When I saw this week’s topic, I thought about some of the posts I have seen over the years from a friend who has run schools in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. I decided to also reach out to some librarians working at schools in other African countries (Uganda and Zambia) alongside the research I was completing regarding public school libraries, to see if the experiences were similar. In the end, I realised that schools around the world face many similar issues, regardless of their location, although they are much more pronounced in developing countries.
Access to Books
Time and again, I have seen posts from Librarians talking about access to physical resources for their libraries. These are always in lower income areas, where the funding imbalance between them and schools in more well-off areas or private schools is large. This also occurs in schools across the African continent. According to Paton-Ash and Wilmot (2015), many of the schools in Gauteng Province, South Africa, rely entirely on donations. Unfortunately, the result is libraries housing collections that are outdated, beaten up, irrelevant to the patrons, and containing biased information. And these are the schools that even have a library, which is not entirely common. According to T. Scott Zuor (personal communication, March 6, 2022) and J. Canillas Daley (personal communication, March 2, 2022), most schools in Uganda and Zambia don’t have libraries and may rely on public libraries, if there is one in the area.
Access to Technology
Another access issue is with regards to technology tools and internet access. T. Scott Zuor (personal communication, March 6, 2022) stated “The difficulty with using devices is first the expense involved to acquire the device and second the expense and availability of internet connection. Furthermore, in countries like Eritrea, according to C. Webster (personal communication, February 27, 2022), “Technology was a challenge as we rarely had electricity and did not really have internet.” Considering this was a private school for the children of the diplomatic core and multinational companies, it had far more funding than public schools. According to Paton-Ash and Wilmot (2015), very few public schools in their study had computer labs, and most were lucky to have a single computer. Fortunately, things are beginning to improve in Zambia where, according to Chisunka-Mwila et al (2019), all eight of the schools in their study had at least one computer, although multiple computers were usually not housed in the library space.
Access to Trained Staff and an Adequate Space
In many cases in public schools, there is a lack of trained library staff and often a lack of understanding about the importance of school libraries. Furthermore, the spaces being used for libraries may be old classrooms or inadequate rooms that may not be manned enough to provide adequate hours to access the spaces. In South Africa, this has sometimes meant large numbers of students have to rely on the services of the public libraries in the area because they are unable to use the library in their school.
How Can We Address these Inequalities
In many developing countries, there is a clear imbalance between what private and public schools can offer. Many private schools have access to funding, qualified library staff, and adequate spaces that support both physical and digital collections. This means their students are provided with modern and relevant digital and physical library collections as well as often being able to provide quality devices, often being a one to one school. The students in these schools are provided with a very different education compared to their local counterparts, despite living in the same place, and we see a gap in education increasing even further. Given the high cost of devices and access to internet, I am not convinced that supporting technology is the way to go at this time, until the issue of reliable and affordable internet access can be addressed.
So how can we address these inequalities and ensure that students from developing countries don’t fall even further behind? I think the responsibility lies with all of us - from the people donating books to these schools, to the consumers of tech products and the companies that make large profits off of them, to the many, often considerably wealthier ex-pats living in these countries which enables them to have a much higher standard of living than others.
Technology companies like Apple often hold the market for schools and make huge profits every year. Perhaps we consumers should be pressuring them to give some of this back in the form of funding for infrastructure to provide internet access as well as computers and tablets for schools in regions that need them.
Think carefully before you donate books. If you wouldn’t keep the book in your own library because it is outdated, biased, in bad condition, or has dangerous information, it is not appropriate to donate. Instead, support charities like Book Aid International, Global Giving or the African Library Project that takes gently used materials or cash donations to purchase books directly from publishers.
International Schools and other private schools in developing countries should consider how they can support the local communities in through their libraries. Perhaps this is passing on books to the local schools, or inviting the children in to use browse their collections or attend literacy events, or by giving access to paid databases. Another option could be mentoring local staff.
Support programs that help to train library staff or build libraries in developing countries. Programs like Libraries Without Borders, African Library Project, or take part in the IASL Support a Member program.
Technology companies like Apple often hold the market for schools and make huge profits every year. Perhaps we consumers should be pressuring them to give some of this back in the form of funding for infrastructure to provide internet access as well as computers and tablets for schools in regions that need them.
Think carefully before you donate books. If you wouldn’t keep the book in your own library because it is outdated, biased, in bad condition, or has dangerous information, it is not appropriate to donate. Instead, support charities like Book Aid International, Global Giving or the African Library Project that takes gently used materials or cash donations to purchase books directly from publishers.
International Schools and other private schools in developing countries should consider how they can support the local communities in through their libraries. Perhaps this is passing on books to the local schools, or inviting the children in to use browse their collections or attend literacy events, or by giving access to paid databases. Another option could be mentoring local staff.
Support programs that help to train library staff or build libraries in developing countries. Programs like Libraries Without Borders, African Library Project, or take part in the IASL Support a Member program.
Hi Kim,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, you have so many great ideas in this post. You bring up a great point about thinking carefully before donating books. This is something I think many would do with the best intentions but it is so important to think about why you are donating the books in the first place. I know it will make me think twice next time I make a donation. I was so focused on the actual mobile devices when I made my post this week and did not think about internet connection or electricity, this is definitely something I clearly take for granted. Thank you for addressing these issues and suggesting ways to support those in undeveloped countries.
Erin
It was not something I ever considered, until I saw posts from my friend when he lived in Eritrea. He was the director of a private school, but despite having a very good job in the country, only had electricity in his home a few hours a day and the school required generators because they didn't have power at all times during the school day. This was only 2 1/2 years ago and if this was in a fee paying school, I can't even imagine what it was like for the local people.
ReplyDeleteAs for weeding books, it can be so easy to get into the idea of donating being a way to help, but with so many things, we see it can only causes issues.
I appreciate the way you organized this post. It reminded me of the library standards from Leading Learning. I also appreciate the solutions you share to overcoming some of these inequalities. The idea of mentoring local staff is an excellent option. I believe that libraries are about community and connections. What an excellent way to model this.
ReplyDelete