This column of news, views and snippets from the international literature of books, libraries, and information, was written in March 2025 and appeared the June 2025 issue of LIASA-in-Touch, the quarterly newsletter of the Library and Information Association of South Africa.
Introduction
Not all of us have access to overseas research journals in which researchers from our region publish excellent and relevant research findings. Since 2022, I devote a column once a year to articles published overseas by South African authors and other authors (such as postgraduate students from other African countries) connected to South African universities. I also mention a few others from neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Namibia, and the odd article about a South African topic published by authors from elsewhere.
In this issue I cover nineteen articles, all published in 2025. Fifteen are by South African authors or have at least one South African co-author. Twelve of the South African articles have an author or co-author based at the University of South Africa, which is an important incubator for LIS research in the wider sub-Saharan region. Two come from Durban University of Technology, and one from the University of Zululand. Where are the other South African LIS schools? Am I missing their outputs because I don’t cover hard-core information technology or informatics? Or do I need to be more vigilant?
There are two articles from Namibia, two from Zimbabwe, one from Botswana, and one from the USA. As always, the most productive journals for my purposes were IFLA journal (nine articles) and Information development (five). The articles report on a variety of methodological approaches, and cover a wide range of topics, which makes it difficult to group them into clusters, as I attempt to do below.
Political economy
Political economy has to do with the interaction of power relations (politics) and access to resources (economics). Capitalism is currently the dominant system determining access to information. Collence Chisita and his two co-authors tackle data capitalism and the surveillance economy (Chisita et al. 2025). Simplistically, when I turn to a platform such as Google for information, I don’t expect to pay in rands and cents, but I do pay, in attention and in data: the clues about myself that my search leaves behind. Combined with myriad other clues about my online behaviour, gleaned from social media, commercial platforms and the like, a profile of me is built up, which can be sold to advertisers and other parties, to generate income for Google. For example: I’m planning a road trip to the Upper Karoo later this year. Suddenly features and advertisements for guest houses and coffee shops in that area are popping up on my smartphone. Useful? Maybe, but also annoying – and scary. With every click I am contributing to Big Data. Digital platforms and social media lend themselves to detailed, surreptitious, and not necessarily ethical surveillance of individuals. The authors give us a useful conceptual framework, and identify things libraries can do to protect the rights and privacy of their users.
Two other articles touch on issues of political economy. Access to published information is essential for Africa’s development. Onaolapo and colleagues examined African scholars’ engagement with open access (Onaolapo et al. 2025). They found that a majority of their respondents had published open access articles and had positive perceptions of the quality of open access journals, but they still encountered significant obstacles. Knowledge must be put to work.
It seems that what was called “knowledge utilization” in the 1970s (Havelock and Benne 1967) is now called “knowledge mobilisation”, a term expressing more urgency and dynamism. Onyancha and colleagues examined “knowledge mobilization practices” in centres of research excellence in three African countries (Onyancha et al. 2025). These centres aim to advance research, build capacity, disseminate knowledge, and harness research for sustainable development.
Mention should be made here of an article dealing with the “maturity of research data management ecosystems” in Tanzania country (Buhomoli and Onyancha 2025). Research data management (RDM) is a rapidly expanding field which is concerned with ”how data are collected, organised, stored, used, preserved and shared”, whereas RDM “ecosystems” refer to the “comprehensive environments and frameworks” that support RDM through its lifecycle. How well developed they are (their ”maturity”) varies from country to country and between ecosystems. The authors used an interesting methodology, the Fuzzy Delphi Method, which I had not encountered before. We are now far removed from the old survey studies that were the staple not so many years ago. A good thing!
Indigenous knowledge and languages
Indigenous knowledge is a complex concept with connections to many areas of interest to LIS workers. In this column I draw attention to four articles in which relatively novel connections are made. In a thoughtful conceptual study, Dennis Ocholla discusses the link between indigenous knowledge (IK) and open science (OS). Open science is a burgeoning movement that seeks to make the praxis of science as well as its products open, collaborative, and accessible to all (Ocholla 2025). As the movement expands, indigenous knowledge also comes within its purview. Ocholla explores the implications of open indigenous knowledge (OIK).
A different aspect of IK is dealt with by Tshepo Mosweu, who examines the impact of the British colonial legacy, which left “silences and absences” in Botswana’s archives (Mosweu 2025). The archiving methods introduced by the British failed to take into account the population’s diversity and IK production systems, neglected orally transmitted traditions and culture, and overlooked the country’s significant linguistic diversity. Mosweu proposed that indigenous knowledge, oral history, traditional craftsmanship, and traditional practices be recognised and documented. He formulated a set of recommendations for a post-colonial archives model. In libraries too, the decolonisation of education and scholarship is a current concern. It involves not only issues of African science and indigenous knowledge, but also the integration of indigenous languages into library resources and services (Badenhorst et al. 2025).
