Access Denied: The State of Libraries in Post Apartheid South Africa

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Carrie Community Library, Mashashane, Northern Province

     In a remote area of northern South Africa the small village of Mashashane lay nestled amongst small mountains of rock in the Northern Province. Jobs in this rural village are scarce, as the closest town of Pietersburg is almost 30 miles away. While the village does have its own post office, the remote location, poor roads and lack of electricity makes communication difficult.
This building was once a nursery but is now being used to house the Carrie Community Library.


    So when Carrie Witt, a U.S. Peace Corp Volunteer from Chicago, arrived in Mashashane two years ago, one of her priorities was to unite the community and bring the world to Mashashane through books and magazines. In addition to enriching the community through access to information, Witt hoped a community library might provide a positive outlet for youths unable to find work.

    The idea of the library was first conceived as a way to help bring teachers together. "Teachers here don't realize what they need to do," Witt said.  "They realize the importance of education, but we had to somehow reach them, bring them together."

WLP volunteer Lynn Mitchell takes a first look at what it will take to transform this storage space into the Carrie Community Library.
    Witt went to the principal and asked for support. Two younger members of the community took interest in the library project, and the seeds for the Carrie Community library were planted. In March of 2000, a 7 member library committee consisting of teachers and young community members was formed. The committee sent out 25 letters to teachers in the community, and contacted libraries in Pietersburg for help. With time other community members expressed interest in the project, and the committee decided to create a library to serve the community, not just students and teachers. The library was named in honor of Witt who had become an important part of the community after two years of service through the Peace Corp.

WLP volunteer Lynn Mitchell and Department of Education employee Bussi Ndawo examine books that have been donated by a municipal library.
    "I think that if this library is successful, people in the community will like reading and read more," said Herman Mongoale, chairman of the library committee. Mongoale said the community is behind the library, as evidenced by successful fund raising and membership. A lifetime membership to the library is 10 Rand (about $1.30).

    Community members spent considerable time in fixing up an old storage building a school had agreed to let them use to house the library. The Pietersburg Regional Library donated several boxes of books and encouraged the library volunteers to concentrate on sustainability by showing how, not doing for. Despite the community's enthusiasm, getting the library started was difficult because there was no way to secure the building. Until they could ensure that the books would be safe, the project stalled.
Two volunteers at Carrie Community Library meet to discuss plans for the library.
    Enter the World Library Partnership (WLP). When Maggie Hite, assistant director of the WLP, and Witt had a chance meeting at the U.S. embassy in Pretoria the wheels of progress began to slowly turn. After hearing about the dilemma in Mashashane, Hite agreed to help. The prospect of professionally trained American librarians coming to help and provide new books for the library created the impetus needed to have the security measures installed.

    Of the nine rural sites chosen as part of Inform the World 2000, Mashashane may have been one of the most unique situations. It was the only community library the WLP volunteers worked with and the only site with just one volunteer. Lynette Mitchell of Hernando, Florida was brave enough to tackle this project without any help from her fellow professional librarians.

    "Even though I've had a lot of different experiences in my life, from being a nurse, to working in a prison, to being in the Naval Reserves and being called to active duty during Desert Storm, to going to college late in life, earning my teaching degree and getting my masters, I can truly say that this experience has been the most rewarding of my life."

Peace Corp volunteer Carrie Witt goes through a box of donated books with (from right) library committee chairman Herman Mongoale, WLP volunteer Lynn Mitchell and Department of Education employee Bussi Ndawo.

    Most of Mitchell's time was spent cleaning up the building and teaching 13 volunteers about cataloging using the Dewy Decimal system and other issues relating to the daily operation of the library. With Mitchell's assistance, the community volunteers created an effective issuing system with materials they could easily find.

    "The people of Mashashane were absolutely wonderful," Mitchell said. "They were so eager to learn what I had to teach them. They taught me a lot too. In the evenings different villagers would come and sit with me, and we would sit and talk about our lives."

Two community library volunteers choose materials for the library with the help of WLP volunteer Lynn Mitchell.  In addition to the children'sí books that had already been donated, the Book Certificate Program allowed the library to buy new materials chosen by the library committee for the first time. Because the library will be serving adults and children, the committee chose to spend their $500.00 voucher on mostly adult books and magazine subscriptions. Mitchell accompanied two library volunteers to READ Organizational Trust in Johannesburg, where she shared her expertise in development collection with the inexperienced librarians.

    "Lynn's coming has been a real catalyst to get the library started," Witt said. "The community got really excited about the library when they found out a professional librarian was coming. We are bringing together some incredible skills with this project. I think Lynn will be passing on so many skills, not just to the library, but to the community."


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