Nthatuoa Koeshe
BOTHO University Lesotho Campus is celebrating the National Library Week with different activities to promote library use and support by students and lecturers.
This university dedicated each day from 8 to 12 April 2019 to different activities done by students and staff members.
According to the university, the National Library Week is a time to celebrate the contributions of nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use. The week is celebrated by all types of libraries including public and academic.
Botho University’s Senior Librarian, Ntle Mensele said they dedicated the first day with a book display where students and staff could see the available books in the library.
“This display was done at a public place within the campus to allow everyone to know more about the library and familiarise with its services,” Mr Mensele said.
He said the turn up of both students and the staff members was huge as they even registered new members to the library.
“At this institution, each student has to register at the library and it was good that on the day, there were other students who decided to register,” he said.
Mr Mensele said on April 9, they had a refresher’s training where each student was given a chance to learn about the physical library and the e-library.
“Libraries have policies which users have to follow and these include how one handles themselves in a library,” he said.
Yesterday, the institution held a “free fine charges day” where students who were meant to pay fines for different library offenses were allowed to return books without being penalised.
Today, Mr Mensele said, they will hold a competition where students will be asked to find certain books online before they can search for the same books in the physical library.
He said the week will be completed with a poetry recitation by students where they will be expected to dress in their cultural attires.
“With the theme: Collaborative Communities, we will have students reciting poetry on Friday to wrap up the week,” Mr Mensele said.
Botho University was established in 1997 in Botswana and has rapidly evolved over the years to become a leading multidisciplinary, high quality tertiary education provider in that country. The institution established its first international campus in 2015 in Maseru. In the short time of operation, Botho University Lesotho prides herself to be one of the first tertiary institutions in the Kingdom to offer programmes accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) Lesotho. Apart from Lesotho Campus there are other four campuses, two in Botswana, one in Namibia and another in eSwatini. The institution also has an online Blended and Distance Learning Campus.
