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The respondents were asked to indicate what functions they perform in the digitization project. Looking at their responsibilities and considering the overlapping of functions, the results showed that, out of the 20 responses from the questionnaires, four selected theses and dissertations to be digitized, three prepared them for digitization, two scanned theses and dissertations, 16 submit or upload the theses to the database, six create metadata, five archived the theses and dissertations, one did not explain what he or she did, and three carried out quality control.
Based on these results, the researcher was of the view that the digitization project had uneven and unclear distribution of some tasks, especially taking into account that the respondents working on the project are mainly from other sections. It is assumed that if roles were distributed evenly, there would have been better output on the digitization processes instead of having one or two people with more responsibilities than others, and yet the project seemed to be an additional workload for all of them, except for the two based in the digitization section.
The results of the study show that there was much overlapping and imbalance of roles for the UKZN digitization project, whereby some staff had to either upload, archive, do quality control or perform more than one of the digitization roles, in addition to their daily duties as subject or metadata librarians. The Library Digitization Committee was aware of this issue as a concern, as it was recorded in the minutes of the Institutional Repository meeting, held on 23 November 2011, that “there is an imbalance in terms of the number of submitters and archivers”. This needed to be addressed as it resulted in delays when it came to the archiving process (UKZN Library Institutional Repository Committee Meeting, 2011).
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UKZN? According to DCC Curation Lifecycle Model, the initial stages must include preservation strategy and guiding policies. The literature reviewed in Chapter 2 under section 2.8, guidelines for starting an institutional repository (IR), showed that the University of Stellenbosch library provided seven steps to consider when starting an IR, whereby digitization policy formulation is regarded as a priority and the very first thing to do when starting an IR.
As discussed in Chapter 2, digitization strategy and policies, section 2.10.4, a digitization strategy is a document, the main aim of which is to provide focus and vision concerning how the whole process of digitizing whatever information that must be digitized is carried out. It also provides direction as to which activities must be prioritized, given the challenges of budgetary constraints and shortage of adequately trained staff members. It is a document that provides the way forward in terms of linking the whole digitization process with the overall vision and mission of the institution, in this case the UKZN. The literature review in Chapter 2, under digitization strategy and policies, section 2.10.4, showed that communication among all the stakeholders is paramount in the formulation of the digitization strategy. In view of these considerations, it would be inadequate to answer this research question without investigating whether or not the UKZN did adequately consult with its stakeholders.
Information made available to the researcher in the study revealed that there was sufficient consultation amongst stakeholders at the UKZN. This was shown by the minutes taken at the Institutional Repository Committee Meeting made on various dates in 2010 (for example, 23 March; 18 May; 1 June, 6 July). The UKZN consulted extensively with regard to the policy that would be adopted on copyright issues and there was also a visit of one academic doctor from the Ivory Coast, who was consulted on his experiences with regards to the digitization project. Furthermore, as mentioned in the literature reviewed in Chapter 2, under communication and co- ordination, the UKZN library ensured that the requirements of the Department of
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Education (DoE) were met. This was demonstrated by the minutes taken at the meeting to discuss the Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) pilot project, on 2 October 2008. These minutes indicated that various faculties that were involved, for example, a professor suggested at the Senate Advisory Committee Meeting that the various Higher Degrees Committees in every faculty had to be involved. The mere fact that there were a number of meetings with the Registrar of the University and the Professor of Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS), Graduate School, also suggests that stakeholders were consulted.
There was also extensive communication between the UKZN’s Copyright office and Digital Innovations South Africa (DISA), who were tasked the by UKZN to help in this digitization process.
In view of what could be construed as extensive consultation amongst stakeholders, it would be expected that the same kind of consultation was done with library staff members. One would have thought there would not be any confusion on whether or not there was a library strategic plan referencing the digitization project and digitization policies in place. However, from responses to the availability of the library digitization policies and the strategic plan, the study shows that there is much confusion from both questionnaire results and face-to-face interview results. Eight of the interviewees agreed that the library strategic plan was in place and the quantitative data shows that, out of the 21 respondents, six (28.6%) of them were not sure whether or not UKZN had a library strategic plan referencing digitization and 14 (66.7%) said there was one. These results are cause for concern, because the library strategic plan does exist, as shown by information provided in Chapter 1, under the digitization of theses and dissertations at UKZN, section 1.5. Perhaps the university library management needs to communicate it even more vigorously, for everyone to see.
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The majority of the interviewees that were interviewed are managers and those that are not managers are part of the Digitization Committee. In view of this fact, one would have thought all of them knew whether or not the UKZN library has a digitization policy, yet all of them, with the exception of one, were not sure whether the policy existed or not. This casts doubt on the quality of communication that was discussed above. The quantitative data obtained from the study showed that, out of the 21 respondents, only eight (38.1%) indicated that the library has a digitization policy, 11 (52.4%) were not sure and two (9.5%) said the policy did not exist. Looking at these contradicting answers, one really cannot tell whether the digitization policy does exist or not. It must be noted though that most of the participants were not members of the management team but were library staff, mostly librarians. Perhaps these contradicting responses between management and library staff should make one question the quality of the consultation process that initially was thought to be extensive.
In short, the answer to the above research question was that the UKZN library does have a digitization strategy, but it needs to be better communicated to stakeholders, especially library staff members. Based on the responses relating to the availability of digitization policies, it must be concluded that the UKZN library does not have digitization policies and that, if it does, they are not visible and/or well communicated to library staff members, regardless of their positions or sections. This was a challenge faced by university libraries in Nigeria, according to the study on the digitization of past question papers, dissertations and theses in the 30 Nigerian university libraries conducted by Alhaji (2007:233). Alhaji (2007:233) stated that, even though the librarians were aware of the importance of digitization, they did not have policies guiding the process. This is exactly what seems to be the problem for the digitization project at the UKZN library.
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