CPUT Libraries is proud to be recognised on the global stage, having received a Special Mention at the 2025 IFLA PressReader International Marketing Awards.

The awards, presented by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in partnership with PressReader, honour library marketing campaigns that demonstrate creativity, meaningful impact and community engagement.

This year’s awards attracted close to 100 entries from around the world, showcasing the breadth of innovation happening in libraries today. Among this global pool, CPUT Libraries stood out for its bold and relatable approach to digital engagement through TikTok, earning praise for effectively connecting with its student community in a fun, transformative way.

The recognition was given for CPUT’s standout campaign titled: Building Connection: CPUT Libraries TikTok Growth Campaign.

As academic libraries adapt to shifting student behaviours, CPUT Libraries has embraced a forward-thinking approach: meeting users where they are - online, and especially on social media. Platforms like TikTok have become more than entertainment channels; they are now vibrant spaces for information sharing, community building, and education.

Through this campaign, CPUT Libraries aimed to:

• Reduce library anxiety and foster approachability
• Raise awareness of resources, spaces, and services
• Strengthen user-library relationships through relatable content
• Expand digital presence in alignment with CPUT’s digital transformation goals
• Embrace innovation as a core part of student engagement strategy

“We didn’t just join the trend - we turned it into a tool for transformation,” said Ntombekhaya Gwaqa, Marketing Librarian.

At the heart of the campaign was a smart partnership with a student influencer, paired with a catchy trending song and dynamic content. The strategy paid off - making the library feel more present, accessible, and aligned with student life.

Campaign Impact:

• 18.2K views on the featured TikTok post
• 3,508 likes, 36 shares
• 55 new followers gained during the campaign
• Growth from 495 followers (Dec 2023) to 1,650 (July 2025)
• 22.8K total likes to date

The Jury made the following comment about the campaign:

“We commend this creative and strategic approach to student engagement... This initiative not only increased social media presence but also reinforced the library as a welcoming and essential space for academic success.”

The Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) congratulated CPUT Libraries for its innovation and professionalism, calling it “a shining example of excellence in library marketing on the global stage.”

The recognition reinforces CPUT Libraries’ commitment to evolving with the times, while staying true to its core mission: to support students, promote access to knowledge, and foster connection in every form — even 15-second videos.

CPUT Libraries remains energised to keep exploring new ways to communicate, educate, and inspire.

“This award reminds us that libraries can be both timeless and timely - rooted in knowledge, yet ready to meet the future head-on,” said Gwaqa.

Written by CPUT News
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CPUT Libraries joined the rest of the country in celebrating South African Library Week (SALW) from 17 to 21 March, under the theme Libraries for Sustainable Communities.

As centres of lifelong learning and social support, libraries play a crucial role in South Africa's journey toward building sustainable, inclusive and resilient communities for all.

One of the highlights of the week was an exhibition at Wellington Library, which showcased student-led recycling and sustainable community projects. These initiatives, focused on recycling, reuse and waste management, demonstrated the innovative work being done by students. The exhibition was a testament to the dedication and creativity of students working to make a tangible difference in promoting environmental awareness and action.

Another memorable event during Library Week was a visit by learners from Balvenie Primary School to the Bellville Campus Library. The learners spent a day filled with educational activities at the library, including story readings, sustainability-themed puzzles, and a guided tour of the library. The learners had the privilege of meeting and engaging with library staff, who were welcoming and eager to share their knowledge.

The experience offered them an opportunity to engage with the library space while learning how sustainability can be integrated into every aspect of life. By participating in interactive activities, the learners saw firsthand how libraries support education and inspire environmental consciousness.

According to CPUT Libraries, South African Library Week is a reminder of the vital role libraries play in shaping the future of our communities. CPUT Libraries continue to inspire and educate, helping to create a more sustainable world. Together with their partners, CPUT Libraries are committed to ensuring libraries remain at the heart of education and community development, providing spaces where knowledge, creativity, and sustainability flourish.

Written by CPUT News
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CPUT Libraries play a crucial role in supporting students - providing access to a vast collection of resources to assist students with assignments or research.

