South African Public Libraries Struggle

-- Library Journal, 08/05/2005

South Africa's 1240 public libraries are suffering from an "unfunded mandate"—the provinces haven't gotten money from the central government for operations, reports the press agency SAPA. Elisabeth Anderson, head of Cape Town's Centre for the Book, cites bumps along the road to independence: "There was a lot of racial conflict and they didn't get their act together to present anything sensible to the Constitution-makers. So in the Constitution, libraries are made the total responsibility of the provinces," Anderson said. Previously, libraries had been run mostly by the segregated municipalities. Municipalities still pay for salaries and support the infrastructure, but their budgets are under pressure, which means libraries have had to cut staff and hours—and even close   some libraries.

A libraries working group set up by the print industry has forwarded recommendations to the national Department of Arts and Culture, including standardization of the job specifications of librarians. In one community, a library is run by the cleaner and in another, the fire chief runs the library. Also, the group has recommended that library book buying no longer take place at the provincial level, with little regard for local needs in a highly diverse country. Anderson noted the irony of seeing hardcover books by John Le Carre and Jackie Collins in the library of a very poor community.