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Report on the Conditional Grant for public/community libraries
The Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Z Pallo Jordan, announced in 2007 the National Treasury's allocation of a conditional grant of R1 billion to the Department of Arts and Culture for the period 2007 to 2010. The purpose of the grant is to upgrade and revitilise community library and information services in the country to enable the South African society to gain access to knowledge and information that will improve their socio-economic situation.
The Department of Arts and Culture conducted an assessment of and investigation into the status quo of library services in the country in 2006/2007 to identify the most pressing constraints in delivering an effective library and information service in the country. National priorities have since been identified, e.g. a lack of professional staff, a shortage of books in libraries, a lack of library buildings, etc.
The Department is managing and monitoring the conditional grant in cooperation with the provincial departments responsible for library and information services. Heads of the provinces have been informed of the purpose of the conditional grant, and their support has been requested towards the successful implementation of the grant.
The provincial library services have since 2006 embarked on a process of identifying the most urgent areas where intervention was needed, and have drafted business plans in which they have listed and budgeted for projects on which to spend the funds. These projects mainly focus on appointing more staff, buying books to equip library collections, improving ICT facilities in libraries, and upgrading library buildings.
The following examples give an indication of the improvements in the provisioning of library services that have already taken place in the provinces in the past year due to the additional funding:
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Eastern Cape:
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25 libraries are currently being upgraded, and 36 new staff members were appointed.
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Free State:
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57 new staff members were appointed.
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Gauteng:
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49 new staff members were appointed, and a consultant was appointed to investigate the assignment of the function to local municipalities.
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KwaZulu-Natal:
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20 cyber cadets have been appointed in libraries to provide ICT training to young people, and library material to the value of R3 million was ordered.
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Limpopo:
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Library material to the value of R2 million was ordered, and 67 new staff members were appointed.
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Mpumalanga:
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35 new staff members were appointed, 6 libraries were upgraded and 1 new library was built.
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North West:
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Library material to the value of R2 million was purchased and 46 new staff members were appointed. An extensive toy library programme that will benefit children in terms of intellectual development was rolled out to rural communities.
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Northern Cape:
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Educational support material was purchased and distributed to 155 service points, and 2 container libraries were delivered to rural areas.
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Western Cape:
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183 new library staff members were appointed. Books were ordered to supply the Wheelie Wagons.
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There have been constraints in spending the funds in some provinces. The Department realises that it is the first grant of this nature to the provinces, and it will take time to run effectively before the whole country would benefit.
The Department and the National Treasury have instituted monitoring mechanisms to evaluate progress made with projects and expenditure in each province during the 2007/2008 financial year, and have taken measures to assist provinces that have experienced difficulties with spending and implementation. A team of dedicated experts from the National Treasury have been made available to assist three provinces in accelerating their expenditure before the end of this financial year, namely the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West.
The Department is strongly supporting initiatives to provide and increase connectivity to information and communication technology (ICT) in community libraries, and is working closely with SITA on this matter.
The Department is focusing on the republication of classical works in indigenous languages, and has sponsored the publication of a catalogue of material available in nine African languages, entitled: Writings in nine tongues: a catalogue of literature and readers in nine African languages for South Africa.
For the period 2008 to 2010, the Department intends to appoint a Director at national level and a representative in each province to be responsible for-
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Project management
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Financial management
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Monitoring and evaluation for the purpose of performance information management.
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