"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.