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Parliamentary libraries are important in their principal role as information providers to parliamentarians. They are expected to offer a wide variety of specialized services, often under very pressing conditions. Despite not being very effective on the African continent, the South African parliamentary libraries are valued service centers known to actively disseminate information. This study aimed to determine their role as information providers. A survey, in the form of a questionnaire, was used to obtain data about the libraries and the services they provide. It was found that depending on the staff available the libraries offered a number of services to parliamentarians, which ranged from lending services to providing in-depth reports on issues of the day. Library collections ranged from printed sources to electronic and audiovisual records. Computers are used in all the libraries, both for administrative purposes and for information acquisition and dissemination. Numerous innovative methods have been adopted to in form users about the available services, and presently, the electronic medium is also used as an alerting tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines library and information science (LIS) literature as produced and published by researchers in Africa in order to establish the productivity and impact of LIS research in the region. Using publication counts, and more specifically, citation analysis, the paper demonstrates that the research output and impact of LIS literature on the continent is relatively low when compared to other disciplines in Africa, such as social sciences. Correspondingly, the research forms a small percentage of both the national and world total LIS research output. A comparison of countries indicates that South Africa presently leads in terms of both research output and citations, and Nigeria and South Africa account for over 70% of the total number of Africa's publications and citations. Other findings are discussed, in addition to recommendations for further research, and ways in which to improve the visibility of LIS research in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the findings of a case study carried out for a doctoral thesis conducted through the University of South Africa. The collection development practices and policies at universities of technology in Auckland, New Zealand and in South Africa were compared. Both countries have recently transformed their higher education systems and upgraded polytechnics/technikons into universities of technology. It was found that whilst the Auckland University of Technology Library demonstrates a planned strategy to meet the needs of their researchers through expanding their collection of traditional and electronic media, the South African institution demonstrates little progress. The latter institution has extended mainly its collection of electronic media and has paid little attention to upgrading its collection of print resources. The researcher concludes that unless considerable funding is allocated to South African university of technology libraries, these libraries will be unable to support the information needs of their academics and researchers, and ultimately these institutions will be unable to rise to their anticipated status as universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]