© Education Policy Unit (Natal)
May 2002

Originally published by Education Policy Unit (Natal)
Edgewood Campus
University of Natal
Private Bag X03
Ashwood 3605
South Africa

ISBN 0-620-29177-X

Abbreviations ii

Section 1: Introduction 1

Background of the Library Practice for Young Learners Project 2

Theoretical Framework 6

Methodology 7

Section 2: Case Studies

AB Xuma Primary School, Gauteng province 11

Makhuva Information Centre, Limpopo province 17

EP Lekhela Primary School, North West province 24

Section 3: The Exchange as a Strategy for Developing Library Services 33

Section 4: Conclusion 36

Bibliography 37

Appendices

List of Informants 38

Contents List from ‘Fifteen Innovative Ways With Your Learning Resources’ published by LIWO Working Group, 1999. 40

ABE Adult basic education

ANC African National Congress

BIS Bibliotek i Samehälle

CSIR Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research

DoE Department of Education

DSAC Department for Sports, Arts and Culture

DSACE Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Education

EPU Education Policy Unit (Natal)

GDE Gauteng Department of Education

LDoE Limpopo Department of Education

LIS Library Information Systems

LIASA Library and Information Association of South Africa

LIWO Library and Information Workers' Organisation

LPYL Library Practice for Young Learners

LSEN Learner/s with special education needs

LSM Learning support materials

MEC Member of Executive Council

NWDEACS North West Department of Education, Arts, Culture and Sport

NWDoE North West Department of Education

NWDPW North West Department of Public Works

NWDSSACS North West Department of Social Services, Arts, Culture and Sport

OBE Outcomes-based education

OHP Overhead projector

SGB School governing body

SMT School management team

The exchange of South African and Swedish school library practitioners, advisors and policy developers was an important but only one part of the Library Practice for Young Learners project. The exchanges aimed primarily to develop the professional capacity of personnel responsible for school library services and assist personnel in piloting certain aspects of South Africa’s National Policy Framework for School Library Standards (Department of Education 1998). On the South African side this was envisaged as feeding into government’s policy formulation process as well as improving the library service available to learners and teachers at disadvantaged schools – if only in a few pilot sites.

Underpinning the project strategy was the general assumption that development means positive social change, associated with notions of modernisation and emancipation. Thus, collegial exchanges at an international level were envisaged as a tactic to achieve such development. The study reported in this publication explored this assumption in the context of three library services that were part of the Library Practice for Young Learners project. There are lessons to be learnt by reflecting on the developmental tactic of international professional exchange. These reflections have potential to usefully inform South African education policy developers and implementers, as well as practitioners and development agencies. Our ambition is that what we have reported here will take South Africa closer to a national school library policy through which learners and teachers at disadvantaged schools in South Africa are better able to access the curriculum, develop as lifelong learners, and play meaningful roles as adult citizens in a democratic society.

The report has four sections.

The first introductory section provides a brief history of the Library Practice for Young Learners project and the role players who initiated and managed the project. It also outlines the theoretical framework and methodological approach of the study. Without delving into the many theoretical approaches to development, we raised some of the development ideas that informed the study and that were used as a springboard for our examination and interpretation of the three case studies. This is followed with a discussion of our methodology, methods used to collect and analyse data and sampling.

The second section deals with the three provincial cases separately. Each library service is described and there is an account of ways in which the exchange strategy influenced the development of the librarian and services at each institution.

This is followed in section three with a discussion about the exchange tour as a development strategy.

The fourth and final section is an account of what we conclude about the study.

 

Not long after South Africa’s first general elections as a democracy, the Education Policy Unit (EPU) at the University of Natal, hosted an international conference titled ‘School Learners and Libraries’. In terms of education policy formulation, by the time the conference was held at the end of November 1995, only the first White Paper for Education and Training (Department of Education 1995) had been issued by the new government. There was keen interest and debate about library policy and what would constitute such policy in a new South Africa. The need for redress in terms of school libraries was self-evident. In the early 1990s researchers of the National Education Policy Investigation (National Education Policy Investigation 1992) conducted a critical situational analysis of library and information services in South Africa and found that school libraries were concentrated mostly in urban white, Indian and coloured schools. Following the publication of its pre-election Policy Framework for Education and Training (African National Congress 1994), the African National Congress (ANC) appointed researchers to develop plans for implementing the policy after the elections. They calculated that the cost of establishing the traditional Western model of a centralised library in every one of South Africa’s schools was not tenable. There were other pressing educational needs that were to be prioritised by the national Treasury. Thus, alternatives needed to be considered by policy developers.

It was in this context that the 1995 EPU conference aimed to bring together people from education and library service sectors to consider alternatives to the traditional Western model of a centralised school library. At the conference experts presented international and southern African experience in implementing alternative models. These were:

The joint-use library that is operational in Sweden, in which school learners and teachers and the public share the same library service.

The mobile library that has been implemented in Brazil, in which a library bus visits remote schools regularly to lend materials to learners and teachers.

The integrated curriculum approach introduced in Namibia. This approach encourages teachers to bridge the divide between their classroom and the library. In this model, using the library and developing information skills are an integral part of teaching and learning.

The regional library service that supports remote schools in the outback of Australia provided insight into the potentialities of electronic and material support systems that could be co-ordinated provincially.

In South Africa the classroom box library had been developed and implemented in many rural schools by a well-known non-governmental organisation.

The virtual library, made possible by Internet connectivity, was found to be useful in many schools internationally, especially in developed countries. This model opened up possibilities for schools with limited library resources to access information through the Internet.

In response to a conference resolution calling for a redressive school library policy, the Department of Education initiated a process that led to the drafting of the National Policy Framework for School Library Standards (Department of Education 1998). The Policy Framework document was a significant departure from the past. It sought to be informed by and integrate other policies such as the outcomes-based education curriculum (Department of Education 1997a; 1997b; 1997c) and governance of schools (Republic of South Africa 1996). By so doing, it included innovations that had not been tested.

Towards the end of the process of formulating the Policy Framework the Library Practice for Young Learners (LPYL) project was initiated. This project was developed during a period of financial constraints and cutbacks in the provincial education systems. It was increasingly recognised that provincial departments were unlikely to allocate more funds to develop existing school libraries and start new libraries. Thus, librarians and library managers had to become more resourceful in how they ran school libraries and provided a service to teachers and learners. Their own capacity to cope with cutbacks, and develop their ingenuity and resourcefulness to provide and sustain an excellent and innovative service despite limited resources was key. This contextual understanding focused the LPYL project on human resource development rather than on the provision of material resources such as computers, books and shelving. Furthermore, the project was designed to explore some of the untested innovations in the Policy Framework among a sample of school librarians in all of South Africa's nine provinces. The project was also designed as a North-South collaboration to provide exchanges of knowledge and expertise between Swedish and South African library personnel. So far the project has comprised two phases involving South Africa’s national and provincial education departments and two non-governmental organisations, and Sweden’s Bibliotek i Samehälle (BIS). For Phase One the South African non-governmental organisation was the Library and Information Workers' Organisation (LIWO). But when this organisation ceased to operate, EPU became the South African partner for Phase Two.

Ideas from the School Learners and Libraries conference (Karlsson 1996) and the National Policy Framework for School Libraries (Department of Education 1998) formed the important bases for the strategic direction of this phase. The main targets were school library policy developers and implementers as well as practitioners at schools serving disadvantaged communities with few resources and inadequate infrastructure.

The aims embraced for Phase One were to:

• Build a common vision and understanding of the National Policy Framework for School library Standards among national and provincial senior managers with a school library responsibility

• Assist in operationalising the Policy Framework at a provincial level within an outcomes-based education context

• Develop the capacity of teacher-librarians and media advisors to be innovative in using limited resources

• Facilitate the democratic process of planning and developing school libraries.

The strategic activities to achieve these aims were inter-linked. They comprised north-south exchanges, initiating processes to develop libraries at one institution per province with follow-up support, and publishing and disseminating a booklet about best practice ideas that were tested as a result of the exchanges.

Two exchange tours were organised for South Africans. On the first there were ten senior national and provincial departmental officers making decisions about school libraries. They attended a workshop to develop a shared understanding of South Africa’s Policy Framework and their role in provincialising it. During the second tour eighteen provincial school library advisors and school-based practitioners went to Sweden.

