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S A Library Week 2005 | Launch | Celebrations | Poem
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Recently, the Representative Council
approved the proposal that SA Library
Week 2005 will be celebrated during
14 - 18 March 2005 with the theme Libraries:
opening the doors of learning and culture to all.
“This theme allows libraries to follow up on the
one for 2004 when we focused on libraries in a
Decade of Democracy and will signal a
continuation of our work for the next year. It will
celebrate the founding principles of libraries, that
they be the repositories of knowledge for future
generations while at the same time making that
knowledge accessible to all who need it. It will
allow us to examine all our services in all sectors
and evaluate whether we are fulfilling this
mandate by making our services available to the
most marginalized in our society; the illiterate,
the disabled and people in under-resourced rural
areas.”
In addition, in 2005 the country will
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the adoption
of the Freedom Charter. The relevant clause of
the Charter follows below:
The Doors of Learning and Culture
Shall Be Opened!
The government shall discover,
develop and encourage national talent
for the enhancement of our cultural life;
All the cultural treasures of mankind
shall be open to all, by free exchange of books,
ideas and contact with other lands;
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The aim of education shall be to teach the youth
to love their people and their culture,
to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;
Education shall be free, compulsory,
universal and equal for all children;
Higher education and technical training
shall be opened to all by means of state allowances
and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;
Adult illiteracy shall be ended
by a mass state education plan;
Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;
The colour bar in cultural life, in sport
and in education shall be abolished.
It is hoped that the early announcement will
allow librarians to plan their programmes well in
advance and that 2005 will see many new
developments in library services country-wide.
Nohra Moerat
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