BUSINESS PLAN
LIBRARY PRACTICE FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

Revised
October 1997 (slightly edited for this website 2002)

Developing school library services for primary and secondary schools in disadvantaged areas in South Africa

CONTACT PEOPLE FOR THE PROJECT 3
NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: 3
PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION 3
PROJECT COORDINATORS 4
LIWO WORKING GROUP 5
BiS WORKING GROUP 5
SIDA 5
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT 6
BACKGROUND 7
NEEDS ANALYSIS 9
PROJECT DETAILS 10
ROLES 10
ANNUAL ACTION PLAN 11
1 Objectives : by the end of 1998: 11
2 Objectives : By April 1999 11
ACTIVITIES 13
IMPLEMENTORS 13
Evaluation, presentation 14
WORK METHODS: 14
MONITORING 14
ACTIVITY BASED BUDGET 16
1997 : 16
1998 16
SIGNATURES OF APPROVAL AND DATES 18

CONTACT PEOPLE FOR THE PROJECT

NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION:

June Matlala (012) telephone 3226625 fax (012) 3221862
Chief Education Specialist
Centre for Educational Technology & Distance Education
Private Bag X895
PRETORIA 0001
Email: matlala.j@educ.pwv.gov.za

PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION

Esdre Keller Telephone 011 355 0763 Fax 011 355 0833
Directorate: Support Services
Library & Information Services, Education Department,
Gauteng,
PO Box 7710
JOHANNESBURG 2000

Bertha Kitching: Telephone 051 407 4058/9 Fax 051 407 4032
Directorate: Education Institute
Schools Capacitation :Education Department
Free State
Private Bag X20606
BLOEMFONTEIN 9300

Vatiswa Magwentshu: Telephone 0531 811 467 Fax 0531 812 635
Provincial Library and Archival Services
Northern Cape Education Department
PO Box 532
KIMBERLEY 8300

Lyne Metcalfe Telephone : 021 483 5265 Fax : 021 483 5459
EDULIS
Education Department Western Cape
Private Bag X9099
CAPE TOWN 8000
Email: lyne@elib.wcape.gov.za

Nomawethu Jonas: Telephone 0433 33002 Fax 0433 33043
Provincial Library
Eastern Cape
Private Bag 7484
KING WILLIAMS TOWN 5600

Meshack Mulaudzi: Telephone : 0152 295 7080 Fax: 0152 295 2384
Library and Information Service
Northern Province
Private Bag X9489
PIETERSBURG 0700

Sam Ndawo: Telephone 013 243 4980 Fax: 013 282 7375
Education Department
Mpumalanga
Private Bag X251863
MIDDELBURG 1050

Nomvuko Nomnga: Telephone 0140 22061/2 Fax 0140 22063
Provincial Library Services
Department of Education, Sport & Recreation
North West Province
Private Bag X2044
MMABATHO 2735

Sibongile Nzimande: Telephone 0361 311 680 Fax 0361 311 673
School Library Service
Kwazulu-Natal
Private Bag 9980
LADYSMITH 3370

PROJECT COORDINATORS

Cathy Stadler
Maureen Mosselson Telephone (011) 442 6929 Fax (011) 4422982 or 788 6649
IMC
PO Box 2265
Saxonwold 2132
Johannesburg
South Africa
Email: computing@icon.co.za or mosson@iafrica.com

LIWO WORKING GROUP

Jenni Karlsson (031) 260 2607 Fax 031 260 2118
Education Policy Unit
University of Natal
King George V Ave
Durban 4001
Email: KARLSSON@MTB.und.ac.za

BiS WORKING GROUP

Lennart Wettmark Telephone: 054-296816 Fax 054-213787
Gymnasiebiblioteket Sundsta
S-652 26 Karlstad
Sweden
E-mail: lennart.wettmark@sag.karlstad.se

SIDA

Anita Theorell
Sida Education Division Section for Culture and Media
Anita.theorell@sida.se

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Broadly stated the aims of the project are to:

• Address and highlight the lack of learning resources in disadvantaged communities, specifically to improve these resources to provide support for the new outcomes based education system;
• To support democratic principles in education and in the provision of learning resources;
• To advocate multicultural principles;
• To promote life-long learning;
• To produce "best practice" teacher-librarians through human resource development;
• To promote equity of access to learning resource for young learners.