Our libraries are pivotal in fostering an academic environment that thrives on research and innovation. We are more than just a place to borrow books – we are a hub of learning, where students, faculty, and researchers access the resources, support, and expertise they need to succeed.

Supporting Student Learning and Success

• Access to Resources: The library provides students and faculty with essential resources such as books, journals, databases, and other materials that support coursework, assignments, and research.
• Information Literacy: The library plays a key role in teaching students how to effectively search for, evaluate, and use information, an essential skill for academic success and lifelong learning.
• Study and Collaborative Spaces: Offering a quiet environment for individual study, as well as group study spaces, the library fosters an environment conducive to both learning and collaboration.

A Hub for Research and Innovation

• Research Support: we offer specialised services that support research activities, such as literature reviews, citation management, and access to research databases like JSTOR, PubMed, or Scopus.
• Assistance with Scholarly Publishing: Libraries help researchers navigate publishing processes, including open access publishing and institutional repositories where they can share their findings with the broader academic community.
• Data Management: Libraries assist with research data management, ensuring that data is stored, organised, and shared according to best practices and university policies.

If you ever need to print, scan, photocopy, laminate or bind something… the library is you to go place.

We have six branches – Bellville, District Six, Wellington, Mowbray, Granger Bay and Newlands – ensuring students have a wealth of information at their fingertips.

The two big libraries, Bellville and District Six have a 24-hour study area, for those who want study through the night.

More information on the opening times can be found here

Written by CPUT News

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CPUT Libraries has received the prestigious CoreTrustSeal certification for its research data repository, eSango.

This achievement makes CPUT Libraries the second academic library in Africa to earn this distinguished recognition as a trustworthy data repository. The certification is valid until 29 November 2027, after which a reapplication will be required for continued certification. 

The CoreTrustSeal certification is a hallmark of best practices in research data repositories, emphasising the CoreTrustSeal Trustworthy Data Repositories Requirements. These stringent requirements set forth the framework for data repositories which considers aspects such as mission/scope, licenses, continuity of access, confidentiality/ethics, organisational infrastructure, expert guidance, data integrity and authenticity, appraisal, documented storage procedures, preservation plan, data quality, workflows, data discovery and identification, data reuse, technical infrastructure and security. Repositories are evaluated on these criteria by the CoreTrustSeal Standards and Certification Board, and only repositories of a sufficiently high standard are certified.

 The certification aligns with CPUT's larger Research Data Management (RDM) policy and strategy, aimed at enhancing the transparency, visibility, and impact of the university's research. National and international funders and publishers are increasingly mandating open data for research transparency, requiring research data to be part of the publication process according to the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles. CPUT Libraries encourages researchers to take full advantage of eSango as a transparent research data-sharing repository. This certification not only underscores the repository's trustworthiness but also supports the broader goal of advancing research excellence at CPUT accessible at: esango.cput.ac.za.

 Written by CPUT News

Last month, libraries across the CPUT campuses commemorated South African Library Week along with other members of the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA).

From 16 to 21 March, libraries throughout the country held activity-based celebrations in order to promote library and information services under the theme: “Access for all @ your Library”.

This theme expresses the human right that all should have access to expressions of knowledge, creativity and intellectual activity, and be able to express their thoughts in public.

The week-long commemoration is an important date on the national calendar when all types of libraries across the country use the period to highlight the role that libraries play in a democratic society.

Elvira Lottering, Transactions Librarian at the CPUT Bellville campus library said their aim for this year’s commemoration was to, “show our users that we care and to promote a culture of reading among them”.

This was successfully achieved by the generous book donation of over 1000 academic and non-academic titles received from a partnership with Van Schaik Publishers.

The books were handed out to students over the course of the week.

Lottering said: “Students are amazed that we were actually giving books away. One student was so surprised. He asked me several times if we were really giving the books away for free. This was the general reaction from our users – disbelief, amazement and gratitude”.

The South African Library Week 2009 was officially launched at the Bessie Head Library in Pietermaritzburg, hosted by the Kwa-Zulu Natal Branch of LIASA.

