Zimbabwe finest LIS professionals elected to AfLIA Sections positions

By Kenneth Mangemba

Zimbabwe’s celebrated library and Information science educationist, Mr. Collence Takainganhamo Chisita was elected to the position of Secretary of the Library and Information Science (LIS) Education and Training Institutions Section (LIT) of African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) for the 2017 – 2019 term at the second AfLIA Conference held in Yaoundé, Cameroon in May.

Mr. Chisita with other LIS professional at the AfLIA Conference.

Mr. Chisita joins Mr. Jasper Maenzanise who was elected to Chair the Library Consortia Section for the 2017 – 2019 term. Mr. Maenzanise is the University Librarian at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) and is also the deputy board member for the Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association (ZIBFA).

Chisita is a Principal Lecturer and Researcher at the Harare Polytechnic School of Library and Information Science. 

According to the AfLIA website, “AfLIA is an independent international not-for-profit organization which pursues the interests of library and information associations, library and information services, librarians and information workers and the communities they serve in Africa. It was established in 2013 and registered as an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) under the laws of Ghana in October 2014.” It is committed to connecting Africa’s library and information communities.

Chisita will be working directly with the Chair of the LIS Education and Training Institutions Section, Dr. Bernard Dione of Senegal.

The election of Mr. Chisita and Mr. Maenzanise into AfLIA sections is a great opportunity for Zimbabwe to contribute towards supporting Africa to achieve quality education in LIS sector.

The second AfLIA Conference was held under the theme “Libraries in the Development Agenda: Repositioning African Libraries to deliver on the Future We Want” and was attended by many information professionals from Zimbabwe.