for additional resources;as a public relations piece, professionally produced, that included trends and challenges; andas a multi‐purpose document with summaries, longer sections on specific activities, a list of donors, notable acquisitions, etc. (Swanepoel and Smit, 2003). It is interesting to note that the issues addressed in the 1970s are not much different than today – cost of library operations and materials, inter‐institutional cooperation, designing the most effective fund allocation systems; and the use of storage facilities.…”

“…as a multi‐purpose document with summaries, longer sections on specific activities, a list of donors, notable acquisitions, etc. (Swanepoel and Smit, 2003).…”

“…Swanepoel and Smit (2003) explain that the purposes of the annual report are to present historical information, share future plans, and to be used as a PR tool. In a recent survey of all types of academic libraries, Sauer (2006) discovered that annual reports have the following common characteristics:they are about 16.5 pages long, with the shortest being 2 pages and the longest 36 pages;they are mostly arranged by introduction, highlights, and statistics; andfrom most often included to least often included are collection size, circulation statistics, cataloging and technical services, interlibrary loan, information technology information, staff data, financial data, internal benchmarks, and comparisons to other libraries (Sauer, 2006).…”