"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"?