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For the love of concrete
As the first female president of the Concrete Society of Southern Africa, Hanlie Turner spoke to Robyn Grimsley about how she became involved in the industry, the impact of technology, and her experience working in a traditionally male-driven and-orientated sector.
Hanlie Turner has over three decades of experience in the cement and concrete industry, and is currently specialist: technical information services at PPC, as well as president of the Concrete Society of Southern Africa( CSSA).
Robyn Grimsley( RG): Tell me about your background, what are your qualifications?
Hanlie Turner( HT): I have a degree in library science( B. Bibl) from the University of Johannesburg and a postgraduate diploma in marketing from the IMM Graduate School.
RG: So how did you end up in this sector and in the Concrete Society? HT: I knew from the work I had been doing during the holidays while I was
Concrete Society of Southern Africa
Hanlie Turner, president of the Concrete Society of Southern Africa. studying that I did not want to work in a public library; I wanted to be in a researchtype of technical environment. So, in my final year at university— this was the early 1980s when most corporates had very strong technical libraries— I became aware of a position at Murray & Roberts’ technical library. I applied for the job and I got it— it was really a heaven-sent opportunity. I have been in the bigger construction industry ever since and I have just never looked back. So, while I have no formal technical qualifications in cement and concrete, my whole working life has been spent in this industry.
I think it is important to note that my Concrete Society involvement is voluntary. I am grateful to my current employer, PPC, for the time they allow me to spend on the Concrete Society work, but my Concrete Society position is not because of, or related to, my position at PPC.
RG: How did your career progress from that point? HT: I was at M & R for about seven years and I ended up being in charge of their technical library. I then joined a firm of consulting engineers, also in their technical library, before I took up a position at the Cement and Concrete Institute( C & CI) in their information centre. While I was working at the C & CI, the marketing manager approached me and asked whether I had ever thought about diversifying into marketing. I was sceptical because I saw myself as a good information worker in the research environment. I was skilled at connecting people with the information they needed. I nevertheless enrolled for the marketing diploma, and some years later when a vacancy became available at the C & CI, I was appointed marketing manager at the Institute. That was an opportune change in career direction for me. And then four years ago, in 2013, I joined PPC as specialist: technical information services.
RG: How has technology impacted the information side of the business? HT: Technology, and specifically the Internet, hasn’ t actually had as big of an impact as we were initially led to believe it would. A few years ago, predictions of a paperless society led everyone to believe that libraries were going to cease to exist and all information was going to be‘ electronic’. But it has not happened, and it is not going to happen in my lifetime. We found that many people, especially students, did not really know how to do research. They could google the topic they wanted information on, but they found it difficult to extract quality information or to find the specific answers they were looking for.
The information centre at the C & CI( these days called TCI) is one-of-a-kind in the southern hemisphere. When I was there, we made it our mission to explain to students that you could not do a technical assignment based on a google search, because the nature of the Internet is that anyone can post anything, and it can be difficult to determine what an individual’ s authority is in that field. The Internet is incredibly powerful, but you need to be able to assess the quality of the information you find— the credibility of the source. Particularly if you come across what seems to be a really interesting idea, you need to be able to test it against other credible sources and see whether this is just some whacky person thinking out of the box, or whether it is a credible source with real innovative thinking— there’ s a fine balance. So what we found— and what TCI Information Centre still finds— is that there is a swing back to students actually understanding that you ' ve got to consult credible sources of information for sound research and decision-making.
RG: Tell me about the Concrete Society and your time there. HT: The Concrete Society of Southern Africa, to give it its full name, is an interest body— anybody with any interest in concrete can become a member. You do not need a qualification, you do not need specific experience; you just need to love concrete. So, whether you are an architect, an engineer, a contractor, or a material supplier, if you ' ve got any interest in concrete, you can become a member of the Concrete Society. It is a fully constituted non-profit company that’ s been around for 48 years,
QUARRY SA | SEPTEMBER 2017 _ 35