LIASA’s vision is to celebrate a truly national Library Week, which would embrace all types of libraries and all kinds of users and potential users.

In 2001, LIASA initiated a drive to have the week recognised by government as a commemorative period on par with other important days, when all types of libraries across the country would use it to market their services to the community.

A year later, South African Library Week was adopted as part of the national commemorative and public holiday calendar.

The week within which 20 March falls is celebrated as South African Library Week and the date was selected to correlate to the establishment of the South African Public Library, now known as the National Library of South Africa (based in Cape Town), and proclaimed by government on 20 March 1818.

South African Library Week is now a fixture on the country's national calendar of commemorative days.

By Thando J. Moiloa

Photo: Circulation Librarian Ms Nombeko Mashiya and elated students who received donated books from Van Schaik Publishers during Library Week commemoration

Written by CPUT News
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Dr Elisha Chiware, CPUT Libraries Director has been appointed to the Board of the International Association of Technological and Scientific University Libraries (IATUL) as its Secretary General. He will serve on the IATUL Board for three years and his term ends in 2014.

In 2013, CPUT Libraries will host the Annual General Conference of IATUL. The conference is expected to draw in more 180 delegates from all over the world and CPUT Libraries will be mounting a special Africa and Middle outreach programme to attract more delegates from these regions.

About his appointment, Dr Chiware says: "I'm elated at this appointment as it will assist me in achieving some of the goals I set out when I joined CPUT as Libraries' Director. In addition to growing CPUT Libraries to a world-class service, I also set about putting the library on the global map and joining the international community of technological and scientific libraries.

“The conference in 2013 will be a milestone not only to be part of the global community but also to showcase the university and the province in general”, he concludes.

By: Thando J. Moiloa

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'Local to Global' is this year‘s theme for National Library Week, which runs from March 17 – 22, 2008. The national launch of SA Library Week 2008 took place on Saturday March 15, 2008 at the Kruger National Park. Libraries across the country have joined in the initiative, including our own library at CPUT.

South Afircan National Library Week started in Kimberely during the South African Library Association Annual Conference, held September 20-23, 1965. Forty-three years later this inititaive is still growing strong and making a difference.

The CPUT Library used exhibition stands with posters and free handouts to promote National Library Week. On the Cape Town campus students were urged to take part in a general knowledge quiz regarding the library, and were awarded prizes at the end. The Piazza was also a buzz of excitement with the students partaking in easy contests to win prizes.

Many students also took part in a cartoon competition, in which students explain the meaning of ‘Local to Global’ by means of a cartoon strip. The theme was inspired by the story of Neal Petersen. Petersen was the first ‘black’ South African to sail solo around the world. This was a dream he worked towards through many years of hardship. He claims he would not be where he is today without libraries.

By discovering sailing and the art of navigation through books from his public library, and learning through them, he certainly progressed from local to global.

Click here to download a Library Week poster.

By Danwine Felix

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CPUT Libraries’ Director, Dr Elisha Chiware accentuated the values and benefits of collaborations and partnerships among academic and research libraries in Southern Africa in the provision of better library and information services in response to universities’ goals of teaching, learning and research.

Chiware said this during his presentation at the Oxford Library 700 Virtual Conference which took place recently.

The conference was held to celebrate the 700-year anniversary of the historical Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. He joined over 30 other renowned international scholars who presented on a range of topics to mark the momentous occasion.

He says: “We [CPUT] are recognised as leaders in our contributions towards the growth and development of regional and international librarianship.”

He says the 700th anniversary gave him an opportunity to reflect on the role that libraries have played and continue to play in society. The conference, therefore, considered the past, present, and future of libraries in a broad context and was graced by academics from relevant disciplines, leading practitioners from the world of libraries and archives as well as specialists from the world of media, science and communication to discuss and debate the place of libraries.

Chiware’s presentation was on “Higher Education Libraries in Southern Africa: Collaborations, Partnerships and the Future. The presentation focused on the development of higher education and how libraries in the sub-region (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) have over the years built regional, national and international collaborations to foster the delivery of library and information services.

