Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 3, No. 3 | The National Library of South Africa, page 3

Making sure that the torch gets passed to the next generation of skilled librarians is another way that Tsebe is attempting to build a culture of excellent libraries and librarianship in South Africa. As head of the National Library, Tsebe has committed his institution to helping train not only the next cohort of librarians but also conservators and information technology specialists. One strategy for achieving that goal has involved engaging the help of South Africa's professional library associations such as the Library Information Association of South Africa (LIASA).

Ujala Sathgool is the director of a Corporation-funded professional training project based at LIASA. Sathgool explains that the project will be officially launched in the fall of 2005 at the LIASA annual convention. There, LIASA members will receive training that ranges from improving interpersonal skills to the development of highly advanced communications information technology. In terms of professional training, overall, says Sathgool, "The challenge is to get people to think critically about training needs. In South Africa, that's particularly difficult because, to a great extent, libraries were conceived as providing a recreational outlet. But the demand from students for our educational services and from schools that lack the resources has grown enormously. So we have to redefine libraries as no longer being primarily recreational facilities."

On another front, in order to help create a culture of reading, writing and publishing--especially in indigenous languages--the National Library has helped to fund the Centre for the Book in Cape Town, which began operation in 1998. The Centre encourages writing in South Africa's eleven official languages but has also promoted understanding and appreciation of the nation's oral legacy through such means as holding conferences on praise singing, among the most important of the traditional African oral arts.

One of the National Library's more ambitious projects--and one that is drawing increasing attention in other parts of Africa--involves placing "information kiosks" in libraries that will provide easily accessible information on subjects such as poverty alleviation, the prevention and treatment of diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Other information will assist entrepreneurs in establishing and growing small businesses.

John Mayor, Information Technology Manager for the eThekwini Municipal Library in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, says that the kiosks have been a big hit. "We call these sites Centres of Excellence," he explains. "They include computers in the library that have been modified to offer resources such as templates for creating resumes, which has proved to be quite popular. We also started a free e-mail program. Once someone registers for it at one library, they can then sign on and get or send e-mail at all the other libraries in the municipality."

These projects and services are all elements of the redefinition of libraries that many across Africa have called for. One of those who supports this concept is Professor Kingo Mchumbo, an expert on the role of information in national development and a professor of library science at the University of Namibia. Says Mchumbo, "African libraries were wrongly designed in the first place because they were modeled on the needs and behavior of people in developed Western societies. And, because they were built under colonial rule, their structure and services presumed a level of literacy and a familiarity with printed material, along with a well-established information industry, that just does not exist across much of the continent." He continues, "In my view, libraries must focus on the basic aspirations of Africans and help to meet survival needs. They must also provide information that improves agricultural production, helps people build better houses, and make use of government programs. And all that has to be in indigenous languages. Libraries also should look toward the free exchange of information: people to people, lectures, cultural activities, etc. The South Africans," Mchumbo concludes, "are moving very well in these directions. They are helping to redesign and reinvent the whole concept of libraries in Africa."

Next page: Under the aegis of the National Library, Tsebe has initiated regular meetings among librarians across the continent to brainstorm ways to improve and upgrade their institutions.

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