Zimbabwean
13 November 2009
By Elle
Most Zimbabweans read only if they have to. This was what the librarian at the public library in Bulawayo suggested to me this week. If this is true the country’s future is surely in trouble.
In my last column I wrote about the Wormery, the toddler book club we run in order to create excitement for books in our children. I visited the Bulawayo public library to see why no one I know is a member there. The answer didn’t lie in the inadequacy of the library but in the lack people who can afford membership and the lack of priority given to reading in Zimbabwe.
The library is an old, stately building with a curved marble staircase leading up to the adult books and down to the those for children. The spread of books before me was very welcoming and I was surprised at how busy the adult library was. But after taking a closer look I realized that the books being read were the O and A level textbooks that many cannot access elsewhere.
I asked a librarian to point out the section most suitable for my young children. She was more than willing to help. She showed me five or six bookshelves containing picture books for toddlers. There was no section for baby books. I was amazed when she explained that the glue they use to stick the classification sleeve in the dustcover of books didn’t stick on the glossy cardboard pages of baby books. Instead, when they are donated they sell them for R5 each (a fraction of what they are worth) to help fund the struggling library.
Most book donations to the library are from Book Aid in the United Kingdom. Most recently boxes and boxes of books were donated by the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP), who in turn received the books from the New Hyde Park Public Library in New York which recently closed it’s doors. The donation for the children’s library alone filled the storeroom. There is no shortage of books to read, only a shortage of members to read them.
The librarian told me there had been a marked decline in the number of members over the 28 years she has worked there. There are currently 1,217 members in the children’s library. In 2004 there were 6,917. The biggest reason for the decline is the fees charged for membership. It costs R120 (about £10) for a year’s membership. Many are finding it impossible to pay this – they already have to pay each month for schooling.
The good news is that many schools are really trying to promote the notion of reading for pleasure among their students. Unfortunately they can only do so by telling them that ‘reading is good’ but many don’t have the resources to make books available to interested readers to borrow. If we are to encourage kids to read we need to give them access to books they can take home.
How do we solve this? A big step would be for schools to award library memberships to students who they think would benefit. Some of the funding for this would have to come from donors locally and abroad. I suggested the idea of raising funds to the Minister of Education, David Coltart, who was quite excited by the idea. He suggested that any money I raise could be managed by the National Library and Documentation Service Council and given to schools to award ‘in an objective, transparent and fair manner’.
So if you – or anyone you know – are interested in sponsoring a library membership for a child please email me. £10 will buy a child access to books for a year. -booksforkids@thezimbabwean.co.uk