Libraries as a platform for community learning


Libraries have an important role in the community. In fact they should act as platforms for community learning and innovation.

Communities should look at them as platforms. A platform provides resources that let other people build things.

Accordingly libraries should provide services (preservation, access, publication) as a gateway to knowledge.

They should not draw distinctions between physical and virtual spaces.

Library and information services and collections should allow the community to dream and achieve its aspirations.

Therefore, libraries should open up operations and ideas to the community. To open up operations, investment is crucial.

Government and relevant stakeholders need to invest in libraries to maintain places for people to meet, share and learn together since a community library is like a beach, where we all have a right to be there and make use of it.

Also, librarians need to know their local community intimately - not just their library.

They need to be able to point people in the right direction over a variety of personal and community needs.

Many different opportunities should be identified, including reading groups, writing groups, language classes, cultural activities such as drama, and health activities such as well-being classes, information seminars about local volunteering or other opportunities and outreach activities into more remote communities. 

The aim should be to see libraries working with disadvantaged groups, existing users and non-users, voluntary and community groups and other community service providers.

Since libraries are platforms for community learning and innovation, the community through the help of government also needs to help transform them.

The test of that transformation is not in a building, collection or service; it is in the achievements of the community.

Access to information is a fundamental right and libraries should be used to promote and protect this basic human right - Lazarus Sauti.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why the hell are men and women prepared to poison themselves for sex?

Lazarus Sauti Tim Marufu uses Congo dust, a sex enhancing drug from the Democratic Republic of Congo, to prolong his erection. He said the aphrodisiac, which is rubbed on the male organ, results in lengthy sex rounds. “ NeCongo dust unoanchor mudhara, unochimhanya (With Congo dust you can enjoy length sex sessions). “ Uyu mushonga wechikwapuro; ukangozora chete simbi yako inozhamba (This drug is powerful. If you properly apply it, your partner will cry in bed),” said Marufu, adding that “the powder prolongs an erection for up to an hour if applied correctly.” Explaining how Congo dust works, he says, “You just take a pinch and rub it at the tip of your organ at least three hours before being intimate.” During the process of an erection, he added, the penis enlarges and stiffens as a result of changes within muscles, nerves and blood vessels of the organ . Marabha, a vendor who sells Congo dust at Cnr. 7 th and Samora Ave in Harare, says Congo dust comes i
Read more

Are butt-fattening pills real?

Lazarus Sauti Large posteriors are beautiful marks for most African women and despite health hazards and side effects such as kidney failure, blurred vision, sedation, dry mouth and gastrointestinal, women jostle to get them. In Zimbabwe, most women use Apetito tablets, illegal injections as well as chicken-fattening pills to acquire fake behinds. These illegal tablets as well as chicken-fattening pills are smuggled into the country from countries like India, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority asserts that an increase in seized contraband of butt-fattening pills shows amplified circulation of such drugs in the country. Recently, alert Zimra officers stationed at Chirundu One-Stop Border Post confiscated a huge consignment of skin lightening creams as well as butt-enhancing tablets which were carefully stashed in a well-carved opening on the trailer of a haulage truck destined for Harare. “Skin lightening creams and “bod
Read more

Fake news: An insidious problem

Lazarus Sauti THE INTERNET is an amazing place, crammed with information from different news sites, but the only problem is that some devious elements are using it to cause alarm and despondence as well as destroying people’s lives. An escalating number of fake and spoof sites are exploding on a daily basis, spreading phony reports like wildfire on the Internet. Most people in southern Africa woke up to a bogus news report recently suggesting that popular South African gospel artiste, Lundi Tyamara, had died after suffering from multiple diseases including anal cancer, chest pains and abdominal tuberculosis. The fake story went viral, with fans on social media platforms expressing shock over the artiste’s ‘death’. His manager, Anele Hlazo, however, rubbished the claims, saying “the gospel star is out of danger and his fans should not worry”. Tales of President Robert Mugabe’s ‘death’ also gained grip recently after a ‘R.I.P Robert Mugabe’ Facebook page posted t
Read more