I am moving this blog to http://salibrariesinthenews.blogspot.com.  

 The Times (and others) reports:

A young North West teenager has launched a civic campaign which has caught the eye of Mark Shuttleworth"s HIP2B² initiative.  efilwe Mothawanazi, 16, is lobbying her local mayor at the Tlokwe Municipality to build libraries in her township so that school children have a safe place to study.  The grade 10 pupil from BA Seobi Secondary School in Ikageng said in some cases pupils walk for an hour to get to the nearest library at Mohading in Potchefstroom. Providing facilities where they can work after hours would give them more study time and better results.

Star (18 August 2011)  reports on the Rural Broadband Connection Project run by the Greater Tzaneen Municipality.   The Project, which is due to be rolled out in three phases,  aims to give rural communities free access to the internet.  The first phase in the provision of digital connection infrastructure to libraries and municipal offices.  The second and third phases includes the laying of fibre-optic cables and setting of e-campus and kiosks. 

Spotted on MediaUpdate,  a story about the opening of a new library in at the Kgaganako Primary School,  Ga-Mphahlele,  Limpopo by Miss South Africa,  Bokang Montjane,  and  M-Net Cares.     The school was Miss South Africa's former primary school.   

Don Makatile in the Sowetan says  he was pleasantly surprised to hear about this,  and that it would be really interesting to see what is in local celebs' libraries.

An interview with IOL with Stephen Johnson, Random House Struik's Managing Director.  He talks about his earliest memory of reading when he got his first library card and read his book at the Observatory Public Library (in Cape Town.)

The Sowetan reports that delegates attending the Education International's quadrennial World Congress are being encouraged to bring books to help short up local community libraries. 

A round up of some of the stories in the South African media about libraries, reading and Mandela Day.  (This will be updated as stories are found.)

From TivesLive:   

Miss South Africa Bokang Montjane embarked on a literacy campaign for Mandela, donating books to the Limpopo primary school she attended. Link.

Launch of campaign to provide 10 container librariers to primary schools across South Africa.    Link.

Spotted on IOL.    An exhibition of Bibles and Christian manuscripts is on display at the National Library of South Africa, Cape Town campus,  until 31 August 2011. 

Cape Times (20 June 2011) reports that the new public library in Harare, Khayelitsha has opened [online article access for subscribers only].      The architecture and design is eco- and people-friendly, making use of maximum daylight and natural ventilation.  The building cost about R23 million and was funded through the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant.  CDs and DVDs were funded in part by a Carnegie Foundation grant.

Here's the report from Cape Town News.  Doors opened on 3 June 2011.   The library features spaces and services not yet available at other public libraries including an Early Childhood Development section, known as Funda Udlale, which caters to children up the age of six.    Free internet, and a gaming room form part of the pilot project.

BuaNews reports that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has called on the public to submit recommendations on what services should be made available to people living with disabilities in order to make their visits to libraries more pleasant.

Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said community members and organisations can give input on what kind of special services a person who is visually impaired, blind or deaf would require at a library.

"The constitution of South Africa, which happens to be one of the most progressive documents categorically, states that everyone has the right to access to information.

"Without making primary institution of information such as libraries accessible to all members of society, this right which is guaranteed by the Constitution, cannot be safe guarded," said Dlamini.

He pointed out that even in this era of technological advancement, a library remains an important facility in any community.

Currently, the Ekurhuleni Metro has minimal services at some of its libraries, where the digital accessible information system commonly known as the Daisy system is used.

The municipality has prioritised the provision of special services for the visually impaired, blind or deaf for implementation within the next five years.

Times (6/6/2011) reports that only 21% of public schools have libraries,  according to the Department of Basic Education.

The article goes on to say, that Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga, the provinces that performed worst in the 2010 matric exams, have the fewest libraries in relation to the number of schools.

May figures said only 7.5% of Limpopo's 3924 schools, 9.7% of the Eastern Cape's 5676 schools and 17.3% of Mpumalanga's 1868 schools had libraries.

In the North West 321 of 1674 schools have libraries. More than half the schools in Gauteng - 1191 of 2031 - and the Western Cape - 775 of 1464 - have libraries.

These figures are "scandalous", according to Prof Genevieve Hart, of the University of the Western Cape's department of Library and Information Science.

Spotted on New Age Online:    Jongukuthula Tshabalala, a librarian at the Mnambithi local municipality,  discovered 116-year-old Themba Bernard Mkhize after being commissioned by the local municipality to interview him for an oral history project.

The New Age was alerted by the librarian in the hope that the publicity would get Mr Mkhize official recognition in the Guiness World Records.

The local municipality has already given recognition to Mkhize by erecting a small statue of him in its library.

A project, Gaming and Wii @ your library project is to be rolled out in KwaZulu-Natal,  reports BuaNews Online.

Announcing this during the Arts, Culutre, Sport and Recreation Department's budget, the MEC, Weziwe Thusi, said that the programme was intended to attract non-readers to libraries using 21st century gadgets.

 A pilot will be run in 20 libraries, targeting those in previously disadvantaged communities.

More libraries, museums and community art centres will be built or revamped this year.  

So said Mpumalanga's Culutre, Sport and Recreation MEC Sibongile Manana.   She was speaking at the opening of  R3,5 million library in the township of Silindile outside Ermelo.   

"We have experienced the burning down of libraries in the past. It is evident that the need to educate our people on the importance of libraries cannot be underestimated," she said. according to a report on BuaNews Online.

In the run-up to International Nelson Mandela Day on 18th July,  the Mandela Foundation wants to set up container libraries in each province to encourage young children to read,   reports TimesLive.

Each container will cost R50 000, with a total cost of R450 000 for all the containers. The containers will include books from all genres particularly African literature.

These books were selected to reinforce the historical background South Africa holds and celebrate the rich heritage it possesses.

The container libraries will be set up at primary schools selected by the Soul Buddies Clubs, who will be running the libraries.