Unique In your domain : utilising resources to strengthen your position in the Library and Faculty

Abstract

In any society, knowledge exchange is critical for development. At the Veterinary Science Library we are increasingly aware of the value of grey literature and information sources for research that are not readily available through commercial vendors. Veterinary science was one of the focus areas in 2006 when UPSpace was launched. As this is the only Faculty of Veterinary Science in South Africa the responsibility was even greater to preserve these resources that may become lost or inaccessible. The veterinary science cataloguer realised that through the digitisation of these resources and adding metadata descriptions the library could become a role player in delivering essential information to Africa and the rest of the world. As the need for digitization and open access become crucial the Library became partners with other veterinary instances like the Faculty of Veterinary Science, the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and the Veterinary History Society of the South African Veterinary Association to deliver essential information to the veterinary community. Through hard work in partnership with the information specialists the cataloguer establish best practices and important cornerstones to identify resources, assigning metadata and marketing the collections. The veterinary science cataloguer suddenly play an important role in all of this by marketing and promoting her skills as knowing how to organize information, make it accessible through best cataloguing and metadata standards and creating project plans on how to deliver a good quality end product.