The processes to develop libraries serving teachers and learners flowed from group discussions and workshops that took place in Sweden. Participants had been asked to develop policies and development plans for their provinces, districts and institutions. In this way elements of the Policy Framework were piloted through the project. The elements were the establishment of a library committee as a sub-structure of the governing body, the formulation of a library policy and three-year development plan for their school library, and networking with and lobbying school and local library managers. With the assistance of their media advisors, library practitioners were asked to initiate these elements within their school. In addition, practitioners were asked to try out some of the best-practice ideas they had observed in Sweden and assess whether these ideas could be implemented in the South African context of disadvantaged schools and limited resources. The project office provided some support to assist participants achieve these goals. These participants were surveyed at the end of Phase One about how they had applied themselves to these tasks and their achievements.

The basis for the best-practice ideas published in the Fifteen Innovative Ways booklet was gathered from practitioners who had tried and tested ideas they had picked up in Sweden. (See the appendices for a list of the fifteen ideas presented in the booklet.) Enough copies of the booklet were published to disseminate one copy to 9 000 schools across South Africa as well as to project participants, national and provincial education departments, NGOs, and colleagues in Sweden. Readers such as principals, teacher-librarians and library committee members were asked to assess the booklet’s usefulness in their context and their responses were analysed and reported in the final evaluation report.

The Evaluation Report (Dick, 1999) found that Phase One had been well executed and referred to the ‘best practice’ qualities of the project. These included:

The Business Plan (LPYL, 2000) for Phase Two announced that the phase would exercise the principles of continuity (for Phase One participants), quality and depth (of developmental interventions), extension rather than repetition (of Phase One activities), development and not dependency, reflexivity (on lessons learnt from Phase One), coherence (with national policy trajectories), and interdisciplinary co-operation (with public/community librarians). Based on these principles, the Business Plan developed strategic objectives and implementation plans, and stipulated the role of stakeholders in the project. Six strategic objectives were:

• Capacity building and development

• Materials development

• Advocacy

• Study tour exchange programme

• Information and communication technologies

• Case study research

This report is the culmination and output of the last objective i.e. case study research. The focus of the research, however, interrogated the study tour exchange programme as a catalyst for development. The strategic objective for the study tours remained the same in Phase Two as in Phase One. However, in Phase Two there was only one trip of library practitioners and media advisors to Sweden. These participants were to exchange ideas and experiences about expansive ways of defining learning resources and how to increase library-related resources for school learners and educators.

This section considers two development perspectives within the critical theory paradigm. These are the modernisation and liberation perspectives of development theory. They conceive of development as positive social change, growth, evolution, progress, advancement and modernisation that would result in liberation or emancipation of individuals in society (Fagerlind and Saha, 1983).

The Modernisation perspective suggests that development is possible when modern - rather than traditional - values and attitudes are held (Fagerlind and Saha, 1983). However, this perspective does not clarify how individuals acquire ‘modern’ values and attitudes, implying that people passively adopt such values and attitudes. This view needs to be balanced out with the sociological interactionist approach, which understands society as dynamic and that individuals respond creatively and critically in their contexts (Meighan, 1993). In this way, they construct and reconstruct meaning of values and attitudes they encounter, to define and redefine their roles and those of other participating stakeholders in development processes (Haralambos and Holborn, 1995). From this we understand that the acquisition of modern values and attitudes is not passive, but involves active interaction with the ‘modernising’ or change agent. Thus, in the modernisation perspective development is a social, psychological process whereby individuals, groups, and institutions critically discard values, attitudes, and processes associated with traditions and the past and that they regard as no longer useful, and they adopt new values, attitudes, and processes that are informed through contemporary needs and conditions.

From this modernist perspective, the north-south exchange programme might be interpreted as a catalyst for social transformation. Through exposure to a different context South African (and Swedish) library personnel might discard outdated, traditional ways of thinking about library services for teachers and learners, and adopt new, modern values and attitudes about libraries that will improve their library practice. Following this theoretical perspective, the study examined changes effected on the three South African libraries as a result of the exchange tours, looking for changes that might occur in professional attitudes in library practice, or innovations implemented by a practitioner in the endeavour to improve his/her library practice and cast aside his/her attitudes, values and practices from the past that do not address contemporary demands.

The Liberation or Emancipatory perspective provides another interesting understanding of development. Here the basic assumption is that no 'real' change can be brought about in under-developed societies without profound changes in how that society is structured socio-economically, politically, and culturally (Fagerlind and Saha, 1983). This perspective originates in classic liberalism that asserts the right of the individual to democratically participate in society and decision-making (Ashley, 1989). Thus developmental change occurs through deconstructive and interrogatory social processes to expose the power relations that structure society and configure new structures leading to democratic participation for all.

Although the exchange tours did not formally entail social analysis and interrogation of power relations relating to library practice, the project used the exchange tours to promote democratic structural change such as the establishment of library committees and networking across the library sector. Thus, during tours participants were exposed to processes for drafting library policies, developing budgets and framing action plans to enhance and develop their library practice. Using the emancipatory perspective, the study examined the developmental effect of these relations, structures and processes.

Informed by these two theoretical perspectives this research report argues that social development requires an active acquisition of new ideas as well as the implementation of changes in social structure.

In this section we present the methodological approach used in this study.

Our approach fell within the paradigm of critical educational research, because it sought to probe below the surface of the obvious and develop nuanced understandings of social transformation in relation to social structures and power relations. In this respect our stance as researchers was consciously value-based as well as being informed by our shared experience and identification as South African citizens. The critical paradigm is useful for interrogating the underlying assumption that north-south exchanges are developmental in building human capacity and improving library services for teachers and learners at disadvantaged schools in South Africa.

Three questions were at the heart of this study:

• What was the benefit of the north-south (Sweden-South Africa) exchange programme in terms of teaching and learning practices and processes in South Africa?

• What strategies have been learnt and implemented in South Africa as a result of the intervention of the north-south exchange programme?

• What factors hindered the development of the South African library service?

To answer these questions it was necessary to acquire a qualitative, in-depth, and rich understanding of social interactions and structures about the institutions involved in the study and how the capacity of library personnel was developed as a result of the exchange tours.

One of the concerns of critical researchers is the power imbalance between the subject and the researcher. For this study our strategy was to adopt a participatory methodology (Arnstein, 1969) that might reduce the power differential (Guijt et al, 1995). This was achieved largely through the composition of a heterogeneous research team comprising three researchers and three library practitioners as follows:

The research co-ordinator led the study on the basis of her research experience and professional expertise in social work and education management.

The research advisor assisted with occasional monitoring and provided conceptual, theoretical as well as methodological support to the team co-ordinator. She brought to the study her professional understanding of libraries as a librarian and having been long associated with the project, as well as her expertise as a senior researcher and experienced library policy developer.

A research intern who assisted throughout the research process was included in the team with the aim of developing more young black researchers with expertise in researching library issues. On the basis of his post-graduate studies and interest in rural education, he brought a sociological perspective to the study.

One library practitioner from each of the case study institutions were members of the research team. They contributed their expert knowledge and understanding of the social context for their institutions, as well as provided direct access to informants and information about the project and how it had involved their institutions. In addition, they had been candidates for the study tours in Sweden. Thus, not only were they members of the research team, they were also subjects of the study. Through their participation they assisted in the design of the study to investigate their own work as well as its execution. This involved identifying key stakeholders to be interviewed, securing consent and access to data at the institutions and conducting participant observation.

The focus of the study in terms of the unit of analysis oscillated between the practitioner at institutional level and the library service. Financial constraints within the project as a whole limited sampling to only three cases. They were AB Xuma Primary School in Gauteng province, Makhuva Information Centre in Limpopo province, and EP Lekhela Primary School in North West province. The project’s South African Reference Group selected these institutions because they were regarded as successful and demonstrated the viability of some of the library models recommended in the National Policy Framework for School Library Standards (Department of Education 1998). Together the three library services provided the opportunity to examine three library models in action: joint-use, classroom box and centralised library models. The selected libraries are also diverse in their spatio-economic position. AB Xuma Primary is situated in a densely populated working class township in South Africa’s largest and richest metropolis. Although it might be argued that Makhuva Information Centre was a community-based initiative of local development intellectuals (students attending university), it serves a largely peasant and working class community in a remote rural village. By contrast, EP Lekhela Primary School is situated in a middle class suburb of a provincial capital city.

Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2001) criticise the case study approach as subjective, biased and too personal to be checked for reliability through an alternative method. Furthermore, case studies have limited potential for drawing generalisable conclusions. While these concerns are valid, they do not negate the advantage that a case study offers with its richly textured and ‘thick’ data about a specific phenomenon within a real life context (Sarantakos, 1996).

For this qualitative study, we used document analysis, interviews and observation methods to gather data, with the emphasis on interviews and observation. Key informants were purposefully selected from among departmental officials at provincial and district levels, the school community (learners, educators and library staff) as well as local public librarians. In addition the project manager was interviewed. The interview instruments were used in a flexible way, allowing for differences in the role and/or position of each informant. The data gathered from informants were treated as subjective perceptions and accounts and, when necessary, validity was checked through a triangulation with the documentary and observation data.

Arnstein (1969) suggests that the extent and form of subject participation may vary. For example, a high level of subject participation is characterised by shared decision-making, consultation and information sharing between subject and researcher. In this study, decisions about the research plan were made jointly among librarians from the three institutions and researchers, and there was regular communication, consultation and information sharing. The participatory climate for the study was established at an initial two-day workshop. This was organised to discuss the focus of the research, agree on the role of each research team member, and select methods of collecting data and the informant categories. During the workshop, issues relating to case study research were discussed and clarified.

The process of data gathering in the field involved an examination of professional interactions between departmental and school levels and working relationships of stakeholders at each library service. This was to uncover the effect of the exchange tours on the running and management of each library service. Thus, the research co-ordinator and intern spent a maximum of five days in each province, interviewing departmental officials, public librarians, library staff, as well educators and learners. During this period the everyday life and practice of the library service were observed. This provided information about the social and organisational structuring of the service and the way facilities were being used and by whom. The librarians conducted participant observations during and after the five-day period in order to report on events that fell outside the field visit period. During the visits relevant documents about the library services were collected. Documents included reports on the exchange tours and periodic progress reports spanning the first and second phases of the project. Following the field visits, data were captured, sorted and analysed.

Despite our effort to enhance subject participation and reduce the power differential between subject and researcher through the joint planning and design of research process, the researchers remained responsible for the research analysis and the conclusions that were drawn from the findings. There was minimal participation of subjects in data management and processing. Nevertheless, drafts of the case study reports were sent to each of the library services and informants were asked to read and respond to the findings. Without exception, the key informants indicated that the reports were a true reflection of the information they provided.

The three case studies are presented in this section. Each case study begins with a description of the institution and then findings are discussed around the four themes of:

• Policy

• Development of the service

• Future plans

• Perceptions about the Sweden-South Africa exchange

Brief concluding remarks close each case study report.

AB Xuma Primary School is situated in Orlando East. This is part of the sprawling Soweto township in Johannesburg. This is in a central region of South Africa. Johannesburg is the hub and powerhouse of the South African economy as a result of the gold mining industry. However, residents in Soweto do not share in this abundant wealth. Instead, the majority live in poverty in ghetto dormitory townships. These conditions are paralleled in the conditions of schools and the capacity of many school managers and educators.

In the immediate vicinity of the school were several churches, an orphanage, the magistrate’s court, post office, public library and Orlando Sports Stadium. The school comprised several single-storey classroom blocks each having three or four classrooms. The school governing body had installed a high wire fence topped with razor wire around the perimeter of the school site and the gates were locked and guarded for security reasons and only opened as necessary.

At this school there were approximately 700 learners enrolled and, at the time of the field visit, the school offered Grades 1-7, with the outcomes-based curriculum taught only in Grades 1, 2, 3 and 7. Most learners were first language isiZulu speakers, and they lived with grandparents collecting state pensions because their parents stayed nearer to or at their places of work (Karlsson, 2000).

A central library was established at the school after a district official and the school librarian went on the exchange tour to Sweden in 1998. Previously the school had established classroom box libraries. Thus, in 2001 the school had in operation a mixed library service comprising classroom boxes and a central library. The library committee and educators asserted that these two models of library were complementary and were appropriate to the school’s needs. They claimed that the box model introduced younger learners to the culture of using a library service, while the central library provided a wide range of resources to nurture the learner’s library culture. Further, the central library was only used at specified times, while the box model was continuously accessible in classrooms and therefore convenient to learners.

The central library, situated alongside a Computer room, comprised two rooms. One of the rooms was for reading, and the other housed the book collection shelves. In the reading room there were about 40 seats and small tables arranged in 5 or 6 clusters. There were small chairs around a cluster of tables in the corner of the book collection room, with extra cushions for sitting on the floor. Foundation phase learners used these. The collection comprised about 800 books and was anticipated to increase sharply when recent acquisitions had been accessioned. Shelves were classified by subject and suggested reading level. Other media in the collection included charts, magazines, posters, periodicals and general group reading materials. Overhead projectors, a CD player/radio system, television and videocassette recorder, and a chalkboard were available to access some of the non-print resources. Materials suitable for OBE curriculum had been increased to meet teaching and learning needs. Library management records comprised an accession register, an acquisitions register and financial records. A central circulation register was not kept because each educator kept a list of books borrowed in their classroom. The acquisitions register was kept in the principal’s office.

The librarian was a full-time teacher and she was supported by an active library committee comprising various members of the educator staff and school management team.

Prior to GDE selecting the school as the Gauteng institution to participate in the LPYL project, AB Xuma Primary had already caught the attention of funders and non-governmental organisations. For example, the school was participating in Read Educational Trust’s classroom box library project, teachers had been trained to use box libraries in their lessons, there was active participation in the Readathon campaign to popularise reading among learners, and older learners had been trained as library monitors. The Zennex Foundation, linked to the corporate sector, had also invested in the school. But despite such capacity building interventions – or perhaps because of such external support, the school governing body had not begun to budget for any provision library service of its own.

However, through discussions stimulated by the LPYL project that advocated the budgetary process outlined in the National Policy Framework for School Library Standards, GDE assisted the school management team (SMT) and governing body (SGB) to institute changes. Thus, in 2001 the school set a library budget at R8 000. This was to be used to acquire more books to complement the supply from the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). As a consequence of budgetary provision, the library service improved dramatically.

The library committee had implemented fundraising initiatives since 1998. These included issuing donation slips to parents who were then requested to donate books to the school library on their children’s birthdays – an idea borrowed from observations during an exchange tour to Sweden. Other fundraising initiatives were cake sales and ‘civvies days’ when children paid a small ‘penalty’ for wearing casual clothes to school. Money collected through these activities was used largely to buy library materials. A number of donations had been received from external sources. A neighbouring school donated a slide projector, Read Educational Trust donated books, and the Zennex Foundation donated furniture.

Our review of provincial policy documents and interviews with informants show that the exchange strategy over the period 1997-2000 was instrumental in stimulating policy formulation in Gauteng. When we considered the development of policy at AB Xuma Primary School and the capacity of the library practitioner, we concluded that in situ and personalised support was more effective than formal group situations such as seminars, workshops and the exchange tour.

After the first visit to Sweden in 1997, which had included the participation of a senior manager, GDE issued a draft Provincial Library Policy that outlined vision and principles. The policy defined school libraries, gave some guidelines about how a school library might support the curriculum, and outlined the roles of those involved in library service. Budgetary accountability at provincial level and issues such as library space provision and partnerships were also covered in the draft policy.

After the second trip to Sweden in 1998 the concept of co-operative governance in serving schools and public libraries was incorporated into the draft Policy. It stated that co-operation in training programmes and projects and in the selection of materials was essential. The key objectives of the draft policy were identified as ensuring the development of school libraries in the province and providing support for curriculum delivery in schools. In turn, the district Media Advisor who had participated in the exchange, started to compile and workshop a document on how to organise the library. The main objective of the workshop was to draw educators into the process of providing library services in schools. The Swedish librarians who visited South Africa in 2000 shared their ideas on information skills. As a result the draft provincial policy was expanded with a sub-section that focused on how information skills were related and essential to school libraries.