The management of indigenous knowledge has to take into account challenges relating to indigenous values, protocols and ownership rights. A study undertaken as part of the Southern African Intangible Cultural Heritage (SAICH) Project sought to align knowledge management practices with principles of indigenous data governance to ensure that these valuable community resources are dealt with ethically, sensitively and respectfully (Chigwada et al. 2025).
Education for LIS
Two articles deal with aspects of education for LIS. Emmanuel Elia and two colleagues reviewed 338 PhD and master’s theses from a university in each of Tanzania and South Africa to examine their methodological decisions (Elia et al. 2025). They found that many students had not understood the philosophical assumptions that underpinned their chosen approaches. The relationship between research paradigms and methodological choices is not always clearly set out in methodological texts, but as a good example, I recommend Allison Pickard’s overview of major research paradigms (Pickard 2013, chap. 1), on which I based my own chapter on metatheoretical considerations in international comparative research (Lor 2019, chap. 4).
Education is lifelong, or should be. Continuing professional education (CPD) is vital for LIS professionals to keep us abreast of our transforming field. A systematic review examined the use of CPD to prepare academic library staff in Africa for digital transformation, affecting scholarly communication, research data management, mobile technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI), and other rapidly evolving areas (Nakaziba and Ngulube 2025).
Library users and services
Three articles dealt with various services to library users. A study conducted in Zimbabwe assessed access to assistive technologies such as Braille and screen readers for visually challenged users, finding that libraries found serious challenges in meeting their needs (Ncube and Ngulube 2025). The authors of a qualitative study in the Khomas region of Namibia surveyed the role of public librarians in disseminating health information (Ashilungu and Shuumbili 2025). Librarians were well aware of their responsibilities in this respect, but faced challenges, such as a lack of collaboration with other organisations. A third study of interest, also from Namibia, concerns the challenges African libraries face in assisting clients with mental health issues (Shatona 2025). The term “trauma-informed librarianship”, encompasses sensitive awareness of the psychosocial needs of users, and appropriate trauma-informed care. In under-resourced libraries this is challenging. It calls for training, networking, and collaboration with other professions. While on the subject of health services, I should mention a systematic global review of the preservation of medical records in healthcare facilities (Phiri and Rodrigues 2025).
Evaluation of library and archival services is dealt with in two articles. Satisfaction with the services of a special library serving the South African Police Service was measured using the LibQUAL tool, a modification of the Service Quality Model (SERVQUAL), both of which are based on the theoretical model of gap analysis (Kaapu and Zimu-Biyela 2025). The SERVQUAL tool was utilised in a study at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (Magama and Ngoepe 2025). In both cases interesting combinations of data collection methods were used.
From outside our profession comes an article by Leon Gwaka, a South African PhD graduate currently at the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania (Gwaka 2025). He is interested in digital governance and his article reports on an evaluation of citizen engagement in South Africa’s three largest cities based on an analysis of tweets on their official X/Twitter accounts. As an old dinosaur, I have long held the belief that adults should not tweet, a belief reinforced by the idiocies disseminated on X/Twitter and the like by public figures who should know better. However, social media accounts can provide revealing evidence of citizens’ interactions with their municipalities.
Artificial intelligence
AI continues to feature prominently in our professional literature. A study examining the use of AI innovations in public academic libraries (libraries of state-supported academic institution) in South Africa found that the libraries were not well prepared for adopting AI innovations. They lacked clear strategies for AI adoption, and staff had not yet received appropriate training (Molaudzi and Ngulube 2025). One of the missing building blocks, it was argued in a study undertaken at the University of Limpopo, is a policy and legislative framework for the use of AI in information services. The researchers developed an informative and colourful diagram proposing a policy and legislation framework to guide such usage at the university (Rabatseta et al. 2025).
To conclude, the diversity of topics and methodology reported here is gratifying. The number of articles reporting research from our region is growing, to the extent that it is becoming difficult to do them all justice in this column. There are most probably some that I missed. If your research is not being mentioned here, please reach out to me at peterjlor@gmail.com.
References
Ashilungu, Maria, and Teopolina N. Shuumbili. 2025. “Dissemination of Health Information by Public Libraries in the Khomas Region, Namibia.” IFLA Journal, April 21, 03400352251331467. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251331467.
Badenhorst, Patricia, Muvhulawa Matumba, and Mousin Omarsaib. 2025. “Libraries as Agents of Decolonisation: Exploring the Integration of Indigenous Languages into Library Services in South African Public Higher Education Libraries.” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, November 17, 09610006251389990. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006251389990.
