Unisa online - What is African librarianship?

From left: Dr Judy Henning (Deputy Executive Director: Library Services), Ms Ellen Tise (Senior Director, Library and Information Services, Stellenbosch University), Dr Buhle Mbambo-Thata (Executive Director: Library), Dr Eddy Maisela Maepa (Deputy Director: Administration and Student Funding, Unisa, Polokwane) and Ms Joyce Gozo (Director: Library Client Services)

The 5th Annual Unisa/IFLA Regional Office for Africa Public Lecture on 25 May 2012 coincided with the commemoration of Africa Day. The theme for this year’s event was African Librarianship in the 21st Century.

Setting the tone for the lecture, Dr Judy Henning, Deputy Executive Director: Library Services, quoted the writer Germaine Greer, who once said “Libraries are reservoirs of strength.” Dr Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Executive Director: Library Services posed a question relevant to Africa Day: “what does it mean for a knowledge practitioner to contribute to the liberation of the continent?” She added that the lecture afforded information practitioners the opportunity to explore and reflect on the notion of African librarianship.

Ms Ellen Tise, Senior Director: Library and Information Services, Stellenbosch University, delivered a lecture on the topic African Librarianship: A relic, a fallacy, or an imperative! She said that there is a need to redefine the concept of African librarianship. “This concept as it was conceptualised and brought to us by the colonial masters needs to be redefined by us as Africans.” She said that African librarianship has its bases, realities and context in Africa and she cautioned Africans not to feel inferior about their practice of African librarianship. “The challenge facing African librarianship is keeping up with the technological changes of librarianship and funding. We always have to play catch up with the technological developments.” She emphasised the fact that African libraries should encourage oral culture. “This will help us to draw a lot of wealth from our own practices,” she concluded.

Responding to the lecture, Dr Eddy Maisela Maepa, Deputy Director: Administration and Student Funding, Unisa Polokwane, said that in Africanising librarianship, the information practitioners must not throw away practices that have worked for Africans. “We need to revitalise it using the foundations that existed throughout the years so that we have some kind of base to work from…African librarianship has not failed; however, there is a need to tighten other areas to make it work much better. It is important to share African librarianship with the youth.”

At the conclusion of the event, the audience was treated to African poetry read by Natalia Molebatsi, Library Marketing Coordinator.

The event was organised by Lindi Nhlapho, IFLA Regional Manager for Africa.