Prior to 2001 library activities at AB Xuma Primary School comprised an informal and ad hoc list and there was no formulation of library policy for this school. However, after the 2001 visit to Sweden, a three-year library development plan, library budget, and library policy were developed and finalised. This was a joint effort of the library committee and other members of staff. Capacity to develop these documents was developed at national seminars organised by the project and during the 2001 exchange. However, progress reports from library staff and interview data indicated that the action plans and policy documents were largely developed through the intervention of the project manager rather than the exchange tour and seminars. The project manager asserted that development of these documents was a key focus and goal for Phase Two.

GDE officials asserted that they struggled to motivate other education officers to develop and support school libraries. As a result the Education Resources Unit had no budget for school libraries. It was only in 2000 that a library development budget was established comprising 10% of the Learner Support Materials (LSM) budget.

In 2000, Gauteng Department of Arts and Culture (GDAC) and the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) had signed an agreement to work together to provide support to school libraries through the public librarian. This, together with what library personnel had observed in Sweden of resource sharing between schools and public libraries, paved the way for the public librarian at Orlando East to advise the library staff at this school. For a period of four weekends in 2000, the public librarian provided Saturday training in classification to 5 library committee members. In addition to training, the public librarian visited the school monthly to assist in organising the library space as well as with story telling sessions.

Exchange participants said that they had begun to understand in Sweden that even a school library service should benefit the entire community. As a result they began on a limited scale to reach out to their local community. One example was that the school had begun to inspire other schools with ideas picked up during the exchanges and from the project as a whole. However, since service to other schools was rendered after hours, attendance was poor. To tackle this problem, the library committee planned to meet with the management teams at other schools and tell them about the library service.

Because of safety and security concerns greater community service had been limited to parents. But, although parents were frequent afternoon users of the library, their involvement in helping to run the library was challenged by their availability, literacy levels and age. To address this the library committee planned to offer adult literacy classes.

Another thing learnt during the exchange tour to Sweden was that functionality and effectiveness was possible even for libraries with small collections. Thus learners and educators were involved in running the library. Learners worked as library monitors to assist with issuing books. The committee also trained the library monitors to accession and catalogue books.

The librarian had also observed how one public library in Sweden had set aside a room to display items of cultural and historical interest. On her return, the librarian collected and displayed pictures on the history of the school. The picture collection included all past African National Congress (ANC) presidents because the school’s namesake, AB Xuma, was the ANC’s sixth president during 1952-1964.

An integrated approach to using library resources in teaching the curriculum was observed at Swedish schools during the exchange tours. Thus, on her return, the librarian attempted to introduce an integrated approach at this school. First, the library committee invited publishers of OBE curriculum textbooks to come and display their publications at the school. Then all educators were then invited to choose books according to the curriculum needs of their grades. As a consequence, the library began to stock resources in the organising themes used in teaching and these resources were made available for use in classrooms. Further, the principal reported that the school had introduced a streamlined time table system so that all teachers follow a common learning system, which includes using the library service. Library lessons involving information searching projects, watching educational television, and listening to cassettes and short stories are mostly conducted in the library. Committee members were trained in how to integrate the use of library resources in their teaching and they had started to teach their colleagues. As a result educators used the library facilities to prepare their lessons and they followed the timetable to conducting lessons in the library. At least one lesson involving about 43 Grade 6 learners was observed.

Another idea being introduced from Sweden as a consequence of the exchange tour was a system of appointing a patron who would lobby for funds. It was believed that through involving key, active, or influential people from the community, the library would get more donations. Thus, a local government councillor was being sought to be patron of the school.

Success in implementing these strategies was attributed to the teamwork of the library committee and the ongoing support from the public library. Informants asserted that the teamwork and collaboration with the public library was directly related to the stimulation of the exchange strategy.

The Acting Head for Gauteng Library and Information Services had observed that teachers appointed to manage libraries do not identify themselves as librarians, hence they were not responding to provincial invitations on library related meetings. To address this problem, district managers had been asked to appoint officials to be responsible for supporting school libraries and demonstrating how library resources should be used in schools. Although school-based informants had many ideas for future library development, none of their suggestions had been committed to paper as strategic plans.

The departmental officer and the principal interviewed share similar sentiments on the impact of the exchange tours. According to the departmental officer, the impact of the exchange programme lies on the idea that the national department has asked for a provincial person to be involved. Thus the project and the department have worked hand in hand in putting emphasis on the importance of the school libraries, and providing expertise for the success of the school library. The principal of the school feels that all aspects of the LPYL project and the support from the department have supported the library service in ‘equal’ but yet in different ways. He pointed out that the support from the previous district Media Advisor, the project manager, public librarian, and the Swedish tour have all assisted in providing the school library service. "Personnel have been trained and continue to be trained", declared the principal.

The public librarian holds the perception that the exchange tour has benefited the public library, the school library as well as other neighbouring schools. This has been achieved through feedback meetings where all Soweto librarians were invited to see the materials brought from Sweden and to learn how these materials can be used in their libraries. For this reason she sees the exchange tour as having a greater level of influence than other departmental initiatives, such as in-service training which, in her opinion, are usually confined to a specific topic.

The library committee sees the exchange tour as more significant, especially with regards to the lessons learnt and attempts made to implement these ideas. However, the project manager’s visits have been of great assistance in the implementation of ideas learnt. The committee sees everybody involved in the library service, but pointed out that it is through the exchange tour that the school library has gained access to top departmental officials. Whilst both the exchange tour and the department seems to have been effective, educators in the library committee values the exchange tours more than any departmental intervention.

There was consistency in the information obtained from interviewees, written reports on the tour, and general observation at the school. Whilst the Swedish tour seems to have provided important lessons with regards to the library service, other aspects of the LPYL project such as the project manager’s visits have been crucial in implementing ideas learnt. The successful implementation of some of the strategies learnt has resulted in significant changes in the library service. These changes relate largely to the way the library is resourced, run, and used. The strong link and networking with the public library is very important for the sustainability of this library service. It is noticeable then that more strategies were implemented at the departmental level after the first and second visits to Sweden, and very few new strategies were introduced after the third tour. One reason could be the leaving of both the Chief Education Specialist who participated in 1997 and the district Media Advisor who participated in 1998. These two departmental officials seem to have been instrumental in implementing the ideas learnt from the first two tours. The resignation of these officials posed a challenge of continuity and sustainability of these strategies. However, the public librarian who took over from the Media Advisor has done fairly well, and the current state of the library service at AB Xuma reflects that a good foundation has been laid from the departmental level.

Makhuva Information Centre is situated in Limpopo province, which is South Africa’s northernmost province. The Information Centre takes its name from a village that lies between the towns of Giyani and Phalaborwa. The village falls within the jurisdiction of the greater Giyani Municipality, which was established following the local government elections in 2000. The area is remote. An infrequent bus travels by gravel road to reach the village. The local community is predominately poverty stricken, with few employment opportunities. Other than the Makhuva Information Centre, there are few educational resources in the area. Thus the information centre is a cornerstone of community development.

From the outset Makhuva Information Centre was not a government institution. Instead, a few students from the University of the North started the community service as part of their Library and Information Science course requirements. Initially, the information centre was housed in a garage with volunteers providing the library service, but when the community library service became fully functional and required more space, it was moved to the old tribal offices. These facilities were being renovated and extended at the time of the study and field visit to Makhuva. The extension was to house a library hall, fully furnished with a larger collection of books and other resources. A satellite police office located within the building provided the necessary security for equipment and furniture within the information centre. Two adjoining rooms comprised a computer room with seven terminals and another room with a reference books and furniture.

A local school educator and voluntary library manager were running the information centre. They were also members of the Executive Committee of the information centre, which functioned as the library committee. A sub-committee comprised 6 teacher-librarians from neighbouring schools.

At the time of the first exchange tour to Sweden in 1997, education and culture for the province were administered within a single department. The Director of Libraries and Heritage Services went on the 1997 exchange tour to Sweden, in his capacity as the most senior provincial official responsible for library services. He had observed the success of the joint-use school-community library in Sweden and on his return he tried to rally support for instituting that as the approved model for new libraries in Limpopo province. Implementation of this initiative was successful until the provincial government began restructuring itself. As a result, education and culture were separated into two departments. This had significant implications for the community-based Makhuva Information Centre, which was not formally linked to and funded by either of the two new departments.

Owing to Makhuva Information Centre’s origins as a community-based project, the provincial education department had no mechanisms for supporting a school library service provided through a community-based organisation such as the Makhuva Information Centre. A senior provincial co-ordinator for school libraries asserted that the provincial department of education needed to formulate policy, and establish structures and appoint staff before support for new school libraries could be provided. Further, the province education department was waiting for a national school library policy to be finalised before provincial policy could be formulated.

