Welcome to the Department of Library and Information Science (LIS)

Like its parent institution, our Department is alert to its African and international context. It strives to be a place of quality and a place to grow from hope to agency through knowledge.

Its mission is to contribute significantly towards the development of an information literate South African society. Therefore, it focuses on educating and training library and information service personnel while maintaining well-recognised international standards in its curricula.

To redress the inequities of the past, the Department lays great emphasis on helping individuals from the educationally and economically disadvantaged communities to acquire professional education and training in LIS.

It aims to help conserve and explore the environmental and cultural resources of the Southern African region, and to encourage a wide awareness of them in the community by making its graduates and diplomates not only literate in the printed and electronic sources of information but also in the vast wealth of information in the oral traditions.

The programmes on offer are a Bachelor of Library and Information Studies (BLIS), a Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies (PGDLIS), a Master’s in Library and Information Studies (MLIS), and a Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science.