Libraries and a �Better Life for All�: The politics, processes, and promises of the South African LIS Transformation Charter
Loading...
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Abstract
The rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims
for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the twenty-first anniversary
of democracy in South Africa, it is an opportune moment to
examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries since 1994. The
library and information services (LIS) profession portrays libraries
as agents of development and social transformation; yet, since 2009,
more than twenty South African libraries have been destroyed in
social protests. This paper reports on the work of the authors of the
LIS Transformation Charter, which after a start-stop-start process of two
phases over six years was delivered to the government in 2014. The
paper analyzes the political and professional forces that influenced
the charter-writing processes. The two fundamental arguments of
the charter are that access to information, and thus to libraries, is
a fundamental justiciable human right, both as a so-called freedom
right and as an instrument of other economic, social, and cultural
rights; and that transformation will depend on �ecosystems� thinking
whereby the various subsectors collaborate to ensure seamless
services and the equity of provision. The paper argues that the final
LIS Transformation Charter maps a path for a transformed and
integrated library system that has meaning for all sectors of South
African society.
Description
Keywords
Library and information services (LIS), Transformation, South Africa, Professional practice, Professionalism, LIS Transformation Charter
Citation
Hart, G. and Naassimbeni, M. (2016). Libraries and a �Better Life for All�: The Politics, Processes, and Promises of the South African LIS Transformation Charter. Library Trends, 65(2): 198-216