Despite these obstacles, Makhuva Information Centre had proceeded to establish a mini-library in a neighbouring school where the secretary of the Information Centre’s Executive Committee was employed as the teacher-librarian. The school-based library was an extension of the information centre’s services and provided teachers with resources needed for implementing outcomes-based education.

The review of school library policy in Limpopo province showed that the exchange strategy had initially played an important role in policy development. However, political dynamics internal to the province, which led to the splitting of library matters between the departments for education (for school libraries) and sport, arts, and culture (for public and community libraries), eventually were a more decisive influence. Our conclusion about the influence of the exchange tour on institution level policy is similar. The exchange tour provided an initial impulse that led the librarian, together with the committee, to pursue a process of policy development. However, informants confirmed that personal support during the course of the LPYL project manager’s visits to Makhuva Information Centre, was the catalyst for a more focused and qualitatively improved policy document.

A library policy for Limpopo province was developed in early 1997 and revised in 1999 when the departmental spilt occurred. As a result of the split, problems were encountered in taking forward the policy for joint-use libraries. For example, in 1999 the Department for Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) changed their policy focus to supporting and promoting community libraries.

After a library advisor and a representative of Makhuva Information Centre participated in the second exchange tour in 1998, the library advisor formulated a provincial development plan, with assistance from the Makhuva representative and a provincial official for school and community libraries. The provincial development plan identified several key objectives that included:

• Promoting reading awareness campaigns

• Teaching information skills and manipulation of resources

• Consulting stakeholders concerned with the education of young learners

• Identifying schools and/or communities with information resources

• Conducting workshops

• Establishing library information service (LIS) forums

• Facilitating book selection processes involving teacher-librarians and subject teachers.

In January 1998, the Makhuva Information Centre’s library committee developed a constitution for the Centre in order to formalise the library service. This was initiated before the 1998 Sweden exchange tour, as a result of influence from the Tribal office and a local traditional leader. Thereafter, in 1999, the teacher-librarian and chairperson of the library committee developed a business plan specifically for Makhuva Information Centre’s library development needs. The teacher-librarian asserted that the business plan was developed on the basis of what was learnt during the 1998 exchange tour to Sweden.

The key activities mentioned in the business plan were:

• Extending the library service beyond the collection, to provide services such as adult basic education classes and winter classes in specific learning areas.

• Fundraising and lobbying for improved material resources, human resources and the physical environment of the library service.

• Marketing the library service.

During Phase Two of the project i.e. between 2000-1, the project manager assisted the committee to further develop their 1998 library policy. As a result of this support, the policy was amended to address the following issues:

• Vision and mission statements

• Principles and values underpinning the functioning of the library

• Staffing and development

• Finance and fundraising

• Integration of the library service with teaching and learning activities.

 

The Makhuva representatives that went on exchange tours to Sweden returned with a deeper understanding that a successful joint-use library service required a high level of co-operation between role-players, computerised cataloguing systems, effective use of local as well as diverse resources, and more flexible systems and longer hours of being open to the community. They felt that officers in departments in South Africa needed to conceive of school libraries as community libraries and vice versa. Further, they understood the need for library users to be able to use the computerised cataloguing system for themselves. As a result of what was observed and learnt in Sweden, a number of strategies were initiated.

Workshops were held with department officials and role-players involved in providing library services in the district. The aim of the workshops was to distribute policy documents and ensure that people understood the need to work together. The library committee invited the Palaborwa Foundation to provide training in the organisation of library services and joint activities were also held with the READ Trust to promote greater awareness of library services. The library advisor donated books to Makhuva Information Centre and invited library committee members for training. Further, when the library advisor was promoted, relationships between Makhuva Information Centre and regional and public libraries were improved. Also, community libraries were allowed to make block loans from public and regional libraries.

Workshops were held in various districts of the province to educate all community stakeholders about the importance of library services. Library committees were set up and the report from one of the exchange tours was sent to regional librarians. During one of these workshops a discussion was held using the LPYL booklet, Fifteen innovative ways with your learning resources. Thus, in a short space of time a lot of interest and support was generated through joint work initiatives. However, due to changes and departmental restructuring, collaboration was short-lived.

A provincial official confirmed that DSAC strategy was to promote community libraries established by communities themselves and ensure the democratic election of library committees. Twelve such initiatives have already received departmental support. In the case of Makhuva Information Centre, DSAC was unable to supply print resources because there was no departmentally appointed person to be responsible for the resources. Furthermore, the policy was that DSAC supported community libraries but did not construct and maintain the library buildings. On the other hand, the education department had not prioritised the development of new school libraries. In 1999, after the departmental spilt the Makhuva Information Centre received continued support, albeit minimal, due to its status as a community library. Until the bureaucratic issue is sorted out of which department will support Makhuva Information Centre, the Sweden-inspired concept of a joint-use library in Makhuva village will be compromised.

As a result of uncertainty over future support, the library committee introduced fee-based services. Funds from this source were used to pay for the photocopier and consumables such as toner. Other income was accrued from renting out an office at the centre and extending library services. For example, winter classes in Mathematics and English for school learners and adult basic education (ABE) for unemployed adults of the community were offered. Plans were also afoot to offer practical training for sewing and cooking, and workshops in how to use library-based resources. Another income-related strategy was linked to the establishment of the mini library at a neighbouring school. The library committee had motivated a permanent post at the information centre in order to facilitate the extension services.

As a community-based project, Makhuva Information Centre was largely run through the services of volunteers to develop community awareness around the use of libraries. Besides involving teacher-librarians from neighbouring schools as volunteers, school learners were being trained to assist as library monitors and helpers. Library committee members contended that the library awareness initiative was pursued earnestly after the teacher-librarian returned from the 1998 exchange tour. The provision of additional services in the library was found to be an effective means of marketing the library and subsequently there was a high level of usage reported. The teacher-librarian attributed the success to departmental support. Nevertheless, some problems were encountered when educators asserted that they did not want to teach extension classes on Saturdays without remuneration. The problem was solved technologically when learners began to use software programmes as self-help guides. The library advisor affirmed that Makhuva Information Centre had achieved increased library awareness as a result of the extended services. Indeed, schools had also encouraged the community to use the library services.

Community service was also evident in the establishment of organisational structures such as youth and editorial committees. This structure served to engage learners from neighbouring secondary schools and promote their use of library resources in learning activities. To augment their endeavours, a newsletter was developed by teacher-librarians and learners from neighbouring schools. This initiative was successful and gave learners the opportunity to develop their writing and technology skills. Sadly, a disagreement about the content of one issue of the newsletter arose between school managers and the library committee, bringing the newsletter to an end. To avoid such situations in the future, the library committee established an editorial committee comprising school managers and teacher-librarians.

In addition, the project’s DSAC library advisor cited the formation of a sub-committee of teacher-librarians from neighbouring schools to discuss how to encourage learners to read and use library-based resources, and how teachers might integrate library-based resources in OBE teaching. The library advisor noted that the sub-committee was easily established because of prior relationships between teachers. Formalising the collaboration in a sub-committee ensured that there was greater commitment to complete tasks.

After the 1997 exchange tour, Makhuva Information Centre undertook to increase their technology-based resources such as computers, software programmes and typing machines. This prompted greater use of diverse resource-based materials for accessing the curriculum. The teacher-librarian was confident that the achievement of this goal was linked to the LPYL project manager’s advocacy and observations of such technologies at libraries in Sweden. The teacher-librarian said that all the above-mentioned strategies were discussed with the library committee members as ideas and lessons learnt from Sweden. Success might also be attributed to the library committee members’ commitment, innovative marketing ideas and networking skills.

To sum up, sustaining and even improving such library services had been difficult to achieve and, in some instances, the LPYL project manager had offered advice that was pivotal in this regard.

The formalisation of a relationship with one of the government departments was identified as critical for the future of Makhuva Information Centre. It is ironic that despite President Mbeki’s call for increased volunteerism, the heavy reliance on volunteerism at Makhuva Information Centre was proving to be its Achilles heel. The library advisor claimed that once a position was established and a person appointed at the Centre, then a more structured support relationship would be forthcoming through the department’s human resources training programmes and supply of books. In addition, the provincial DSAC official pointed to the need for a legislative framework and financial resources. The provincial education official, who had attended the 2001 Sweden exchange tour, asserted that a pre-requisite for future development was an audit of school level library resources and this was planned.

