Purpose: This paper aimed to determine the extent to which academic libraries and information services were extended due to the emergence of COVID-19 in the Gauteng Province, South Africa.Design/methodology/approach: Founded on a pragmatism paradigm, the sequential explanatory research design was adopted to engage with participants and respondents on their experience of library services extensions to support users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected using online questionnaires and interviews. Cluster and purposive sampling were used and data for the quantitative part were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), whilst qualitative data were analyzed manually.Findings: Findings revealed that academic libraries operating in a higher education environment provided extensive support to remote users during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was done through the utilization of a variety of technology utilization, ranging from traditional e-mail support to the use of technology related to Artificial Intelligence such as the BOTsa, which is a Chatbot aimed to assist users in receiving speedy responses to library-related inquiries.Originality/value: This study is unique in that it focuses on academic libraries that operate in higher education environments where support for achieving academic endeavors becomes imperative to ensure the smooth execution of teaching and learning activities within the restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adaptions and improvements to academic library services during and post-COVID-19 era were successful in ensuring that remote users could obtain similar services and access to information as was the case before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a comprehensive open distance e-learning (CODeL) university in South Africa, assessment practices were converted and offered online during and post COVID-19. Innovative proctoring methods were applied to secure the authenticity of online summative assessments. However, the use of such proctoring tools to ensure ethical behaviour of students during summative assessments remains questionable, as these tools are not infallible. A qualitative approach was applied to explore ways in which online proctoring tools can contribute toward ensuring authentic summative assessments. Through the application of collaborative autoethnography, the researchers obtained insight into opportunities and obstacles that may influence the effective use of online proctoring tools to support summative assessment activities. Findings indicate that students would go to great lengths to consult unauthorised material and share answers during summative assessments. Therefore, to enhance perceptions of ethical conduct in higher education, it is recommended that ethical principles are expanded through extended training and guidance with revolutionised proctoring technologies.

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provide the opportunity for hybrid and digital academic libraries to move towards offering smart library services and access to resources. Within the context of higher education, smart academic libraries are new generation libraries that utilise smart technologies to offer library services and access to resources that are innovative, creative, and infused in technological advancements. Within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, many higher education institutions revised their modes of teaching and learning towards a hybrid, blended, or even online approach. This forced academic libraries to consider alternative ways of offering information services and resource support. One of these alternatives relates to the use of IoT technologies to create smart academic libraries that can offer varied services and resources, using radio-frequency identification technology, sensors, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. By following a bricolage design within the constructs of interpretivism, views from different authors were considered to propose an IoT architecture and possibilities towards promoting smart academic libraries. The conceptual relatives theory was used to propose ways in which IoT technologies can be utilised to apply smart technologies, develop smart users, offer smart services, and promote smart governance in an endeavour to reconstruct academic library services that are intelligent, flexible, autonomous, and adaptive. It is envisaged that smart academic libraries will support the creation of a teaching and learning environment where students, academics, and researchers can acquire competencies towards personal and professional growth and development.

The potential of digital technology like digital twins within the context of artificial intelligence can be used for facilitating information retrieval, sharing of contents, and creating collaborative environments to encourage engagement. This article explores the utilisation of digital twinning to bring about digital transformation in South African universities and academic libraries, as this technology is still underutilised. By considering digital twinning technologies, universities can enhance teaching practices and research capabilities and contribute to societal development. Digital twins, namely virtual replicas and models of physical systems or processes, provide universities with the means to simulate, evaluate and optimise infrastructures, resources, and operations. Artificial intelligence-powered recommendation systems can tailor or modify informative content searches, academic publications, and other information resources, based on specific research interests and knowledge preferences. An interpretivism paradigm, bricolage and foresight methods are applied to provide a comprehensive understanding of the future of functions and services to be offered by academic libraries. Findings propose that by utilising digital twins, academic libraries can enhance their societal impact, sustainability, and service delivery. Digital twin technology offers academic libraries the opportunity to enable real-time monitoring, process analysis and simulation, to provide insights into information resource utilisation, patron preferences and space optimisation.

Tertiary students often fail to use quality academic library information sources such as journal articles in their studies. Reasons may include an inability to understand the importance of quality academic resources such as databases, poor teaching strategies that do not support and encourage active student engagement, and a lack of just-in-time training to develop and build skills to access and use academic resources effectively. Linked to the above, the pilot research investigates whether cooperative learning as a teaching strategy can be used to expose private higher education students to a library literacy programme that assists them to utilise academic resources and sources more productively. A cross-sectional survey design was used to determine the extent to which a library literacy programme, based on cooperative learning principles, can be applied in pursuit of academic excellence. Findings show that such a programme promotes active collaborative learning, since students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning through various practical learning engagements. The study recommends that the use of an active participatory approach, based on cooperative learning principles, be expanded to assist students in enhancing their library literacy skills.

E-justice is an electronic records management system aimed at enhancing the availability of electronical court records to support the discharge of justice. Urgent need to assess the relevance of the system was required as statistical information from 2019, indicated that approximately 25440 high court cases could not be finalised between 2015 and 2019 due to a lack of access to reliable court records. This created perpetual embarrassment as suspects who are innocent until proven guilty, remain imprisoned. Towards exploring the enhancement of an e-justice system to expand access to records in the judiciary, the study adopted a qualitative approach in which data was collected through interviews and observation. Twelve participants were interviewed, and numerous high court offices visited, to assess the extent to which improvements to an e-justice system is required. Findings revealed that a lack of specific policies and procedures to govern the management of records impacted negatively on the access to court records. In addition, financial limitations, old ICT infrastructure, and poor human resource skill further exacerbate the problem. The solution towards the problem is based on the development and implementation of an e-justice framework where records are captured, categorised, and made accessible to high courts through advanced information and communication infrastructures. Towards this end, it is recommended that the Namibian Judiciary embark on a change management process where updated ICT infrastructure support records management life cycle functions and where all members of the judiciary are well versed in the use of an e-justice system.