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The launch of South African Library Week 2004
Opening address by: Robert Moropa - President of LIASA
Central Library, City Hall, Cape Town
13 March 2004
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Master of Ceremonies
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The Honourable Patrick McKenzie, Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Western Cape Province
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Dr Graham Dominy, National Archivist: National Policies on Library and Information Services
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Our honoured guests:
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Zubeida Jaffer
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Elinor Sisulu
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Royston Stoffels
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Allister Sparks and
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Antjie Krog
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The National Librarian
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Members NACLIS
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Members of the LIASA Representative Council
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Members of the LIS Profession
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Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a privilege to have been given the task of formally opening the South African Library Week of 2004.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Association
I will start off by putting the S A Library Week into perspective. The Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) came into existence in 1997, as a professional non-profit organization uniting and representing all institutions and people working in libraries and information services (LIS) in South Africa.
It strives to unite, develop and empower all people in the library and information field into an organization that provides dynamic leadership in transforming, developing and sustaining library and information services for all people in South Africa.
LIASA's membership consists of:
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Any individual who is interested in or working in libraries and information services and who subscribes to LIASA's constitution
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Institutions or organizations that maintain or are interested in libraries and information services
The Association is divided into 10 branches that reside in each province in the country, with two based in Gauteng. LIASA is governed by a Representative Council elected by its members. An Executive Committee consisting of elected officials is mandated by the Council to implement its policies and programmes. Administration is carried out by a Director supported by a small staff based in the national office in Pretoria.
SOUTH AFRICAN LIBRARY WEEK
LIASA has initiated a drive to have South African Library Week recognized by government as a commemorative period on par with Water Week etc., during which all types of libraries across the country market their services to their users, to the broader community, civil society and decision makers. It is hoped that these efforts would contribute to the understanding of the important role that libraries play in a democratic society, in advancing literacy and in making the basic human right, and, access to information a reality. During this period we aim to make all South Africans aware that libraries contribute to nation building and improve the quality of life of all who use them.
The customary celebration of library week exists in many countries. Such a tradition has been celebrated for many years in South Africa, mainly in the public library sector and spearheaded by the various Provincial Library Services. It had become customary to celebrate this during the last two weeks of May. However, it is LIASA's vision to celebrate a truly national Library Week, one that embraces all types of libraries and all kinds of users and potential users. To achieve this, LIASA has taken upon itself the task of spearheading all campaigns in its branches in all nine provinces and to decide on the annual theme and slogan for the week.
After extensive consultation with the membership the following proposal was accepted:
That the week within which 20 March falls should be national Library Week. In the event of this day failing within a weekend, the week preceding it should be celebrated as national Library Week.
The motivation was based on research into the history of libraries in South Africa:
The South African Public Library, now known as the National Library of South Africa (Cape Town) was the first library to be established in South Africa. This was done by a government proclamation on 20 March 1818. The South African Library in fact started off as a true public library and has established itself as a pioneering institution in South African library history.
Furthermore, it is fortuitous that we celebrate Human Rights Day on 21 March, given that our Bill of Rights recognises the freedom of access to information as a basic human right. Doing it this way would enable us to link an important historical event with a crucial date in our new democracy.
This proposal was strongly supported by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, who further proposed that the Week be renamed South African Library Week.
In March 2002 and 2003 LIASA organized very successful National Library Weeks that were celebrated in all types of libraries nationwide with the slogan "Free your Mind-Read!" in 2002 and 'Your Right to Read' in 2003. The 2002 launch was hosted in Etwatwa, Daveyton and the 2003 launch was hosted in Kuruman in the Northern Cape.
The announcements of the dates and slogan for the Week are widely publicized. A lot of hard work goes into the preparatory work for celebrating this week. At the national level the preparations for the launch of this week have been ably driven by Nohra Moerat, the PRO of LIASA and her committee.
The Association then took the responsibility to have posters designed and distributed to all its branches for further distribution to all types of libraries in their regions in order to popularise the dates and theme. Through the generous sponsorship from its partners (viz. SWETS, EBSCO and Red Pepper) LIASA was able to design and produce this poster.
It is appropriate that the launch of this year's SA Library Week is held here because as you know it is at this Library that our former president, Nelson Mandela, addressed the nation on the day he was released from prison in 1990. This launch will be followed by events that each branch has organized in their region. Institutions across the country will also stage activities to celebrate the Week.
It is LIASA's dream that South African Library Week will become a celebration of the country's intellectual and cultural heritage.
South African Library Week 2004 will be celebrated during the week of 15 - 19 March 2004 with the theme "1994 - 2004: Libraries in a Decade of Democracy "
A CELEBRATION AND A PROTEST
Through this launch and the subsequent activities LIASA is both celebrating and protesting. We are celebrating the ten years of democracy in our beloved country. We are here today to celebrate the contribution that libraries have made towards the growth and development of this democracy. It has been said that information is the lifeblood of democracy. Jefferson, in the 1700's stated that information is the currency of democracy. Democracy is about choices that the people make. Good quality decisions are based on good quality information. Therefore a healthy democracy depends on an informed and participative community. Libraries function as one-stop multi-purpose reservoirs of information.
They form part of the infrastructure needed to support democracy. They form part of the network of pillars upon which democracy rests. We are celebrating the contribution that Libraries have made in supporting our democracy.
We are however saddened by attempts by some of our elected leaders to destroy this vital network of pillars of our democracy by closing or threatening to close some of the Public and Community Libraries that have been placed under their care. Their main excuse for doing this is to balance their budgets. We find this attack by these officials and politicians shocking, to say the least. They are really being shortsighted. To these officials we want to say we need more libraries and not less. Build us more of these pillars of democracy to make our democracy strong. By closing one library you are weakening the support structure of our democracy. These officials must realize that support for democracy and closure of libraries are incompatible. Please remember that South Africa needs more libraries and not less. We view an attack on libraries as an attack on democracy. This attack must stop. We need more libraries and not less.
It seems to me that these leaders are taking advantage of the fact that many of the citizens of South Africa cannot read and write and that among those who can, the skill of reading is not fully developed yet. True leaders are those who will work hard at creating circumstances that will address this situation and not exploit it. True leaders are those with a vision that will compel them to develop a nation of readers by, among others, providing more libraries.
Ladies and gentlemen we have among us our important and esteemed partners who provide us with the sources of information that are so greatly needed in South Africa. I am referring here to the authors who have toiled and made sure that we have books that we can offer to our clients. To you, our honoured and highly esteemed guests I would like to say to you, on behalf of LIASA, thank you for your hard work. Thank you for your contribution toward developing a strong culture of reading in South Africa. Thank you for your vision. You will be appropriately thanked later. I just want you to know that we value you. We are proud of you.
CONCLUSION
Master of Ceremonies, our honourable and distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to formally declare the 2004 South African Library Week open. Let the celebration begin.
Thank you.
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