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LIASA flagship programmes
South African Library Week
LIASA, through its diverse membership, is driving the process to make South African Library Week (SALW) a celebration of our country’s intellectual and literary heritage. Libraries across the country use this annual event as an opportunity to market their services to the users, the broader community, civil society and also decision-makers.
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South African Librarians’ Day
LIASA, the profession and the sector, celebrates South African Librarians’ Day (SALD) annually on July 10 – the date of its 1997 launch. SALD is dedicated to the LIS profession, its services and the scores of dedicated staff who work tirelessly at times and in challenging conditions – all of which are directed to serving communities. SALD aims to also shed light on librarianship as a career, eradicate the negative perceptions and to grow the profession.
LIASA’s annual conference
To date, LIASA has successfully hosted more than 20 annual conferences. The conference draws between 600 and 800 delegates, including a few international delegates. Speakers range from local, African and international invited speakers, as well as speakers who submitted abstracts for presentations on a range of identified topics, in line with the year’s conference theme.
The 2022 conference, held from October 4 to 7, 2022, will not only celebrate LIASA’s 25th anniversary but will also see the LIASA and SCECSAL Conferences come together to be held as one conference. This is a first in both LIASA and SCECSAL’s history. The conference provides South African librarians with one of the few opportunities to be exposed to new trends in the library and information profession, and to interact with their counterparts from other countries.
For the general participant, it offers a mixture of opening sessions, plenary and parallel sessions, a large exhibition, cultural events and the opportunity to recognise and honour their peers through various awards. The programme is planned so that there are sessions for all levels of LIS workers, while also covering the different specialist areas of librarianship such as public, government, special, school, academic libraries, IT, cataloguing, acquisitions, management and many other relevant topics.