He explored the growth of both publicly and privately funded higher education which has developed over the years; starting with accelerated growth in post-independence periods and then followed by periods of decline due to lower government funding, as well as the de-regulation which followed and paved the way for the growth of private funded higher education.

“Libraries have always been at the centre of higher education projects globally and continue to play that critical role. Over the years, libraries have developed various types of collaborations and partnerships in order to broaden the access to information resources to their users.”

With the advances in Information, Communications and Technologies (ICT) and the Internet, Chiware says the collaborations have grown and assumed new dimensions leading to achieving even better economies of scale in the sharing of resources and ensuring the speedy delivery of information to all who pursue higher education and research in various scientific domains.

“Some of the major achievements of the academic and research libraries’ collaborations in Southern Africa, include the setting up of national library consortia, the reduction of subscription costs, wider and inclusive access to print and electronic resources, the establishment of Library Directors’ fora & special interest groups, joint training programmes and joint mobilisation of international donor funding which has been critical in some of the poorer countries.”

He adds that in some countries like South Africa, the higher education libraries sector has set up a national library statistics database.

In his prediction, the Covid-19 pandemic has given the sector a new impetus for enhanced collaborations as libraries see a greater need for sharing resources remotely. The future, according to Chiware, will be determined by how libraries, not only in Southern Africa but the whole African continent, will respond to Open Science/Open Access and Open Data initiatives and firmly place libraries in the knowledge production ecosystems from their inception, investigation, analysis, storage and facilitation for re-use of research data and other research workflows supported through library systems.

“Academic libraries have to be visible in the conception, design and development and use of research infrastructures and have to play an important role in publishing teaching and open educational resources and build secure platforms for the storage of all university intellectual outputs.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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CPUT libraries recently hosted a book donation ceremony at the Cape Town campus, where they donated books to several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

Estelle Kruger, Senior Library Assistant responsible for public relations matters at the Cape Town campus library, said: “This event is part of the libraries’ portfolio. It’s part of our strategic plan, where we reach out to at least three NGOs. All the CPUT library branches contributed by donating books.”

The two NGOs that benefitted from this outreach initiative were Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA), represented by Christy White and Nicro, represented by Beverley Du Plooy and Gerhard Jansen Van Vuuren.

PSFA’s White was open about what his organisation would do with their portion of the books.

“We need to feed our kids, so we are probably going to sell these books at a fair price, to buy food items which will be handed out at various schools” she said.

White also mentioned that they are one of five school-feeding organisations in the province; however theirs is the only non-profit organisation.

“During his time in office, former State President Nelson Mandela formed a primary school feeding fund, which provided food only to a certain percentage of schools. That’s where PSFA fits in; we try to the best of our ability to cater to those who do not gain from this past initiative”, said White.

Du Plooy and Van Vuuren mentioned that Nicro discovered a shortage of libraries in townships.

“The books will be used at our offices in Khayelitsha and Langa, as there is a high illiteracy rate throughout the disadvantaged areas”, said Van Vuuren.

Currently, Nicro has a number of sponsors that help to sustain their 53 branches nationwide. These sponsors include the Provincial Department of Social Development and the National Lottery.

The books were handed over by the Library’s two Public Relations interns, Nadia Majiet and Nelisa Ntsokota, who have become extensively involved in organising such events as part of experiential learning.

Also present at the book hand-over were Deputy Director of the Cape Town Campus Library Michiel Moll and Branch Manager Sulaiman Majal.

Referring to the representatives of the NGO’s, Moll said: “This gesture is a token of appreciation for what you do for the community of South Africa”.

According to Estelle Kruger, this outreach gesture was the first of many charity events the Libraries plan to do and the book donations will happen annually.

By Mariette Adams

Photo: Library staff members and representatives from the organisations who received the donations.

Written by CPUT News
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CPUT Libraries is celebrating the success of its Digital Knowledge (DK) site, with the number of academic text downloads registered by the site sailing well past the 10 000 milestone.

The site was launched in September last year as a means for CPUT staff members and students to publish theses, academic papers and other publications to a digital library that could be accessed by both a local and an international audience.

