Buzz - Academic Library

• Building a Digital Scholarship Centre on the Successes of a Library Makerspace

  Heila Pienaar, Isak van der Walt and Sean Kruger discuss the exciting opportunity to build a Digital Scholarship Centre in the University of Pretoria Library based on the huge success of the Library’s Makerspace. This article looks at the possibility to develop a Digital Scholarship Centre on the foundation of a successful Library Makerspace. The University of Pretoria Library Makerspace is the first known Academic Makerspace in a university library on the African continent. The origin of Digital Scholarship in general and Digital Scholarship Centres in libraries are discussed. The overlap in functions of a Makerspace and a Digital Scholarship Centre is also illustrated. By combining the Library Makerspace services with that of a Digital Scholarship Centre, a comprehensive Digital Scholarship Centre in the Library can be established.