African ministers pledge support for devt of libraries

Participants in an African ministerial roundtable on information access have pledged to scale up advocacy for the inclusion of libraries in the development process of their respective countries.

They have also expressed their commitment to promote the use of technology in the administration of libraries, including the deployment of free internet services.

The Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, in an eight-point communique presented on behalf of the participants, further pledged their readiness to synchronise and also pursue a Cape Town Declaration and Durban Communique, including other unaccomplished declarations to their conclusions.

Conference

The minister was speaking at the end of a two-day conference which brought together delegates from 32 African countries, made up of sector ministers and managers of libraries in Accra last Friday.

The conference, which was on the theme:

“Libraries on the African development agenda – Progress made”, provided leadership and guidance on how governments could integrate libraries into their national development plans and also ensure the allocation of resources towards the achievement of their goals.

It was organised by the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA), under the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA).

Communique

“We hereby proclaim collectively that we shall promote the ideals and support the AfLIA as the leading continental mouthpiece for ensuring favourable policies for the work of libraries and the building of professional expertise of African librarians,” the communique said.

The participants also pledged their commitment to vigorously pursue the collection and documentation of oral African tradition ‘to showcase our rich cultural heritage and also encourage, support and fast-track the establishment of National libraries in countries without such’.

“We hereby proclaim collectively that we shall play pivotal roles in achieving the Africa we want (Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030) through the pursuit of resource support for libraries to meet their expectations.

“We urge the Africa Union Commission to provide a desk to oversee the inclusion of libraries and their activities in national development policies and plans, and put on its calendar, a two-day annual meeting of African ministers responsible for libraries,” the communique, which was read on behalf of Dr Prempeh, added.

Way forward

The President of AfLIA, Mr Mandla Ntombela, said libraries were to be placed within national development plans for the purpose of achieving regional and global development agenda of member countries.

“AfLIA will reconsider having the ministerial roundtable biennially as a prelude to AfLIA conference,” he said, adding that “AfLIA encourages national libraries to explore avenues of more African-local collections in all community and public libraries”.

Mr Ntombela further said AfLIA would continue to build the capacity of librarians on the continent on current trends in librarianship and also support new initiatives of documenting indigenous knowledge.