By 11 January 2010, the site reported that users had downloaded academic texts 12 000 times. A report by Google Analytics tracking site visits since the September launch stated that the site had been visited by users from 109 countries, including the US, UK and India.

According to DK’s reporting systems, the most popular CPUT download for the period 11 December 2009 to 11 January 2010 was a dissertation by Patience Aseweh Abor titled “Medical waste management at Tygerberg hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa.” The item was accessed 201 times in the four-week period.

The growing collection of CPUT items hosted by Digital Knowledge is the result of the efforts of Faculty staff members, who have contributed poster presentations, articles, conference proceedings and speeches, and Library staff members who have assisted academic staff, and undertaken the laborious process of scanning documents for the collection.

According to Deborah Becker, who serves as the Digital Knowledge co-ordinator for CPUT Libraries, the University has digitised most of its collection of pre-2005 Peninsula Technikon theses and loaded them into the Digital Knowledge database.

“12 000 downloads emphasises the visibility Digital Knowledge offers and the value of adding items to the collection,” said Becker.

“The library would like to thank staff and students who are contributing to the development of the database.”

The Library is still scanning its collection of Cape Technikon and CPUT theses. Becker, and fellow Library staff member Imraan Baderoen plan to have these texts uploaded by the end of 2010.

Other plans for 2010 include growing the site’s collection of historical photographs and documents and rolling out a means of recording citations in DK,

The Library recently also added a number of e-books to the DK site, which are available for free to staff and students.

The CPUT DK site is hosted by USA-based online publisher Berkeley Electronic Press and is based on the organisation’s Digital Commons platform.

Students and staff members wishing to contribute items to DK can access the site directly at http://dk.cput.ac.za/ or contact Imraan Baderoen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further assistance. For technical enquiries, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Note that to access Digital Knowledge, some users may need to adjust their browser settings.

By Ilana Abratt

Photograph: CPUT Libraries staff members Imraan Baderoen and Deborah Becker are hard at work digitising the University’s collection of dissertations and uploading the texts to Digital Knowledge.

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The CPUT Library recently donated a large number of books to schools and public libraries located in underprivileged communities.

The book donation is an annual event at CPUT and forms part of the institution’s library Social Responsibility programme.

Janine Lockhart, who heads up Librarian Training and Development at the Library, said the CPUT Library realises the important role books can play in “improving people's lives.”

On Thursday, 11 September 2008, a ceremony was held at the Cape Town Library to officially hand over the donated books to recipients.

This year a large number of non-fiction books had been donated to Kulani Public Library in Khayelitsha and Langa Public Library in Langa.

A wide selection of Engineering and Hospitality books had also been donated to the West Coast College in Malmesbury.

Andile Ngqameni of the West Coast College said the much needed donation of books will impact on the lives of their students.

Currently the West Coast College accommodates a large number of underprivileged students from surrounding farms in the area.

He said the books will help students who are battling with literacy and numeracy.

“The books will give them a broader perspective on how to gain access or information on life skill materials and also broaden their minds to adopt the culture of learning,” said Ngqameni.

Senior librarian at Langa Public Library, Charl September also welcomed the donation of non-fiction books.

“The book donation from CPUT will boost the non-fiction collection substantially,” he said.

September said the library lacked non-fiction books and with the donation would be able to assist learners and students better.

Acting Branch librarian, Marion Davids said “as citizens we all have the right to education.""

She said the CPUT Library would like to build economically stable societies by ensuring that our communities have access to educational material.

By Tebogo Chiloane

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In a move to assist students with their academic development, the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences recently took its Extended Curriculum Programme students on a guided tour of the National Library of South Africa.

The national library collects all material published in South Africa and makes it available to everyone including researchers, academics and students.

Users of the library can make use of the following resources:

• Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) that can be accessed via the Internet;
• Reference Section, Special Collections and Reader Services;
• Librarians that can assist in person, via e-mail, telephone, faxes;
• Internet/ wi-fi facilities;
• Sabinet and;
• all books, newspapers, periodicals and government publications published in South Africa.

Ghalieb Essop, the faculty’s Project Co-ordinator: Student Success and Retention, says that the use of this national resource will take some pressure off the university’s libraries as tens of thousands of students regularly compete for using the same library services.

