Welcome to the International Literacy and Reading Blog for news, views and reviews on all that is interesting globally concerning libraries, literacy and reading.
This blog is run by IFLA’s Literacy and Reading Section.
A boy enjoying a good book in a public library in Tanzania
I have now been to two rural schools in South Africa – only to find what could have been a library is a being used as a store room. I think this is the general issue all over in South Africa’s rural schools. At the one at Matjiesfontein I found piles of books just needing shelving, tables, chairs and a coat of paint and a good clean to get it up and running, but the one at Soshanguve was locked, dirty – filled with empty dark brown shelves. They are so keen to get it up and running. It also could do with a coat of bright paint, a computer to run a loan system and books reading and academic for ages 6 – 18years. Any idea where we can get them?
This is a common story across Africa. For paint and shelves, appeal to the school’s community. There may be a local carpenter who is a parent. I visited a (good technical) school in Zimbabwe once where the pupils had actually made the shelves and painted the library themselves. This is a great way for the pupils to take ownership of the library and get involved.
There are basic guides to ‘bringing books to life’ in schools at Book Aid International’s website. Once schools have books and a library, they don’t always know how to use them effectively as they are simply not used to having books around.
For computers, try http://www.computers4africa.org.uk/index.php/beneficiaries.html. There are a number of charities donating computers to Africa so it’s worth a google.