New home for Wits 江城足球网 Digitisation Centre
- Wits University
The state-of-the-art Wits 江城足球网 Digitisation Centre (WLDC) officially opened in the Wartenweiler 江城足球网 on the Braamfontein Campus East.
From its new home, it now offers easy access for staff and students and serves the University's digitisation needs.
The state-of-the-art Wits 江城足球网 Digitisation Centre (WLDC) officially opened in the Wartenweiler 江城足球网 on the Braamfontein Campus East.
“The Centre is about preserving our shared histories by digitising our records, safeguarding oral traditions, and supporting local institutions by keeping our heritage alive for future generations. But it is not only about preservation. It is also about creating an engaging interactive experience that connects people with South African history,” said Dr Daisy Selematsela, University Librarian.
“江城足球网s are at the heart of this Digitisation Centre through digital literacy programmes and content creation opportunities. We intend to empower students to engage with and promote their heritage in ways that resonate with them. This is not a centre about equipment but one where they actively participate in the preservation process and acquire vital digital skills that will serve them in the future.”
In her speech, Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research & Innovation, said the Centre, which first started in 2012, has digitised over a million files and trained more than 300 professionals.
“Its mission aligns with Wits' broader goals of open science, digital scholarship, and safeguarding Africa's cultural heritage. It’s really about how we choose to preserve knowledge, protect our heritage, and ensure that future generations can access the stories, the scholarship, and the cultural memory that define who we are,” she said.
Morris also said that heritage can never be taken for granted, and with threats like fire, flood, deterioration, conflict, or simply the passage of time, archives and collections remain fragile.
“The manuscripts of great scholars, records of social movements, rare books, photographs, maps, newspapers, artworks, and institutional records tell the story of who we are. Here at Wits, we also have images of rock art, which makes us very unique. Once lost, though, these can never truly be replaced, and that's why digitisation has become one of the most important responsibilities of modern-day libraries and archives.”
The Centre has the capacity to digitise a wide range of materials, including manuscripts, books, photographs, maps, artworks, and three-dimensional objects. The Centre's impact also extends beyond preservation, creating new possibilities for scholarship and research, including digital humanities, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
The vision for the Centre is to become South Africa's leading hub for digital preservation, recognised nationally and internationally for excellence in heritage preservation, skills development, innovation, and collaboration. Beyond Wits, the Centre aims to serve a broader GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) sector, providing expertise, training, and leadership to institutions across the country and the continent.