Essop adds that students need to use this library’s services in order to ensure its optimal use and that in turn this will go a long way to bring about a high pass rate at the university.

“As part of my responsibility I have met with various external stakeholders which led me to identify the National Library of South Africa as a major player in assisting us achieving this objective.”

Najwa Hendrickse, Chief Librarian at the national library, told the students that the library is the oldest in the country and will be turning 200 years old in 2018.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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CPUT staff and students now have online access to 5 500 local and international newspapers and magazines.

Earlier this month, the CPUT libraries added PressReader to their online database of service providers.

PressReader is the world’s largest database of online newspapers and magazines and currently there are over 8 400 PressReader hotspots where access is sponsored by businesses, libraries, airlines, cruise liners and hotels.

Marketing Librarian Hillary Hartle says PressReader is a popular digital database that is currently being used by a number of higher education institutions.

Currently PressReader provides access to 157 of South Africa’s most popular newspapers and magazines.

Hartle says the website is easy to navigate and can be customized by users choosing sections of their favourite publications or following others.

The app can be downloaded from Google Play Store or the PressReader website. CPUT staff and students can access PressReader via the CPUT website using their CPUT log on details. Once logged in, users have various options, from accessing their favourite local newspapers to international magazines.

To access PressReader visit: http://www.pressreader.com/catalog/south-africa

To access a quick guide on how to make use of PressReader visit: https://care.pressreader.com/hc/en-us/articles/202547739-Quick-Start-Guide

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

Completing assignments or researching at CPUT is made easier, thanks to the CPUT Libraries, which offer students a wealth of information and learning material.

The CPUT Libraries boasts approximately 265 327 books, 27 025 e-books, as well as 25 platforms which provide access to a total of 83 databases across various disciplines.

CPUT has several libraries, which are situated at the main and satellite sites. The collections and resources of each library reflect the courses offered at the campus or satellite sites it services.

However, students are not restricted to the library on the campus which they are based, and may make use of the learning material and study areas at any of the libraries.

Several of the libraries are open six days a week, with those on the main campuses operating up until 10pm from Monday to Thursday.

For operating times see http://www.cput.ac.za/library/about/opening-hours

To stay up to date with CPUT Libraries, follow them on Facebook.

Take a virtual walk through the Bellville Campus Library and the various departments it houses. Explore the Ground Floor,  First Floor or Second Floor

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

Exams at CPUT officially commenced today.

The majority of students are writing exams at the Wingfield Military Base in Goodwood, while others are writing at venues across South Africa and in Namibia, Zimbabwe, the DRC, and Nigeria.

The examinations will run up until the end of the month.

Exams kicked off smoothly at most venues this morning. Minor issues at some venues have been dealt with and exams should continue trouble-free.

Students who wish to improve their CAM marks for those subjects that do not appear on the current exam time table, will be given the opportunity to do so during the re-assessment period which will commence on Monday, 1 February 2016.

Students are reminded that student cards or ID documents must be produced in order to board buses or gain access to examination venues and to report at the examination venues at least one hour before the commencement of their exam.

Please take note of the following important information:

Timetables and venue information

Updated timetables and additional venue information is available on the CPUT website at http://www.cput.ac.za/students/about/timetables

Transport for residence students

Busses from Cape Town Campus to Goodwood exam venue depart daily from Caledon Road at 7:00 and 12:30.

Busses from Bellville Campus to Goodwood exam venue depart daily from the tennis courts at 7:00 and 12:30.

The bus going to Bellville Campus, IT Centre for computer based exams, departs the eLearning Centre in Cape Town at 7:00 daily.

Computer labs

Some labs have been made available for study purposes.

The labs in the FBMS is open from 8:00-20:00 daily.

The eLearning Centre in Cape Town is open 24 hours a day.

Library hours

All CPUT Libraries are open. During the exam period, all libraries will be following semester hours. At the sites where exams are completed, vacation hours will be followed. View library hours here: http://www.cput.ac.za/library/about/opening-hours

PLEASE NOTE: the official communication channels remain the CPUT website, student email accounts as well as the official CPUT Facebook page and CPUT Student Affairs Facebook page.

