LISC students rewarded

Top achievers: (From left) Gwenda Thomas, executive director of UCT Libraries, Karen Metcalf of Elsevier, students Michelle Kahn, Lena Nyahodza, Sipho Fako, Ferhaad Vally, Shelley Wilkin and Assoc Prof Jaya Raju of LISC.

The top students in the Class of 2012 were lauded recently at UCT's Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC).

The best performing student, who also won the award for leadership, was Ferhaad Vally. He is one of 11 public librarians from the City of Johannesburg Library Services, who participated in the one-year, block release Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies (LIS) offered by LISC.

Vally and 10 of his fellow students' studies were funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York via the professional body (Library and Information Association of South Africa). The corporation has made R10 million available over three years to address the critical shortage of librarians in South Africa.

Vally described his experience at UCT as "life-changing" and considers the LISC training significant "to move libraries forward in South Africa".

Other students rewarded for their achievements in 2012 include:

• Michelle Kahn - winner of the Elsevier Scholarship, which will go towards her master's study on e-books
• Lena Nyahodza - won the prize for dedication and perseverance
• Shelley Wilkin - recipient of the LISC prize for theLibrary Planning Project
• Sipho Fako - for the Library Planning Project

Associate Professor Jaya Raju, head of LISC, said this was the first time they had hosted such an award ceremony, adding that its objective is to motivate students to stretch themselves academically.