The “tricky business” of dual use school community libraries: A case study in rural South Africa

The article describes an interpretive case study of a group of six dual use school community libraries in one remote region of South Africa. Its focus is rather more on the libraries as school libraries than public libraries. The recent government sponsored LIS Transformation Charter has placed a spotlight on the backlogs in school and public library provision. The case study, conducted in April 2009, investigates if dual or joint use libraries might help fill gaps and, if so, under what conditions. The article describes background, research questions, methodology, site and some of the findings. The study highlights the relationships among role-players, the realities of dual use functioning and the complex issue of librarian identity. The study concludes that, although many of the international criteria for dual use libraries are not met, the six libraries do provide a crucial service for their schools and other schools in the surrounding areas. And they offer a tantalising picture of the possibilities of dual use for rural information services. The article suggests that with more dynamic leadership these possibilities could be fulfilled

Public libraries in South Africa: Agents or victims of educational change?

The paper explores the impact of educational change in South Africa on public libraries. It surveys the recent literature to conclude that the position of school libraries is precarious and that public librarians feel victimised by the new curriculum. This represents a puzzling contradiction, as librarians’ expectations were that the ethos and methodologies of the new curriculum, Curriculum 2005 (C2005), would provide a more favourable climate. The curriculum has indeed brought increased use of public libraries by school learners yet there has been little recognition in official quarters of the educational role of public libraries. It is suggested that, if librarians are to gain a better footing in curriculum planning, they need to engage with educationists as to the role libraries play in resource-based learning. They will need to provide documented evidence by means of research studies. As an example of such a study, the paper describes the author’s study of school learners’ use of two public libraries in a disadvantaged community in Cape Town. The libraries were found to be playing a crucial role in the learning programme of the learners. However, it is suggested that the two libraries need to design more systematic structured programmes if the needs of school learners for information literacy education are to be met. This might require explicit endorsement of their educational role by their own governance structures and the provincial Education Department.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Social capital: a fresh vision for public libraries in South Africa

The article argues that the construct of social capital offers South African public librarianship fresh vision – urgently needed if it is to fulfil its potential role in social inclusion. Social capital refers to the stocks of social trust, norms and networks that a community can draw on to solve common problems. A wide body of research in Southern Africa bears witness to its role in the success of development projects. Restrictive economic policies, coupled with new demands, have put pressure on public libraries and research points to a prevailing low morale among their staff, who, it is suggested, find themselves caught in the transition towards new models of service. Government’s acceptance of social capital as a crucial tool in the developmental state and the news of its intervention to transform South African public libraries suggest the need to articulate the library as “a place for all”. In reaction to neglect in the literature of social capital, internationally, librarians have documented their building of social capital through their education, information and community programmes. This work offers South African librarians a rich resource to draw on in their search for new direction and visionDepartment of HE and Training approved lis

Information literacy: the missing link in South Africa’s educational transformation?

Introduction: This paper uses the lens of information literacy and information literacy education to view educational change in South Africa. Although the focus is on South Africa, I hope that the paper might resonate with delegates from other countries and that this might lead to the exploration of common ground

Service learning in a course in children's & youth library & information services: a case study

The case study describes a service learning project in Library and Information Science. In 2002, 14 students enrolled for the service learning elective – the 4th year second semester module, Children’s and Youth Library and Information Services (LS 421). The final year second semester programme comprises four equally weighted modules: an elective, a bibliography project and two fieldwork modules. In 2002 the strategy for LS 421 was to merge it with the two fieldwork modules. Students spent two days a week in the three libraries in Delft, Delft South and Bellville South and attended a weekly seminar. The aim was to embed the learning of the LS 421 course in their experience in the libraries. The children and youth of the Delft and Bellville South face huge challenges arising from the histories and socio-economics of their communities. The lack of literacy and information literacy was identified as an area for the intervention of librarian students. The case study reports the various challenges encountered and concludes that more interrogation of the difference between library based fieldwork and service learning is required.Web of Scienc

The LPYL in context: changing minds about school libraries in South Africa

It is an honour to write a foreword for the Bibliotek I Samehälle's book on the Library Practice for Young Learners project (LPYL) - and also a challenge. The "honour" is due to the significance of the LPYL project, which is a project rooted in our past and present realities but which reaches out to future possibilities. I believe that it thus has a real chance of "making a difference" to South African education. The vision of the original partners, the Library & information Workers Organisation (LIWO), BIS and the Education Policy Unit (Natal), deserves gratitude and respect. They realised the importance of school libraries as a force for educational transformation - an area of action often neglected by the mainstream library profession. They then recognised that the South African landscape called for innovative models of school libraries. It is important perhaps to acknowledge upfront the links between the LPYL project and the national Department of Education's school library policy-writing process. Jenni Karlsson of the EPU (Natal) was largely responsible for the drafting of the National Policy Framework for School Library Standards (Department of Education, 1998) and she is a leading partner in the LPYL. From the beginning the intention of the LPYL project was to pilot certain of the models described in the policy document (a document which has apparently since been shelved by Government). Whatever the underlying intention, the result was an elegantly-designed project that provides us so far with at least three useful case studies for the future (Naiker & Mbokazi, 2002)

“Don’t they know how important it is?” A case study of information literacy education in a small South African town

The paper comes out of a month-long case study of information literacy education in two public libraries in a small South African town in the rural province of Mpumalanga, undertaken in October 2004. The participant observation study is the second phase of a two-phase mixed methods study, which explores the capacity of public libraries in South Africa for information literacy education – in the context of the dire shortage of school libraries. The focus in the second phase is on the connections between public libraries and schools. However, the relations between the two libraries and their staff members are found to impact on these relations with the study finding that historical context and the conflicts arising from unequal positions of power impact significantly on information literacy education in the town. The paper concentrates, however, on just two threads of enquiry: the views of teachers and principals in the seven schools of the town on the educational role of libraries as revealed in interviews; and pupils’ use of the two public libraries in seeking information for their school assignments. The study reveals a lack of cognizance of the high level demands of information-seeking in libraries among the teachers. They tend to see the library as a warehouse from which things are “fetched”. The study finds a paradox – a gulf certainly exists between the public libraries and schools but the gulf comes from shared limited conceptions of the educational role of public libraries and of information literacy. The intense gaze of the participant observation contributes a nuanced understanding of the challenges for information literacy education in South Africa

Educators and public librarians: Unwitting partners in the information literacy education of South African youth?

The article details a study which examined the capacity of public libraries to offer information literacy education in South Africa. It investigates the perceptions of public library staff on their role in information literacy education. It provides a background on public libraries and literacy programs in the country. Findings of the research are discussed.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Job satisfaction in a South African academic library in transition

Job satisfaction was investigated at a South African university library undergoing change on many fronts. The study included 31 members of staff and the data were gathered via interviews/questionnaires, informed by standard HRM job satisfaction theory. The study found a “love–hate” relationship between respondents and their work. The key positive finding is that 61% report overall job satisfaction—with the core work of an academic library, providing for the information needs of clients, the source. However, only 51% claim to be proud to work at their library and 50% are open to other job offers. Causes for the restlessness include a sense of stagnation, frustration with inadequate resources, and anger at poor remuneration

Searching for new library models: Two South African case studies of services to youth

Paper presented at the Libraries for young people: Breaking through boundaries, IFLA section libraries for children and young adults, Joensuu, Finland, 9-10 August 2012South Africa is a youthful society with 54% younger than 24 years. South African young people face disproportionately high rates of unemployment, HIV-AIDS infection, and violent crime. Even in post-apartheid South Africa, the disparities between the historically white and black sectors of schooling are still evident. The implications of the “youth bulge” for South African librarianship are clear. However, public and school libraries face daunting challenges. Fewer than 10% of schools have functioning school libraries and millions of South Africans do not have access to public libraries. Clearly innovative models of service must be found to reach more than the current tiny minority of library users. The paper reports on two case studies of community library services: one a group of dual-use libraries set up in six remote schools as public library “outreach”, and the second a so-called “satellite” library in a township on the outskirts of Cape Town. Their environments and operations are very different; but what they have in common is a willingness to break down conventional barriers and to move into fresh ground. The paper argues that they point to new models of service which, by moving beyond the concept of “outreach”, offer solutions to developing new kinds of library services in South Africa and perhaps in other countries with similar challenges. The sites might well fall short of rigorous international standards but both are imaginative attempts to meet the needs of young South Africans