The project objectives include the following:

• The implementation of a teacher-librarian exchange programme between primary and secondary schools in Sweden and South Africa over an 18 month period;
• To ensure the continuation of relationships with the Swedish partners long after the initial study tours have taken place;
• To bring together major national and provincial role players and to enable them to work from a common base;
• To empower the school library, the governing body, provincial representatives and other stakeholders;
• To produce a written plan for the improvement of a school library service for nine primary schools and nine secondary schools distributed among the nine provinces in South Africa;
• To publish a national, popular document which will include "best practices" case studies that relate to the national policy framework, and based on different South African models that deliver learning resources in different contexts;
• To use the project information as success stories, and to raise awareness around the critical role of learning resources in improving the quality of education within the framework of the new curriculum.

BACKGROUND

The Library Practice for Young Learners Project is a two year, north-south exchange programme between Sweden and South Africa, with the objective of concretising best practice ideas and developing school-based library plans which will improve library services to primary and secondary school learners in disadvantaged areas of South Africa.

People are the catalysts or agents of change, and so the project aims to make an intervention by developing library sector human resources or personnel, in order to qualitatively enhance performance and practice in libraries. Further, the project is targeted at one of the most neglected sub-sectors of South African library and information services: the school library sector.

School librarians are a critical component for the effective delivery of the Education Department's Curriculum 2005 programme and essential for developing life-long learners. Thus it is envisaged that all nine provinces (school library policy developers and practitioners) will participate in the exchange programme. They will consider examples of "best practice" and ways in which these approaches can be implemented to the benefit of learners in South Africa and Sweden - even where there are scarce resources.

Some of the project activities include:

• Study tour of Sweden for ten senior provincial education department officials responsible for school libraries at a national and provincial level.
• Selection of two teacher-librarians (primary and secondary) from each province and visits to their schools;
• A three-day national meeting of senior provincial education department officers who attended the first study tour, the selected teacher-librarians, and representatives from the library sector in Sweden.
• An exchange programme with Sweden for the selected teacher-librarians to experience examples of best practice.
• The development and dissemination of a publication that showcases the best practice ideas for teacher-librarians.
• The development by teacher-librarians and the governing body of plans for the school library.
• The management of this two-year project will be coordinated by BIS and LIWO who have formed working groups in Sweden and South Africa. A project coordinator will be appointed for a period of 12 to 15 months to manage the project on a day to day basis.

"One of the most important differential policies between high scoring and low-scoring countries of all those examined was the access of books in schools or public libraries." 
Swedish National Agency of Education <Skolverket> in a report on Swedish education in reading in an international perspective"

"The continual obsolescence of information compels school learners to adopt practices of life long learning and critical thinking. These are based on the acquisition of flexible problem solving skills at an early age and exposure to a wide range of opinions, perspectives and critical voices. Access to a wide range of learning resources is therefore a critical and essential component of the new educational paradigm and not an optional luxury. Learning resources and the curriculum are in fact the two sides of the same teaching and learning coin."
School learners and libraries, EPU, University of Natal 1996.

Most schools located in African communities lack adequate resources. The apartheid system created a situation where schools administered by the white, coloured and Indian education departments had libraries with good collections and equipment, while generations of other learners have not had access to learning resources. Other backup services such as public libraries were not accessible. The Separate Amenities Act closed public libraries located in white areas to black communities for many years, closing off another possible point for learners to access information. The provision of solutions to the problem of access demands provincial and local cooperation and coordination. In addition solutions that are based on creativity and the insight of alternative possibilities where money is scarce are necessary. The gradual introduction of a new outcomes-based curriculum in South Africa has made this imperative.

The National Department of Education working group has developed a set of school library standards that support the new Curriculum 2005. The definition of school library that is used in this project is the one defined by this policy document and includes the range of existing forms of school libraries from mobile libraries to the ideal of one school one library.

The project will build on the foundation of the work done during the Sida / BiS sponsored conference held in 1995 - School Learners and Libraries. Through the links between Bibliotek i Samhalle (BiS) and the Library and Information Workers Organisation (LIWO), together with the support of the National Department of Education there is already an established base to support this project.

LIWO was established in 1990 and is committed to the development of a free, non-racial, non-sexist united and democratic country. LIWO played a crucial role in the National Education Policy Investigation (NEPI) report on Library and Information Services and has continued to monitor library provision. BiS - supportive sister organisation to LIWO - has been involved in the Masizame Community Project in Lingelihle, Cradock.

