Veliswa Tshetsha

Veliswa Tshetsha is a seasoned professional in the field of library and information services, currently serving as the Director of Research and Open Scholarship at the Library and Information Service (LIS) North-West University (NWU).

Veliswa's career commenced in 2001 as a research assistant at the Education Policy Unit (EPU) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), later evolving into the Institute for Post-School Studies (IPSS). Over the years, she has held various key positions, showcasing her diverse skills and commitment to the field. In 2002, she took on the role of a periodicals/serials librarian at UWC Main Library, followed by a stint as a part-time librarian for Planning Partners, a multidisciplinary firm specializing in urban and regional planning. Her career continued to flourish when she assumed the position of Branch Manager of the Health and Wellness Faculty at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in 2006. In this role, she not only managed the library but also contributed significantly to the education sector, teaching information literacy skills, discovery tools, bibliometrics, and altmetrics for researchers.

Her journey led her to become a Faculty Librarian for the Faculty of Community & Health Sciences (CHS) at UWC and a Branch Librarian at UNISA. In 2015, she joined CPUT as the Faculty Librarian for Applied Sciences. The following year, she transitioned to the role of a research and scholarly communication librarian, showcasing her adaptability and expertise.

In 2016, she participated in a staff exchange program between CPUT Libraries and Newman Library in Virginia Tech, USA. By 2017, she was appointed as an acting Senior Librarian for the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Research Support at ten sites coordinated by five senior librarians specialising in open access publishing platforms such as Open Journal System (OJS), Open Conference System (OCS), Open Monograph Press (OMP), Open Access Funds, Publishing strategies, Open Educational Resources, Copyright, Creative Commons Licenses, Fair Use, Research(er) profiles, Open Access, Impact/Altmetrics, Institutional repositories, research data management, data Curation.

Her academic achievements include receiving the Dean’s Merit List Certificate during the first semester of 2014 for outstanding performance in her master’s degree in library & information science. In 2019, she completed her master’s degree in library and information science from UWC, a time when she recently published on LibGuides technology/subject guides.

Before her current role at NWU, she served as a senior coordinator for open scholarship and was granted the Acting Assistant Director position for Scholarly Communications at the University of Pretoria (UP) from December 2021 to November 2022.

Her expertise spans research support, Open Access publishing, Article Processing Charges (APC) fund, journal management system, journal accreditation process, strategic partnerships, quality assurance, marketing and promotion of library services, Research Data Management (RDM), Data Management Planning and Tools (DMPTool), Research(er) Visibility and Impact, author profiles (ORCID etc.), faculty research outputs, institutional repository management, metadata management (including SDG indicator metadata), research impact services (science communication, bibliometrics and altmetrics, promotion and tenure, NRF rating applications, research grants, and THE impact rankings), implementation of Open Science practices, stakeholder engagement, copyright management, content development, webpages and guides, policy development and implementation

Her leadership, commitment, and passion for open scholarship contribute significantly to the academic community, making her a valuable asset to any institution she serves.