The City of Cape Town’s Library and Information Services will host a number of events at its libraries in honour of South African Library Week, which takes place from 16 to 23 March 2013. The theme for this year’s celebrations is “Educate Yourself @ Your Library”.
The City currently has 100 libraries, three satellite libraries and a mobile library service. These service points do not only lend books to residents but also provide them with access to electronic resources, magazines and journals, programmes in information-retrieval skills, lifelong learning and storytelling.
In addition, City libraries function as cultural hubs and venues for community activities and events.
Commenting ahead of South African Library Week, the Library Information Association of SA has said that libraries play an important role in educating communities. It stated: “Libraries have always played a role in education, be it a school, academic, public or special library. In the current environment in which we operate, the public library has, for example, largely fulfilled a school library role to fill the gap left by the lack of school libraries.
“Apart from the ‘formal’ role that libraries play in this arena, they have also always played an informal role in the education of our communities. The concept of lifelong learning is one embodied in all libraries especially public and community libraries. The fact that any person, young or old, rich or poor, employed or unemployed, can walk into a library and find information (in both electronic and traditional formats) to educate and enrich themselves, is one of the major pluses in the favour of libraries.”
The City’s libraries have organised various programmes and workshops during this week to celebrate this important event on the library calendar. Workshops on leadership skills, safety tips, health and wellness, environmental awareness, human rights and coaching skills on entrepreneurship and careers are just some of the highlights of the comprehensive programme. Communities are encouraged to take full advantage of the events. For more information and to view the programme, visit www.capetown.gov.za/library.
The City will officially kick off SA Library Week on Monday, 18 March 2013, with the launch of a new Mobile Library bus at the Battswood Primary School (one of the stops for this particular mobile bus). The new bus will replace the oldest bus in the Mobile Library Services fleet and showcases new enhancements, such as an air-conditioned interior and wheelchair-friendly access. It is also designed to accommodate an electronic mobile library and phase out a manual library management system.
Mobile library buses are an essential means of making reading material accessible to all communities and we look forward to the positive impact this new bus will have on the communities which it travels through,” says Alderman Belinda Walker, Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Special Projects.
Also on Monday, the City’s Central Library will host a friendly march with the slogan “Love your Library”. Staff from libraries across the city will take to the streets to make their presence felt with colourful banners proclaiming their love of libraries, books and reading.
A final highlight of SA Library week is the City’s Fine Free Week. Lenders are encouraged to return any overdue library materials without being fined. However, any previously accrued fines will still be payable.
The City of Cape Town’s Library and Information Services would like to encourage everyone to visit their local library to participate in the events organised during South African Library Week.
