Campaign to encourage women to use library services

The Herald, March 7 1992
THE British Council has launched a campaign to get women to use library services throughout the country to improve their education.

The week-long campaign, planned as part of activities to mark International Women’s Day, was officially launched at the British Council library in Harare by the Secretary for Information, Posts and Telecommunications, Cde Sarah Kachingwe.

The library initiated the campaign after finding the library facilities were used by too few women in the city.

“Under a fifth of our members are women, which is regrettably not a typical situation,” the British Council head of library services, Mr John Salter, said. The council provides a library and information service to about 14 000 members.

“It is common knowledge that, more often than not, once women leave school, secure employment or start a family, few of them strive to broaden their knowledge over and above what was contained in school textbooks. For that reason, I urge our women to extend the horizons of their knowledge by consciously developing a reading culture or ethic,” Cde Kachingwe said.

Cde Kachingwe also called on the council to decentralise its services and establish new libraries, especially in rural areas.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

Libraries play critical role in transforming lives and communities through education.

Reading widely broadens the mind, so a reading culture must be inculcated in library users as this extends the horizon of their knowledge.

The level and quality of library participation by women in different sectors of the economy are key to their level of contribution in socio-economic and developmental issues.

Today, millions of women have libraries without walls on their palms. Smart phones and tablets are gadgets where women can access various forms of information in any field of their choice, which they can use to benefit them, their businesses and their families.

Although the Internet can initially be intimidating due to the vast nature of information on the world wide web, with training and continual use, women can eventually gain confidence and even manage to cross-check the accuracy of the information.

There are also many free publications on the Internet which can be downloaded and read at one’s own time. If women thought it was difficult to visit libraries in their communities, ICT has made it easy for them to improve their reading culture.

There are various videos on the Internet and other platforms, that can teach women the importance of sustaining a reading culture.