Buhomoli, Obadia Shadrack, and Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha. 2025. “Maturity of Research Data Management Ecosystems in Tanzania: A Fuzzy Delphi Method.” Information Development, April 3, 02666669251327403. https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669251327403.
Chigwada, Josiline, Jacob Mapara, Patrick Ngulube, and Tavhiringwa Chabvutagondo. 2025. “Influence of Indigenous Data Governance Principles on Indigenous Knowledge Management: Lessons from the Southern African Intangible Cultural Heritage Project.” IFLA Journal, April 16, 03400352251331471. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251331471.
Chisita, Collence Takaingenhamo, Oluwole O. Durodolu, and Alexander Madanha Rusero. 2025. “Data Capitalism in the Milieu of the Surveillance Economy: What Can Libraries Do?” IFLA Journal 51 (2): 339–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352241286170.
Elia, Emmanuel Frank, Esther Ndenje-Sichalwe, and Nampombe Saurombe. 2025. “Dissecting Methodological Choices of Library and Information Science Postgraduate Students in Tanzania and South Africa 2012–2022.” Education for Information, July 29, 01678329251361339. https://doi.org/10.1177/01678329251361339.
Gwaka, Leon Tinashe. 2025. “Digital Discourses: Exploring City-Citizen Engagement through City Twitter Handles in South Africa.” Information Development, March 20, 02666669251328040. https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669251328040.
Havelock, Ronald G., and Kenneth Dean Benne. 1967. An Exploratory Study of Knowledge Utilization. Centre for Research on the Utilization of Scientific Knowledge, University of Michigan.
Kaapu, Nora Hlabisang, and Acquinatta Nomusa Zimu-Biyela. 2025. “Using LibQUAL to Assess User Satisfaction with Library Services at the Aloe Park South African Police Service (SAPS) National Library, Pretoria, South Africa.” Library Management 46 (6–7): 420–37. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-11-2024-0121.
Lor, Peter Johan. 2019. International and Comparative Librarianship: Concepts and Methods for Global Studies. Global Studies in Libraries and Information 4. De Gruyter/Saur.
Magama, Blessed, and Mpho Ngoepe. 2025. “The Proof of the Pudding Is in the Eating: Archival Services Quality at the National Archives of Zimbabwe.” Information Development, September 18. Sage UK: London, England. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02666669251375096.
Molaudzi, Amogelang Isaac, and Patrick Ngulube. 2025. “Use of Artificial Intelligence Innovations in Public Academic Libraries.” IFLA Journal, January 22, 03400352241301780. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352241301780.
Mosweu, Tshepho. 2025. “The Silences and Absences in Botswana’s Archives: Cross-Examining Colonial Legacy.” IFLA Journal, June 25, 03400352251348242. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251348242.
Nakaziba, Sarah, and Patrick Ngulube. 2025. “Continuing Professional Development Strategies for Digital Transformation among Academic Librarians in Africa: A Systematic Review.” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 57 (1): 296–306. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006231207659.
Ncube, Mthokozisi Masumbika, and Patrick Ngulube. 2025. “Bridging the Information Gap: Accessibility of Assistive Technologies for Patrons.” IFLA Journal 51 (4): 928–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352241310493.
Ocholla, Dennis N. 2025. “The Complex Marriage: Interfacing Open Science and Open Indigenous Knowledge.” Pt. 252-. Library Management 46 (3–4): 252–67. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-11-2024-0125.
Onaolapo, Sodiq, Philips Ayeni, and Siphamandla Mncube. 2025. “Open Access Publishing in an African Context: Notable Improvements and Recurring Challenges.” IFLA Journal, June 20, 03400352251351113. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251351113.
Onyancha, Omwoye B., Williams E. Nwagwu, and Tom Kwanya. 2025. “Knowledge Mobilization for Maximized Research Impact in Centers of Excellence in Three Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from Content Analysis.” Information Development, May 8, 02666669251336561. https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669251336561.
Phiri, Austine, and Antonio Rodrigues. 2025. “A Systematic Literature Review of the Preservation of Medical Records in the Healthcare System: A Global Perspective.” Information Development, June 11, 02666669251349162. https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669251349162.
Pickard, Alison Jane. 2013. Research Methods in Information. 2nd ed. ALA Neal-Schuman.
Rabatseta, Phuti Concilia, Mashilo Modiba, and Patrick Ngulube. 2025. “Legislation and Policy Framework to Apply Artificial Intelligence in Providing Information Services of Academic Libraries in South Africa: A Case Study.” IFLA Journal, June 11. Sage UK: London, England. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03400352251348243.
Shatona, Menete N. 2025. “Empowering African Libraries for Mental Wellness: Advocating for Trauma-Informed Librarianship.” IFLA Journal, April 30, 03400352251331513. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251331513.