The focus of the library committee’s planning was on identifying the needs of community members and neighbouring schools, promoting networking and formalising relationships with well-resourced libraries, such as the Phalaborwa Public Library. The library committee desired a co-ordinated service delivery centre for services offered by non-governmental organisations and governmental departments. The overall aim was to achieve a library service that offered learning resources relevant to an OBE curriculum and that met the needs of all ages within the community. It was believed that these aims would be successful only when a managerial post is made permanent. This possibility was being explored with the municipality.

In general the librarian was positive about the exchange as a development strategy and several examples were cited that had been introduced as a result of the experience (as mentioned above). The library committee’s perceptions about the value of the exchange strategy was more ambivalent. They asserted that it was useful for highlighting new ideas about library practice but implementing these ideas locally was problematic. Bureaucracy that created departmental separations between schools and cultural institutions such as public libraries, core funding and limited resources were among the local conditions that obstructed implementation.

The provincial DSAC official who participated in the 1997 exchange tour felt that the exchange would be beneficial to the development of school libraries if senior officials were participants. This was because it is these officials that have decision-making powers to take forward the development of school libraries at a quicker pace.

The DSAC library advisor stated that the exchange tour provided an opportunity to experience first hand what other countries were doing. This provided rapid assimilation of information about new systems, but such learning needed to be accompanied by training manuals and workshops.

Makhuva Information Centre is an innovative and unique community-based library that has tried to offer local community members a multiplicity of services that the State has neglected to offer citizens. The success of the library service seems to be attributed to the commitment of the librarian and library committee members, their innovative fund raising attempts and the large scale lobbying and marketing strategies.

The future success of this library depends on the co-ordinated efforts and working relationships between provincial departments to provide core support. Despite the lack of formal support, DSAC has provided guidance and support. There is strong recognition of the need for and importance of allowing the community to own the service, which has ensured the high level of community commitment. Nevertheless, the inability to budget for the appointment of a full-time librarian appears to be a significant hindrance to funding from the State.

EP Lekhela Primary School is situated in Mmabatho, Mafikeng in the North West Province. Alongside the main road that leads to the school, are the provincial offices of the education department, two higher education institutions, a church building and a shopping mall, with the provincial public library opposite the mall.

The school was established in 1993, and is located in a middle class neighbourhood. Near the entrance to the premises there is a huge HIV/AIDS awareness emblem donated by the patron of the school library, Mr Vilakazi, the Member of the Executive Council for Public Works. The school comprises four blocks of single-storey classrooms, each of which has four classrooms. The library is situated in the administration block.

There are about 785 Grades 1 to 6 learners and about 20 educators in this primary school. Discipline and achievement characterise the ethos of the school and are advocated in numerous wall charts and posters displayed in the principal’s office. These present the list of school committees operating in the school, the developmental appraisal system for educators, whole school evaluation, as well as quality assurance policies.

After the librarian participated in the 1998 exchange tour to Sweden the school started a library based on the Western centralised model. The library comprises two rooms for the reference and reading collections. To create space for the reading room, staff sacrificed the staff room and an old storeroom was converted into a small reference section.

In 1999 a departmental official requested the school to redevelop its library to serve a cluster of schools. This is the cluster model that enables the optimal use of library-based resources at school level through sharing human and material resources across institutions. At the time of the study the library committee was still considering their response to the request, while the library was continuing to function fully as a central library serving teachers and learners of EP Lekhela Primary School only.

The library reading room, which accommodates about 55 seated learners, was suitably furnished with tables and chairs bought in 2001 and the walls were brightly decorated with charts and slogans promoting reading and literacy. The friendly atmosphere was completed with a TV and several displays. In one corner was a display of local cultural items such as bows and beads, while a career corner displayed uniforms that typify certain careers such as nursing, policing, farming and engineering. HIV/AIDS awareness was the theme for another display of charts and posters.

The collection comprised about 3900 books for different levels of reading ability and reference works. A colour-coded classification list was displayed on the library door. Some of the books were for educator use in their classroom practice. With obvious reference to the exchange tour, one part of the book collection room exhibited posters, charts, and attractive items about Sweden.

Library management records included circulation records using a card system, an accession register for learning support materials, the record of the annual library budget, and lists of acquisitions and assets such as the television, hi-fi system, and overhead projectors.

The provincial departments relevant for providing support to library services underwent restructuring that rendered in one department for education and another for arts, culture, and sports. The North West Department of Education (NWDoE) took responsibility for school libraries, while the North West Department for Arts, Culture and Sports (NWDoACS) assumed responsible for community or public libraries. Within NWDoE the former directorate for school libraries was merged within the new sub-directorate for curriculum, development, examinations and multi-media services. Unfortunately the restructuring slowed the development and improvement of library services. But despite the restructuring, EP Lekhela Primary school received substantial support from both departments for its library – possibly because of successful networking with the relevant departmental officers and other influential decision-makers (such as the patron) and because it was perceived to be innovative and exemplary. The NWDoE supplied charts, stationery, borrowing cards, and donations from abroad, and the NWDoACS, through the provincial library, formerly known as the Bophuthatswana National Library, provided placards, pamphlets, stickers, encyclopaedias, cataloguing stationery and an accessioning register.

The findings show that the exchange strategy was an effective catalyst for policy development and institutional change in North West province and at EP Lekhela Primary School. In particular provincial officers implemented several interventions that, arguably, might be attributed to the stimulation of the exchange strategy. The findings also highlight initiatives and processes that a school might institute in order to develop and maintain a school-based library service.

After the exchange trip to Sweden in 1998, when there was still a combined department for education and arts, culture and sports, provincial officials took proactive steps to provide for, promote and encourage the development of library services at schools. Since that time, provincial policy development processes were initiated and the department made a modest budgetary provision for school library services. The Deputy Director for Libraries and Archives, a Media Advisor, and the EP Lekhela Primary School’s teacher-librarian, drafted a Provincial Business Plan for school libraries. In the introduction to the Business Plan there is mention of the exchange tour to Sweden and greater understanding of the importance of libraries for accessing the curriculum is attributed to that catalytic strategy. The Business Plan listed five aims and objectives as:

• Training teacher-librarians to use (or improvise) resources

• Encouraging resource sharing between community/public and school libraries

• Developing innovative library resources such as teaching and reading materials

• Promoting resource-based learning in lessons

• Ensuring access to learning resources (even in rural areas.)

At about the same time, the North West School Library Media Services drafted the North West Province School Library Policy. In 2000 departmental officers began to present the Policy to teacher librarians from various circuits. This document was revised in 2001 and issued as the North West Province School Libraries Media Centre Policy. The document emphasised the need to establish libraries in all schools of the province to ensure effective learning and access to the curriculum. It highlighted how school libraries need to be resourced, secured and used, and it defined the roles of key stakeholders. The document also encouraged partnerships, networking and effective management practices in the running of the library.

Despite the formulation of policy texts, the department had been slow in implementing the policy, allegedly because teachers were not ready to improvise and use limited resources. To ameliorate this situation, the department was organising ongoing workshops and the Media Advisor was engaged in monitoring that schools had instituted strategies to increase the use of library-based resources. Convening workshops and monitoring schools was proving to be challenging because of distances between circuits and the lack of official vehicles for the workshop facilitator. Education department officers asserted that they relied on their own transport without any reimbursement. Support to EP Lekhela Primary School was, however, more easily achieved because of its urban position and proximity to departmental offices. This geographic position might also account for the success of its library service and its selection as an LPYL project school.

Informants asserted that the importance of school level library policy with vision and mission statements, and action plans as a means to an effective library service was observed during the exchange tour in Sweden. Consequently, in 2000 all these documents were developed at EP Lekhela Primary School with full participation of the library committee, SGB, educators, Media Advisor and Acting Chief Education Specialist. The aim was to achieve an efficient library service. The content of the school’s library policy resembled the provincial library policy for schools on issues of partnership and the roles of various stakeholders in running the library service.

However, informants stated that during the exchange tour insufficient guidance was provided about how to produce these documents. Thus, LPYL project support visits were invaluable and the Project Manager had recommended improvements to the draft documents. EP Lekhela Primary’s library was conceived as the model library in the province. For this reason the school’s library development plan was incorporated into the North West Province Business Plan as the exemplar.

