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
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.
Written by CPUT News
Email: