African Library Summit 2013

In 2011 the IFLA Africa Section, IFLA Regional Office of Africa  and UNISA Library hosted a successful African Library Summit(ALS). A follow up to that Summit was the African Public Library Summit (APLS) in September 2012.  On July 2-5,  2013 the IFLA Africa Section, IFLA Regional Office for Africa  and UNISA Library will host the second African Library Summit.

The theme of the ALS 2013 is "The horizon and beyond", http://www.unisa.ac.za/africanlibrarysummit  . It will focus on leadership issues in the digital age, innovation and co-operation.  It is open  to library, information and knowledge practitioners who have an interest in African libarianship in the 21st Century. It will be preceded by a series workshops on matters pertinent  to development of libraries , including a programme for emerging leaders. More is available at the websitehttp://www.unisa.ac.za/africanlibrarysummit 

This series of Summits has been an excellent avenue of African Library and information leadership to formulate frameworks that  move African libraries forward. They have provided a forum for Government Officials and Library leaders to engage on libraries as development agencise. It is anticiapated that the forth coming summit will challenge leadership to think outside the box, while inspiring emerging leaders to think about next libraries.

I am delighted to be part of this series of  library summits. They not only enhance the role of African libraries in development but bring African knowledge into deigital spaces. I look forward to seeing many of you in Pretoria in July at the African Library Summit 2013.

"It is in our hands"

We may have heard the words "It is  in our hands" from  former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. There are other statements that the great Statesman, and world icon, has made that are inspiring. In this post post I refer to some.  I paraphrase one of my favourite ones ....through education children of farm workers can become farm owners;  through education children of mine workers can become mine owners.  He was talking about the potential of education to transform people's lives. He was urging young people to embrace education.

Libraries have been refered to as poor man's universities; in higher education , "the heart of academic activity". One retiring Registrar of UNISA once said, " any university worth its name needs a good library".  These statements are borne out of the recognition of the critical role of libraries in education, and about giving people opportunity to learn. Libraries can indeed be central to transforming people's lives in the manner stated by former President Mandela.

In my previous post I have stated that libraries ought to develop agency and  locate themselves as part of the solution for development challenges. I retirate the same here. In the words of  former President Mandela,   indeed "it is in our hands" as librarians to  be part of educational solutions that transform people's lives.

Libraries and the developement agenda

In the last three weeks I had the pleasure of  participating in different capacities, at two ground  breaking meetings- the African Public Libray Summit  on 19-21 October 2012 www.african-public-libraries-summit.org/ and the Beyond Access Conference  on 2-3 November www.beyondaccess.net.  While the two meetings were a few weeks apart and at different geographical locations their focus was similar. In my view both focused on libraries and the development agenda.  Both conferences  addressed the partnership of government, civil society and libraries in the development process. Both included  policy makers, civil society, development partners and librarians.They  both incorporated best practices and success stories on libraries and community development into the programme.

I left both meetings filled with hope! It seemed that we were entering a phase in which policy makers would identify libraries as strategic partners in the development process. My hope, though, is that libraries would develop own agency, and positition themselves as development institutions; that libraries would present themselves as such, without waiting to be discovered.  At APLS and Beyond Access one had a sense that libraries were indeed positioning themselves to be counted as development partners. The two conferences, one hopes, were not events but catalysts of change.

The ball remains in our court as librarians, to present ourselves as part of the development solution.

Libraries and national development

I just watched, on TV, the opening  ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London. I was delighted to see books and reading as part of the opening ceremony! I wondered what the NHS did to get such prominence in the opening?! It must have something to do with impact, I thought. I dreamt of a day when libraries would get such noticeable mention....

This bring me to a conversation we will have in the next few days, libraries and national development. Perhaps when libraries take their place on the development agenda, they will get mention at such major events. The question is who should put the libraries on the development agenda? My quick answer is libraries and library communities have a responsibility to be part of the development solution.  We will discuss this in the coming weeks, and a related question "to what extent is this a leadership issue"?