HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

From Jim Trojanowski, NWLS Director - In October I traveled to South Africa with a delegation of librarians to visit libraries and to exchange ideas with our hosts. Our trip was arranged by People to People, a program created by President Eisenhower 50 years ago in belief that if we work together in peace we are less likely to wage war.

We spent three days in Johannesburg and four in Cape Town, visiting libraries in those two cities and the areas surrounding them. Among the libraries we visited were the Rosa Parks Library, the Jabavu Library, the National Library of South Africa, Cape Town Public Library, and libraries at Pretoria University, the University of South Africa, and Stellenbosch University. Some visits were primarily tours while others were strictly presentations. Most, however, included tours, presentations, and informal discussion during tea or a meal.

Given one word to describe my experience I’d choose “optimism.” South Africa’s unemployment, poverty, education, infrastructure, and housing problems are far greater than we face in the United States. Despite this, the South Africans I spoke to believe that they are moving in the right direction and the future of their country is bright. We often heard that South Africa is “the United States of Africa,” that they have a liberal constitution guaranteeing individual rights, the economy is the best on the continent, and theirs is the one African country that has democratic elections and a peaceful transfer of power. Indeed, immigrants from other African countries are pouring into South Africa, adding to the problems that already exist.

South Africa’s constitution guarantees the right of free access to information, a fact librarians in the country are quite proud to discuss. However, funding of libraries remains poor and many rural areas have neither public libraries nor Internet access. Grants from the national government to provincial governments will help improve this situation, but progress is slow. The librarians understand that housing, infrastructure, education, and other needs in their country are high priorities, but they continue to push for improved library services.
Soweto is perhaps the most famous of the townships blacks, coloureds, and Indians (these terms are acceptable in South Africa and we were encouraged to use them) lived in during Apartheid. It spreads for miles, covering thousands of acres on the southwest of Johannesburg (Soweto takes its names from South West Townships). As the name implies, Soweto is not one township, but many.

In 1976 the US Embassy opened what is now known as the Rosa Parks Library in Soweto. Librarian Vusi Joshua Kaunda (he goes by Joshua) told us that in the Apartheid years the library was among the few places black South Africans could get information that the government banned them from having. This included information on the US Civil Rights movement and biographies of leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., or Malcolm X. Because the library is US embassy property, the government was unable to stop its citizens from visiting it or censor its holdings.

During our tour of the library I noticed most books I saw were US such as Literary Market Place. I asked Joshua if such titles truly meet the needs of Soweto residents. He admitted that just 10% of the titles in the library are of South African origin, but he said that number is slowly increasing. However, he also told me that at the time the library was opened no South African publisher would risk publishing the work of a black person. This meant that the Literary Market Place gave black South Africans their best chance to find a publisher. Joshua said this was very important during the Apartheid years and he asked me to consider the library’s collection in this context.

Basic information on US-funded libraries in South Africa is available on the embassy’s website at http://southafrica.usembassy.gov/irc.html.

My time in South Africa was rewarding and I hope to return soon. For now I have many fond memories and a host of new colleagues with whom to share ideas. I encourage anyone with the opportunity to visit this beautiful land and its progressive citizens to do so.

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From Michael Sheehan, NWLS Assistant Director - NWLS staff or member libraries applied for LSTA grants in nine categories for the 2010 year. The LSTA Advisory Committee met on November 18 and 19, 2009 to support funding for the following grants.

NWLS applied for three noncompetitive grants for Delivery (to connect the region to the statewide delivery backbone), System Technology (for databases and WPLC membership), and Accessibility (for electronic door openers, wheel walkers, shopping carts, and magnifiers).

Of the competitive grant choices, the LSTA group approved awarding five of six grants applied by NWLS staff or library directors. The competitive grants included:
• Job Search & Employment (NWLS – Jim Trojanowski): a continuation of 2009’s jobs grant.
• Health Information (NWLS – Linda Stobbe): providing access to health information in partnership with UW-Superior.
• Literacy (Spooner – Jane Frankiewicz): outreach programming to the Minong Community that could in time have library branch potential.
• Multi-Type Planning and Collaboration (Eagle River – Diana Anderson): a summit of multi-type libraries in Vilas County.
• Innovative Use of Technology (NWLS – Mike Sheehan): the automated telephone notification addition to Merlin.

Final word should come in December after Wisconsin State Superintendent, Tony Evers, approves the LSTA Advisory Committee recommendations.

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The Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has changed its name. It is now the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library (the Library). It is located in the Milwaukee Public Library's Central Library in downtown Milwaukee, all other contact information remains the same:
Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library
813 W. Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI 53233
414.286.3045 (Milwaukee)
800.242.8822 (Wisconsin toll free number)
414.286.3548 (TDD)
414.286.3102 (FAX)
lbph@milwaukee.gov
regionallibrary.wi.gov

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The Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) is a nationwide organization that was formed in June 2009. One key purpose of the coalition is to support the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that focus on improving broadband connectivity for community anchor institutions. (Public libraries, with their mission of open access, are the quintessential community anchor institution.)

The SHLB coalition has also been working with the Obama Administration, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to encourage other policies and programs to support better broadband access. For example, in late October the coalition filed comments with the FCC on the need to bring fiber to our schools and libraries. The Department of Public Instruction is a member of the coalition. More information is on the SHLB website at http://www.shlbc.org.

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"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. "

- Charles Dickens

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NWLS: 3200 E. Lake Shore Dr. • Ashland, WI 54806 • Phone: (715) 682-2365 • Web: http://nwls.wislib.org • Serving libraries in Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Vilas and Washburn Counties.