Academy of Science South Africa 2005/6 Annual Report

Programme 1ASSAfASSAf infrastructure andpersonnel policies and practiceASSAf’s Resource CentreThe Academy’s activity has increased dramatically since the initiation of its partnership with the UnitedStates National Academies, enabling ASSAf to employ projects officers and to handle projects makingmany demands for background analysis and information gathering. While many of these can be metby Internet-based searches, there is still a need for a resource centre containing resource books, currentannual reports of South African agencies in the science domain, and other types of reference materials.ASSAf has negotiated that it may use the extensive library and resource centre of the Africa Instituteof South Africa (AISA) in Pretoria as back-up for its own resources. ASSAf staff also have access to bigacademic libraries at the nearby universities of Pretoria and UNISA (the University of South Africa).The resource centre so far consists of three sections, with more shelving to be added in the future.Each section has its own focus, namelypublications and reference materials published by ASSAf;documentation from South African Government departments, agencies and institutions inthe Science and Technology domain; andreports and other publications from partner science academies and international academy-typeorganisations such as TWAS, the IAP, IAC and ICSU.ASSAf’s extensive distribution list for its own reports and publications includes inter alia Governmentdepartments and private sector corporations, universities, science councils and other Academies, whichare routinely requested to reciprocate by regularly supplying ASSAf with their own publications.The resource centre so far consistsof three sections, with moreshelving to be added in the future.Each section has its own focus.ASSAf’s recruitment and remuneration policy,and infrastructure developmentThe Academy has a financial and human resources service contract with the National ResourceFoundation (NRF), the largest and best-established research grant-making institution in the country, andits human resource policies are adopted from or strongly aligned with NRF policies in this area.Annual Report 2005/0613