SCECSAL adopts revised guidelines for author awards and for selecting future conference hosts

Paper presenters  at SCECSAL conferences now
stand a chance to be nominated for the best paper awards
[Photo: Justin Chisenga] 

Presidents and Chairpersons of the 11 SCECSAL member Library and
Information Associations have approved the revised guidelines for the SCECSAL Author Awards and for selecting future hosts for SCECSAL conferences.

The two sets of guidelines were adopted on Monday, 18 September 2017, following a motion tabled by the Swaziland Library Association, the current Chair of the SCECSAL General Council.

Selecting winners for author awards

The Author Awards guidelines cover the selection of the SCECSAL Author of the Year and the Best SCECSAL Conference Papers.

The guidelines make provisions for two categories for the Author Award – Best Author (Journal Articles and Chapters in Books) and Best Author (Books); address the process for nominating and selecting the winners; and provides for the appointment the Awards Selection Committee made up of five recognized authors in the library, information and knowledge or related field.

The prize for the winners of the Author of the Year Awards will be in form of cash and a certificate while the winners for the SCECSAL Conference Paper Awards will receive certificates.

Conferences hosts to be announced four years in advance

Under the new guidelines for selecting SCECSAL Conference hosts, future hosts for the conference will be announced four years in advance and therefore the host for 2022 will be announced at the SCECSAL XXIII conference in Uganda in April 2018.

The arrangement to announce the conference hosts four years in advance formalises the decision that was made in 2016 at the SCECSAL conference in Swaziland where the hosting of the 2020 SCECSAL conference was awarded the Namibia Information Workers Association (NIWA).

The guidelines also ensure that no SCECSAL sub-region hosts consecutive SCECSAL conferences unless circumstances dictate so and the decision is approved by at least two thirds of the of the SCECSAL members. For this purpose, the current 11 active SCECSAL members have been categorized into the following sub-regions - Eastern: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; Central: Namibia, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and Southern: Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa.

Since Uganda is hosting the 2018 conference and Namibia in 2020, the 2022 conference will go to any of the four countries - Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa - in the Southern Africa sub-region.

Implementing 2016 SCECSAL resolutions

The adoption of the guidelines follows a resolution in 2016 by the General Council to review and amend the SCECSAL constitution to include terms of reference for the Permanent SCECSAL Secretariat and other appropriate provisions to strengthen SCECSAL operations and monitoring mechanisms, and simplify the biding process for hosting SCECSAL conferences.

In 2018, the representatives of the SCECSAL member Associations, during the XXIII SCECSAL conference to be held from 23 to 28 April in Entebbe, Uganda, are expected to discuss and adopt the amended SCECSAL constitution.