The South African ''South East Academic Libraries System'', commonly known as SEALS, was conceptualized in 1998 as a regional library cooperative, and fully constituted in 1999 as a regional consortium, under the auspices of the Eastern Cape Higher Education Association (ECHEA) in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Purpose

“The vision of SEALS is to create a virtual library for the Eastern Cape to promote and enhance information literacy, education, research, and economic development for all who need it.”.

History

At various stages since 1992, higher educational consortia were formed to foster collaboration between the various previously disparate tertiary institutions. One of these consortia was the Eastern Cape Higher Education Association (ECHEA). These consortia aimed at consolidation efforts in increasing capacity and value within the regions. In this regard academic library consortia were established, with the South East Academic Libraries System (SEALS) cooperative of specific interest to the Eastern Cape region. The original consortium member institutions were the library services of the eight tertiary institutions in the Eastern Cape, including:

Fort Hare Fort Hare was an 1835 British-built fort on a rocky outcrop at the foothills of the Amatola Mountains; close to the present day town of Alice, Eastern Cape in South Africa. History Originally, Fort Hare was a British fort in the wars between ...

Port Elizabeth Technikon Nelson Mandela University (formerly known as ''Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)'' ) and before that - the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), the Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth campus. This South Afr ...

, Border Technikon,

Vista University Vista University, South Africa was established in 1981 by the apartheid government to ensure that urban black South Africans seeking tertiary education would be accommodated within the townships rather than on campuses reserved for other populatio ...

Eastern Cape Technikon The Eastern Cape Technikon was an institution of higher education in South Africa. It was first established as an engineering campus of the University of Transkei in 1985 and received autonomy in 1994. In 2004, almost 9000 students registered at ...

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

University of Port Elizabeth The University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) was a public university located in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. UPE was founded on 31 January 1964, by an act of parliament, and held its first academic year in 1965. It off ...

, and the

University of Transkei The University of Transkei was a university in Umtata in the former bantustan of Transkei in South Africa. It was founded in 1976 as a branch of the University of Fort Hare and after the Transkei gained nominal independence in 1977, it became the ...

. Although established in 1998, the consortium was formally recognised as an academic library consortium in 1999, The

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

endowed funds to SEALS in 2000 to implement a single shared library management system for all member institutions within SEALS. In 2004 the higher education environment in

was restructured, realigning the previously advantaged and disadvantaged institutions. Some of the eight member institutions of the SEALS consortium merged to form the

Walter Sisulu University Walter Sisulu University (WSU) is a university of technology and science located in Mthatha, East London (Buffalo City), Butterworth and Komani (Queenstown) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, which came into existence on 1 July 2005 as a result o ...

, the

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Nelson Mandela University (formerly known as ''Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)'' ) and before that - the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), the Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth campus. This South Afr ...

and the

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Academic libraries in South Africa Library consortia