#IGBISwithLeaders: Nikki Crowster

IGBIS, your Interest Group for Bibliographic Standards, is pleased to present Nikki Crowster as our guest speaker for this month’s #IGBISwithLeaders event. For Nikki, May 2023 heralds 40 years as a practitioner in public and academic libraries, and we have the privilege of marking this milestone with her!

Ms Crowster is the immediate past president of LIASA, holding the office from 2018-2021, with the last two years of her term being a time of immense upheaval for the LIS community and the world, as we experienced lockdowns and loss in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a member of the LIASA Executive (2014 to 2021 in various portfolios) Nikki supported and led various advocacy efforts, notably that of Copyright Amendment including parliamentary representation. She has a strong background in Governance – having spearheaded the LIASA restructure – and in library systems and infrastructure, having been a systems librarian for close to 20 years.

Ms Crowster is currently Director of Information Systems and Services at University of Cape Town (UCT) Libraries. She was the Project Lead for the Salvage and Recovery phases of the 2021 Cape Town/Jagger Library Fire disaster management response. The actions taken by Ms Crowster and the recovery team following this event exemplify Nikki’s commitment, passion, and dedication to South African library and information services (LIS).

Ms Crowster embraces a values-driven culture which amplifies inclusivity and self-expression. Her core values include authenticity, speaking truth to power, self-responsibility, persistence, perseverance, passion, resilience, and commitment.

Nikki’s leadership mettle has been tested and proven by global and local challenges. We hope you will join us for what is certain to be an inspirational and enlightening conversation with a true LIS leader!