NEEDS ANALYSIS

The project does not aim to provide funds for the purchase of books, but rather aims to stimulate a process to develop the human resources necessary for school learning resources. Best practices for school libraries will be brought into focus. The approach of this project is consistent with the present educational paradigm shift because it focuses more on the learners and teaching, and learning in a lifelong perspective rather than on resources - which wear out and are discarded after a few years.

Teacher-librarians are important catalysts for changes in school and this project therefore concentrates on developing human resources.

The role of libraries and librarians (especially school librarians) is essential to the reform of curricula and methods in school. The exposure of key persons in South Africa to relevant experiences of other countries will raise awareness of different ways of dealing with resource shortages and the new education system.

Swedish schools have exchanged a traditional textbook / teacher oriented educational practice for a greater variety of resource-based / learner centered ones. This necessitated a creative process of resource provision, mainly centered on expanding the role of library performance. This matches the need in South Africa for more learning resources and is within the framework of the national department's Curriculum 2005 project.

There are many similarities and differences between the two countries. Both are multi-cultural and face problems around the development and distribution of resources democratically in many sectors. Sectors such as primary and secondary education, lifelong learning, distance education, early childhood education, adult basic education call for local solutions in the media resource provision.

Sweden has recently undergone school reforms and has focused on the importance of school libraries, and the implications of "life-long" learning. This makes contact with Swedish school librarians and others an invaluable two-way process.

This project aims to establish an exchange library programme focused on the improvement of learner resources within schools and consequently the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning at primary and secondary schools in disadvantaged areas of South Africa.

PROJECT DETAILS

ROLES

National Department of Education

The National Department of Education will play a coordinating role and will be the point at which project decisions are endorsed. The relevant official will do the following:

• Bring provincial heads together;
• Approve the final business plan;
• Host the national meeting in February, together with the Project Coordinator;
• Be the point for communication with library structures and teacher organisations;
• Be in constant communication with the coordinator;
• Communicate with provinces in relation to this project.

Project Coordinators

The project coordinators - the staff of Information Management & Communication - will be in close communication with the National Education Department. They are accountable to the LIWO working group in South Africa.

• Completion of the business plan
• Regular communication with the relevant official in the national education department.
• Regular reports to the working group (LIWO and BiS);
• Reports to the provincial heads of department through the national education department.
• Provision of updates and various SIDA reports as required by BiS.
• Project information for advocacy "success stories" for the popular press as opportunities arise.
• The construction of a database for communication with stakeholders including media contacts, national and provincial contacts and the contacts obtained during the course of the project with Swedish organisations. This will be made available to project participants.
• Financial coordination with the treasurer of the LIWO working group.
• Provincial visits as follow-up to Swedish visit (part of the evaluation) with provincial heads
• Flight and travel logistics and other administrative requirements related to travel.
• Coordination of the national meeting in February with the national department of education.
• Send survey documents to participants
• Plan evaluation report and presentation
• Preparation of popular document for dissemination to 10 000 schools

Provincial Departments

The heads of the provincial departments will liaise closely with the national education department.

• Implementation of this project within the framework of the national policy document.
• Heads of departments will compile provincial implementation and action plan (activities/milestone/timeframe)
• Provincial heads will assist with mentoring and monitoring the development of local school library plans for secondary and primary schools in each province.
• Input into planning as required.
• The criteria for and selection of the participants in the exchange programme will be the main task of the heads of the departments in each province.
• Heads of department will provide input into the final document.
• Obtain provincial endorsement of the project.
• Evaluation of the project's outcomes and of the first study tour.
• Joint visits with project coordinator to the selected librarians.

LIWO

• Evaluation
• Administration / financial management and reporting
• Support for the 18 librarians involved in the exchange programme.

BiS

• Reports to SIDA
• Swedish visit hosting

National Library Organisations

• National library organisations will play an advocacy role.
• They will be kept informed of project activities. Some of the organisations include: ALASA, Translis, LIWO, SAILIS, SCIG, SASLA, Children's Book Forum, National Book Development Council.

Exchange librarians

• The 18 exchange librarians should start a process on their return to produce a document for the initiation of a relevant school library model which could be based on a local or international library model, a public or a school library as appropriate to specific needs.
• Criteria:
  • Selected persons should have the greatest impact in bringing about the project objectives. They could therefore be subject advisors or librarians (a person who is committed to establishing a functioning school library service) or a teacher (committed to establishing a functioning school library service).
  • These librarians must work in most disadvantaged areas.
  • The selection of the 18 librarians should take into account gender issues.
    

