1. The provision of school
library resources in a
changing environment:
a case study from Gauteng
province, South Africa
Busi Dlamini and Anna Brown
Diversity Challenge Resilience: School Libraries in Action - The 12th Biennial
School Library Association of Queensland, the 39th International Association of
School Librarianship Annual Conference, incorporating the 14th International
Forum on Research in School Librarianship,
Brisbane, QLD Australia, 27 September – 1 October 2010.

2. Content
1. Education in transition
2. Schools and school libraries in South
Africa at present
3. The Gauteng Department of
Education and school libraries
4. Developing school library catalogues
5. Challenges experienced and lessons
learnt
6. Conclusion

3. Education in transition:
Before 1994
Education divided according to race
Better education for Whites
White schools had libraries and
librarians

4. Education in transition:
1994
Democracy
Educational restructuring
Curriculum transformation

5. Education in transition:
Since 1994
Disappointed hopes for school
libraries
Demands of curriculum not
appreciated
Unrealistic expectations of Internet
Teacher-librarian posts abolished
Libraries closed

6. School libraries at present
Still wide differences
Quite a number of ex-white schools fund
school libraries themselves
Some schools in Black areas set up libraries
with part-time staff
Very poor reading levels a wake-up call
Reluctance at national level to support
school libraries
Situation in Gauteng poor but better than
national average

7. Ex-white school

8. Black school

9. Crowded classroom in black school

10. Temporary classrooms at
overcrowded black school

11. Rural school

12. New school: space but no library

13. Older school: library in process

14. Library set up by initiative of the
school

15. Library set up by school in half a
classroom

16. GDE and school libraries:
LIS Unit and Districts
Manages an Education Library
Responsible for school libraries in
Gauteng public schools
Low priority in the department
Post for library facilitator at districts

17. Education library in 19C school
building

18. Education Library

19. GDE and school libraries: Funding
No school library funding 1994 to
2006
Two ad-hoc allocations for central
provisioning
From 2007 10% of LTSM budget for
school library resources

20. Developing school library
catalogues: need
Teachers responsible for school
libraries have no relevant training or
experience
Need support when buying resources
Central acquisition for non-self-
managing schools by service provider

21. Developing school library
catalogues: pilot project 2009
Resource guide for foundation phase
Resources classified and catalogued
Too time-consuming
Wrong format for service provider
Decision to generate spread-sheet
catalogues

22. Developing school library
catalogues: call for submissions
Resources for all school phases called
for
Small fee for submissions to
remunerate evaluators
Very large number received
Some useful resources for teachers
also received

23. Developing school library
catalogues: process
Receipt, checking, recording and
acknowledgement of submissions
Identification and appointment of
evaluators
Evaluation on Saturdays
Catalogue entries
Checking of catalogue

24. Evaluation

25. Administration

26. Developing school library
catalogues: utilization
Catalogues completed end February
Exhibitions in April
Catalogues distributed end April
Requisitions placed in May

27. Challenges and lessons
Challenge:
Volume of submissions
Shortage of space
Finding specific titles
Lessons:
Call only for latest resources
More systematic record-keeping and
organization

28. Challenges and lessons
Challenge:
Finding suitable evaluators for all
eleven official languages
Lessons:
Database of evaluators
Source evaluators for scarce
languages well ahead of time

29. Challenges and lessons
Challenge:
Inadequate training of evaluators
Some evaluation reports not useful
Evaluation of content mostly good but
not always of aesthetic quality
Lessons:
Adequate time for training evaluators
More thorough training

30. Challenges and lessons
Challenge:
Too few books for reading pleasure
received
Quite a number of resources that are
too advanced/academic received
Lessons:
Clear guidelines in call for
submissions

31. Conclusion
Progress in spite of rapid change and
lack of understanding
Catalogues assist with school library
development and acquisitions