Visits to school libraries during exchange tours in Sweden, participants were highly motivated to start a library and implement library-based strategies at EP Lekhela School. For example, in 1998 the school management and staff were persuaded to reallocate the staff room and storeroom as the space for a library. Following this, the teacher-librarian and library advisor took active steps to establish a library committee and together with this structure they implemented many strategies to improve the library service.

Exchange tour participants had also been instrumental in drafting a document for NWDoE that would require schools in future to delegate one teacher to be the teacher-librarian responsible for school library services. Such delegated accountability had been discussed at senior management level within NWDoE and it had been conceived as a key strategy to improve library services and promote library use within schools. To augment this aim, in 2001 the education department developed a library policy guideline that promotes the formation of library committees and participation of SGB members within this structure.

The senior education department officer responsible for school libraries had participated in the 1998 Sweden exchange tour, explained that a workshop strategy to make educators and school communities aware of the importance of school libraries had been started. Workshops were events that brought teacher-librarians together for capacity building and were they could be informed of provincial campaigns and undertake joint planning and organisation of library-related activities. Furthermore, the school’s library committee planned workshops that provided a platform to share ideas and provide support and guidance to approximately 15 neighbouring schools. The teacher-librarian hoped that through such initiatives, other schools would start libraries. Library committee members also stated that educators from neighbouring schools visited EP Lekhela School to observe how the school library was organised and there were signs that these educators were beginning to establish and organise library services at their schools.

Departmental officers had also developed a strategy for establishing partnerships between schools and public libraries. It was envisaged that public libraries would provide schools with block loans and training materials, and librarians would assist their school colleagues in planning library activities. Alternatively, educators might set projects and assignments that would require learners to consult the public library collection. Initially, implementation problems were experienced with this strategy. It was found that public library policy did not permit block loans of print materials to schools. However, citing the observed success of such resource sharing and institutional partnership in Sweden, the library advisor was able to negotiate a softening of the public library policy. The provincial Head of Public Libraries agreed to formalise such links in the near future. At EP Lekhela Primary it was clear that the library committee had adopted the concept of networking. The library committee informants stated that their collaboration with the public library encompassed the planning and organisation of joint library activities. It is evident that

One departmental officer pointed out that during her participation on the exchange tour to Sweden she had grasped more profoundly that capacity building the people who provide library services is critical to improving school library service. For this reason, workshops were held with teacher-librarians to discuss Fifteen innovative ways with your learning resources (LIWO Working Group, 1999). Although, in some instances some teacher-librarians still had a narrow view of library based-resources, the library advisor conducted demonstrations at the workshops and gave practical examples to show that the ideas were implementable in the North West province. Talking books in a library collection were highlighted as especially suitable when educators have learners with special education needs in their classes.

Following the 1997-1998 Sweden exchange tours, a provincial conference was held for district level officers responsible for library services. The conference focussed on the following:

• Ideas learnt from Swedish libraries

• The importance of reading and the library service

• Ways to integrate library services to serve all learners in the community

The teacher-librarian at EP Lekhela Primary explained that the first step her school took to ensure that library resources were effectively used in teaching and learning was to allocate two periods per week per class for educators and learners to access library-related resources and use them in their classes. To ensure that resources met educators’ curriculum needs, the library committee had consulted educators about their forthcoming projects and curricular themes. Publishers were then invited to display print material resources. This proved to be very useful for teachers and, with the assistance provided by the teacher-librarian, they identified relevant and ‘good’ reference and teacher support materials. In this way the library committee planned how best the library service might provide relevant library materials and how teachers might integrate library-based resources into their classroom-based teaching.

The library rooms were filled with many activity corners and tables ranging from pieces of artwork to crafts and hobby items. These could be used by educators to integrate activities such as drama, art, poetry, songs and dance into every day teaching and learning activities. Books were also loaned to learners unable to keep up with class reading activities. This was a boost to their reading development. Learners were also encouraged to use newspapers to compile booklets that they could use in class activities.

The teacher-librarian attributed the introduction of non-print library-based resources in the collection directly to the exchange tour in Sweden. This initiative was further developed and implemented after advice from the project manager. The library committee also played a key role in this development. Thus, in the library ‘reading room’ there were resources such as a music system, television, and an overhead projector. Story listening and educational TV sessions were also possible using the music system and television. To minimise the costs of developing ‘talking books’ the library committee had enlisted support from a local recording studio.

The teacher-librarian noted a library committee and working collaboratively as her key observations from the exchange tours. Prior the 1998 tour, the committee lacked involvement of the SMT and parents. Thereafter, the library committee was increased to include a parent member from the SGB and the principal. After the resignation of the principal, another member of the SMT joined the committee and played a vital role in liaising with SMT meetings. The links to the SMT and SGB provided greater support for the library and encouraged smooth running and greater use of the service. Generally, the success of involving other members on the library committee has been twofold. Firstly, it provided a chance to actively provide support to classroom teaching and, furthermore, it ensured that the school community ‘owned’ the library service and, that commitment was pledged for its sustainability.

In addition, the library committee negotiated to have the SGB award a budget of R2 000 for library development. This amount was increased to R6 000 in 2001. The increase reflected the confidence elicited through the library committee and its commitment. As a result of the budgetary increase the book collection had increased from about 900 to 4 000 items. This made a learner lending system more feasible. Transport costs for committee members to attend library-related workshops were paid from other school funds. However, to augment the budget, the library committee introduced fundraising initiatives. These included competitions, cake sales, civvies day, and lobbying for donations. Also, the patron donated R3 200 and a sheep for slaughter at a fundraising event. Parents also donated books and traditional cultural items to the library collection. Other money raised was used to purchase workshop materials for training teacher librarians from other schools – indicating the ripple spread of influence from the project to the school and then to neighbouring schools. Library committee members believed that their fund-raising had been successful because the parent community, departmental officers, staff from neighbouring schools, as well members of the community acknowledged EP Lekhela Primary School’s library as an exemplary and model library service.

Adopting a patron was an innovative strategy employed by the library committee. A patron was envisaged as someone who would ensure that the library service was provided with material support. Thus, the adopted patron was a prominent politician responsible for public works in the province. It had been decided to request his sponsorship of a library building on the school premises, also to serve learners from neighbouring schools as well as the local community.

The library committee experienced a setback when the teacher-librarian sustained serious injuries in an accident. To continue the library service during this time, the committee deployed an educator member of the committee to assume temporary responsibilities for the library service. This indicates the vital role that the library had begun to play in the educational programme of the EP Lekhela Primary School. But this had not always been the case. A library committee member reminisced that initially educators had to be convinced about the importance of library-based resources for their teaching and learning activities. After determined efforts and training about the organisation of a library service, educator attitudes and involvement changed. Since that time most educators had become involved in accessioning and classifying of books in the library. Further, library committee members were on duty in the library on a rotational basis to supervise the lending of books to learners. Nevertheless, some educators remained reluctant because of the time constraints. Thus, to supplement the volunteers, the library committee had recruited and trained parents and learners to assist in the library. Volunteer parents performed various tasks:

• Assisting learners who experienced reading difficulties

• Accessioning and shelving books

• Fund raising.

Learners had been trained as library monitors to assist with loans and shelving books. This had the effect of also raising library awareness amongst their peers.

Through its networking relationships, the school had participated in activities such as the Masifunde Sonke - Year of the Reader and Readathon campaigns. These events involved book exhibitions at the school, the distribution of literacy pamphlets, drama, song and dance, and the presentation of talks. The importance of reading and the school library were central to these events. Many people had attended these events and the media were invited to publicise library-based resources and developments in schools.

The achievements at EP Lekhela Primary School’s library were clearly attributable to the commitment of library committee members, staff, parents and learners, the working relationships with neighbouring schools and public libraries. Their collaborative planning around innovative strategies was critical to the success.

Provincial officers asserted that there was a need to foreground the EP Lekhela Primary School library as an inspirational model for other schools in the province. There was support within the education department to establish more full-time teacher-librarian posts at schools.

At school level the library committee planned a purpose-built library to replace the small reference library section and leading room. This would be open to the general community and neighbouring schools, changing the library from a central library serving only one school to the cluster school library model. A Parent’s Fundraising Committee might be formed to assist with a more concerted effort to collect funds for the new library building.