Written by CPUT News
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All hands are on the deck as the CPUT Libraries in partnership with the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) prepare to celebrate the South African Library Week (SALW) with the theme: Libraries Foster Social Cohesion, from 18 to 24 March 2024.

The SALW is an initiative of LIASA. All libraries join LIASA in celebrating the Library Week annually. Tomorrow, LIASA will officially launch the Library Week in the Eastern Cape. The CPUT libraries will also join in the launch with Director, Prof Elisha Chiware, sending out a message of encouragement and setting the tone for the following week.

The Library Week will be celebrated at Bellville Campus Library on 19 March 2024, Conference Room 1 and 2 from 10:30 to 12:30. Library Faculty Manager – Engineering and Built Environment, Regina Sikhosana, says the theme underscores a crucial role library in uniting communities as they serve as a hub where people from diverse backgrounds can come to exchange ideas and learn to engage in cultural and intellectual activities.

“By providing access to information, technologies, resources and programmes, libraries broaden horizons, connect individuals, and offer a sense of shared purpose and identity. They also offer a safe space of marginalised communities to address social and development issues, share experience and thus promote social cohesion,” Sikhosana remarks.

CPUT Libraries support the institutional 2030 Vision, which is to be “an innovative Library and Information services partner enabling the institution to be Africa’s leading Smart University of technology globally”. Sikhosana says the SALW resonates with university values of “seeking kindness” (spirit of Ubuntu), “unity” (Ubunye) whilst embracing “diversity” (Ukungafani).   

She said the main objective of CPUT Libraries is to deliver efficient sustainable services through collaborative, innovative means, excellent facilities, and resources in response to learning, teaching and research, scholarship of the institution and the community it serves. “It also has a social responsibility to breach the digital divide through providing access to information and communication technologies and engaging communities through social media and online platforms.”

As part of CPUT community engagement the library will be collaborating with Drakenstein Public Library and Dal Josafat School Library in the Western Cape in hosting a library awareness campaign for Magnolia Primary School and Balvenie Primary School learners at their Wellington and Bellville branches. Book exhibitions and displays will also be made available across CPUT Libraries branches in support of SALW.

“Please join us in the celebration of SALW to continue to empower individuals and communities by building an interconnected and inclusive society.”

Written by CPUT News
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Academics, librarians, and industry partners recently attended the 3rd Research and Information Literacy Skills in the Workplace Seminar, hosted by CPUT Libraries.

This year’s event focused on data literacy and was held at the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre, where attendees were welcomed by Prof Rishidaw Balkaran, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning.

In his opening remarks, CPUT Libraries Director, Prof Elisha Chiware, said that over the past six years, they had been engaging key stakeholders and partners in a bid to improve students’ research and information literacy skills as they enter the workplace.

“In today's data-driven world, the ability to collect, analyse, and interpret data has become an essential skill for professionals across industries and work activities. Data literacy is critical for informed decision-making, for strategic growth, for competitive advantage, for effective communication as well as critical thinking.”

The keynote speaker was Prof Tiko Iyamu from the Department of Information Technology in the Faculty of Informatics and Design.

His address was titled: Creating value using big data analytics: The Reality in Practice and was followed by a question-and-answer session, which included questions on the dangers associated with big data.

The event included several presentations with topics ranging from The Imporance of Data Literacy in the Teaching Profession to How Librarians can respond to Researchers’ and Students’ Data Literacy Training Needs.

The day culminated in a panel discussion on a number of key areas and the panel members were: Iyamu, Prof Hanlie Dippenaar (CPUT Faculty of Education), Joey Klaaste-Salmans (Western Cape Education Department), Prof Julia Bauder (Grinnell College, USA), Dr Kirstin Krauss (WWIS), Dr Mathew Moyo (NWU) and Dr Vusi Mshayisa (CPUT Faculty of Applied Sciences).

The topics included the importance of data literacy in the workplace, the role of AI tools and data literacies required by new graduates entering the workplace.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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