SA Library Week Celebrates 'connect @ your library

Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, launched the South African Library Week in Cape Town on Friday, 13 March 2015.

The event is arranged through a partnership between the national Department of Arts and Culture, National Library of South Africa, the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), the City of Cape Town, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS). 

The theme for this year’s South African Library Week, Connect @ your library, is aligned with the Western Cape Government’s first strategic goal: “Creating opportunities for growth and jobs”.

Learners from different backgrounds read three stories online to demonstrate how many people can read together and become connected by mobilising information technology. The stories were read in the three official languages of the Western Cape: isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans.

“Reading is for everyone!” said Mabudafhasi. “Reading helps one to learn and discover new things. Reading takes you places you’ve never been before. As adults, we need to help establish a culture of reading from an early age.”

“South African Library Week is a demonstration of our slogan Better Together,” said acting Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anton Bredell. “A total of 361 of the country’s 1 993 public libraries are located in the Western Cape, and there are 1.1 million registered library users in our province. Libraries offer a space to communicate cultural, educational and recreational values to local communities.  I really look forward to the celebrations that will take place in May this year when our provincial library service turns 60 – an important milestone in connecting communities.”

Let us visit our libraries not just during Library Week, but every day, and encourage our children and peers to read, so that we can become BETTER TOGETHER.