Further, more recorded or ‘talking’ books would extend the variety of their resources, but more importantly would cater for learners experiencing reading difficulty. There were also plans to extend services through the introduction of computers, games and audio-visual equipment. The computer would also be used to catalogue the library collection.

The exchange tour strategy was perceived to be an effective means of building capacity because it challenged existing practices and stimulated participants to be inventive and explore new ideas and strategies. Although ‘seeing by example’ strategy was good for fast-tracking the learning process, provincial level officers asserted that it should be accompanied by other development strategies such as workshops, training sessions and manuals.

A member of the library committee perceived that the exchange tour was beneficial because it had invigorated the teacher-librarian with new ideas that had appeared to transform the library rooms. The teacher-librarian attested to this and explained that the main strategies she had implemented were all as a result of what she had observed in Sweden. In particular, she mentioned:

• The importance of regular meetings with the library committee

• Ways to establish relationships with public librarians

• The involvement of community members in library awareness programmes, and

• Ways to promote the importance of reading.

 

A provincial policy and development plan for improving library services were an important base for institutional level library service development. At school level, the success of the EP Lekhela Primary School library service was attributed to several factors, while the catalytic impulse had been the effect of the exchange tour of the participants and their local institutional conditions that gave them the professional opportunity to explore new ideas, make mistakes and give learners opportunities to access the curriculum in ways that had previously not been available.

Two key issues drive the discussion in this section. These are the critical perspectives of development outlined in the theoretical framework (Section 1) and how the LPYL project articulated development in its aims and objectives.

Related to the first issue, it is important to note that:

• The majority of South African schools were deeply affected and disadvantaged by apartheid era racially-based differentiation and discrimination

• Democratic, inclusive participation of the relevant role-players and stakeholders is central to effective service delivery and is one of the principles underpinning South Africa’s education policy

• Even under conditions of limited access to resources, decentralising management and governance decision-making to local levels is important for mobilising democratic change and development

Against this background and in terms of second issue, the LPYL project stressed the importance of developing human resources i.e. people involved in providing library services, rather than assigning project funds to the purchase of materials resources such as books and shelves that rapidly deteriorate with use and need to be replaced and/or maintained. It was recognised that even if the State was unable to inject massive funds into school library development for many years, there are still ways in which teachers at schools can be creative and constructive to mobilise local resources for providing a modest library service. But this requires a developmental process at institutional level, which can be led by a teacher-librarian and involve relevant stakeholders. This understanding is coherent with the modernisation and emancipatory approaches to development theory.

In the first phase of the project the conception of best-practice being associated with Sweden was supported among exchange tour participants. While the Swedish partners in the project were open to a critical stance of what is considered ‘good’ in their context. They demonstrated this in their eagerness to adopt ideas from the South African context during their exchange tours to South Africa. Nevertheless, from the case studies we encountered no criticism of the assumed transferability of best-practice from Sweden to South Africa. Instead, the South African participants were wholeheartedly supportive of the strategy, calling for more opportunities to tour Sweden in the survey at the end of the first phase of the project. They failed to interrogate the assumption that change might be brought about through borrowed ideas, given the many obstacles they faced locally. The key obstacle was the unfolding provincialisation of governance in the South African political context. In all of the case study schools there was mention of a ‘tug-of-war’ situation between the different political parties and government departments about what was a priority for social transformation, and the restructuring within departments.

Nevertheless, in terms of the aims identified in Starting up and developing school library services in South Africa: A Swedish-South African Project 1997-9, we assert that development occurred in the case study schools libraries as evident in the following outcomes:

• The local community was committed to the library service and participated as volunteers in offering of the service

• Joint partnerships with other library services had been formed

• Volunteers and sponsors had been recruited

• The library service was held up as an example of change and ‘good’ library development to other schools

• There were initiatives to train educators from other schools and share information about how to develop their library services

However, objectives for the exchange tours planned in phase two were only partially addressed. The objectives were to:

exchange ideas and experiences … about 
i) ways of defining and increasing library related resources for school learners and educators, and 
ii) strategies for implementing a school library plan, networking and lobbying at a local level.

There was very little comment about these objectives in documents produced after the 2001 exchange tour. Instead many participants merely iterated the itinerary of the exchange tour and failed to outline their plan for library service development.

Interviewees had divergent ideas about how the exchange tours had impacted on their development. Some participants viewed the exchange tour as the key impulse for their change and library development and this was evident in their innovative strategies and ideas to promote using library-based resources.

Most participants were open to the concept of social change and the introduction of new experiences. In the main they were particularly impressed about introducing networked relationships and using new technologies. These perceptions of ‘development’ are along the lines of the modernisation school of thought where it is assumed that the ‘greater’ economic forces know ‘best’ and should dictate the meaning of ‘development’. Some interviewees clearly viewed the exchange tour as a development strategy for only learning from a ‘developed’ country as opposed to the possibility of learning from an under-developed country. There was a preoccupation with the notion that if a developed country such as Sweden could be emulated, school library service can be developed in South Africa.

The uncritical and willing attitude to change brought about through the ‘perk’ of international travel and studying practice in a foreign context was exemplified in the view of a public librarian that the exchange tour had had a greater developmental influence on her practice than other departmental strategy. (It must be noted that these critical observations are referenced to attitudes of South African participants and do not reflect a negative implication or meaning about practice in a developed country such as Sweden.) A more positive interpretation of participants’ uncritical and open attitude is that the exchange tour is an escape from the tedium and overload of everyday tasks and interrupts participants’ routine practice. During the tour they have reflective moments when they are fruitfully open to new ideas and stimuli.

Notwithstanding the evaluative statements above about participants’ uncritical borrowing of best-practice strategies, they contended that implementation was difficult. Participants of the 1998 and 1997 exchange tours stated that limited financial resources restricted their implementation of ideas learnt in Sweden. These participants had failed to appreciate the underpinning emancipatory rationale of the project as a strategy to empower them to do more with less, find innovative ways to solve problems independently and take charge of their own development. Other participants stressed the importance of making optimal use of the exchange tour as a development strategy. They asserted that participation should be limited to senior officers. Such departmental officers needed greater understanding of the role of libraries in education and this change might be forthcoming with their exposure to the demonstrated successes at Sweden’s schools. With such change they might be more enthusiastic to promote library development in South Africa.

Some interviewees considered the exchange as development strategy that was insufficient as a stand-alone intervention. It required additional support to meet the aims of developing school library services that prioritised teaching and learning, such as training manuals and workshops.

In general the exchange tour was a successful strategy for developing librarians that serve teachers and learners in South Africa. Many constructive changes had occurred in the case study institutions that were directly attributed to the exchange tours. Nevertheless, at each of the case study institutions it was evident that support was essential to assist in implementing new systems and processes for sustained, long-term development. For this the in situ support visits of library advisors and other experts such as that provided through the project office, were identified as valuable. Having access to instructive materials and district workshops were also worthwhile.

Without stability within education departments and the institution’s attachment to a department to ensure continued provision of a full-time librarian and resources, the benefits of the exchange tour are diminished because the attention and energy of the library committee are directed away from serving teachers and learners.

Among the more important best-practice lessons that practitioners observed operating successfully in Sweden and which they have successfully implemented at their institutions is the library committee. At each of the case study institutions the library committee was operating effectively through regular meetings for the practice of inclusive and democratic decision-making. This structure is consistent governance sections of the South African Schools Act and the Department of Education’s Tirisano priority of ‘school as a centre of community life’, and the National Policy Framework for School Library Standards. The library committee is proving to be a vital policy and development structure that focuses institutional energies, mobilises local resources, community volunteers and develops a more responsive, sustained and independent library-based service for teachers and learners. It is a more cost-effective and sustainable development intervention over the long-term than the starter-pack library boxes sponsored by the corporate sector to so many disadvantaged schools in South Africa. Evidence from the case study institutions show that the library committee is key to school library policy and development and even deploying meaningfully the educators within the school in order to enable teachers and learners to access the curriculum. As sub-committees of the governing body, the library committee can make a significant local intervention to enhance the provision of library-based resources without requiring substantial additional resources from education departments. A next step would be to take this to scale by starting a library committee in every school – but for that we need politicians and senior education managers to finalise a national school library policy.