ANNUAL ACTION PLAN

1 Objectives : by the end of 1998:

• In each of the nine provinces discussions and written reports have concretized ideas of improved library services to primary and secondary school learners in disadvantaged areas.
• These should be based on experiences from "best practices" libraries identified during the visits to Sweden in 1997 and 1998. There should be a written plan for at least one primary and one secondary school in each province on how to improve library services. The plan should have been developed jointly by the librarian, the school governing body, the provincial department representative and other relevant parties.

2 Objectives : By April 1999

• A national popularly written document based on the reports from and discussions within the different provinces should have been published.
• This document will be edited by LIWO in consultation with the responsible official in the National Department of Education and if necessary with the assistance of a journalist. The aim of this document is to transfer good ideas and relevant examples from Sweden and South Africa to school libraries in areas neglected under the apartheid system. The document should be known by at least 80% of every chair person of the governing body of primary and secondary schools that has received a free copy of the document and read by a majority of principals at these schools.
• As part of the North South dialogue individual librarians in Sweden and South Africa have been linked together through the exchange programme.
• The majority of the involved librarians should have continued their contacts on a professional basis

Expected outputs:

• The problems of providing and making accessible books and other media to under-resourced school learners in accordance with the Curriculum 2005 Project should be highlighted. New solutions of the provision of resources should also be identified and explored.
• Through the project options could evolve which include libraries for lifelong learners.
• The visits to Sweden should be followed in each province by discussions and plans of new policy pertaining to school libraries and Curriculum 2005. Actions regarding media resource provision on both provincial representatives (departmental officials) as well as on the school level (librarians, governing bodies and library committees) represented in this project.
• Established contact within the framework of a North-South dialogue as a result of the project should stimulate further development of ideas on library resource provision in both countries.
• Future seminars, exchange programmes and similar activities would help to extend this process.
• Study tour of Sweden for ten senior provincial education department officials who are responsible for school libraries at a national and provincial level, accompanied by the project coordinator.
• Selection of two teacher-librarians / librarians / teachers from each province and visits to their schools by the project coordinator.
• Three day national meeting of senior education department officials, the selected participants, the Swedish representatives and the project coordinator.
• Exchange programme to Sweden for the selected teacher-librarians to experience examples of best practice;
• Development and dissemination of a publication that showcases best practice ideas for teacher librarians written by the project coordinator, with editorial assistance and input from national and provincial departments.
• The development of business plans by teacher librarians and governing body for the school library.
• The management of this two-year project will be coordinated by BIS and LIWO working groups in Sweden and South Africa.
• A project coordinator will be appointed for a period of 12 to 15 months to manage the project on a day to day basis.

ACTIVITIES

WORK METHODS:

• The South African activities of the project are coordinated by and are the responsibility of the LIWO working group.
• Activities in Sweden are coordinated by and are the responsibility of a BiS workgroup. Both organisations are free to consult relevant organisations during the process of the project. Of special interest is to have the support of national departments of education and relevant government agencies in both countries.
• All funds are transferred from Sida to BiS and are available to LIWO through the application of the treasurer of LIWO according to the budget agreed and the activities of the project. At the end of the project an audited report should be submitted to BiS.
• Major deviations from the budget should be discussed with and approved by the BiS work group.

MONITORING

Planning:

• The application to Sida and the plan of operation are formulated by the BiS work group submitted to LIWO for discussion, completed and reformulated by BiS and approved by LIWO before submission to Sida.
• During the development of the project plan officials from the department of education's directorate Centre for Educational Technology and Distance Education.
• The provincial heads of department have made additional input and this proposal has been revised.

Implementation

• This will be according to the eleven steps outlined above.

Reporting

• Each step will be followed by reports from BIS and LIWO work groups about progress, fulfillment and problems.

Evaluation

• The project coordinator will together with the national education department develop a set of criteria for the final evaluation of the project.

Audition: There should be a financial expenditure report linked to the fulfillment of each major event. A six monthly financial report should be followed by an annual audited report. The funds and transactions of this project should be kept separately in the accounts of BiS and LIWO.

BiS is responsible for the final audited report to Sida.

ACTIVITY BASED BUDGET

This budget is in Swedish K
Exchange rate is R1.00 to 1.75 SEK
The budget of the project includes funds from BiS/ Sida (15.000Sek) and LIWO / Sida money from the LIWO national conference (R30 000)

1997:

Step 4 -5 
Selection process 
Budget in steps 1 - 2

1998:

SIGNATURES OF APPROVAL AND DATES

SIDA

BIS

NATIONAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS

ENDORSEMENT BY PROVINCIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS

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