by
Agnes Manda*
Library Assistant
*Agnes Manda was contracted for a week in April 2016 from Luanshya Public library on the Copperbelt of Zambia to assess the progress and needs of Nkhanga Library in Lundazi in the Eastern Province. We thank her for her sacrifice and selfless dedication.
*The Buckley Fund of Community Foundation Sonoma County awarded a grant of $5,000 to the Nkhanga Library. The purpose of this grant is to support the Nkhanga Village Library in honor of Greg and Sara Shorin of Lake Tahoe in California.
Introduction
This report outlines the Library activities and describes how well the Library has been operating since December 8, 2012 up-to-date.
- The Library has been providing information materials to its parent community of Nkhanga and Lundazi as well.
- To serve the community effectively, Library book collection has covered all age groups and classes of the people it is serving.
- The Library has been operating well although it has not gone up or down but has been running at the same pace. Its clientele has not really increased because the Library staff (Library attendant) has been working with very little knowledge on Library operations.
- Libraries do not exist in a vacuum but they have goals and objectives they have to achieve for them to serve their purposes.
- Therefore it is for this reason that I decided to conduct a workshop to help the Library staff and the committee members with the basics on Library Operations, functions and types of Libraries
Nkhanga Patrons Using the Library. December 2015.
- It was emphasized that for the Library to serve its community effectively there was need for Library staff to learn who composes that community and their information needs.
- If the Library is to serve its purpose it must be recognized as an essential part of the learning center.
- The Library staff had no knowledge about Library promotion; that is selling the information you have in the Library to the community.
- The Library staff had no knowledge about Library cooperation and networking, this is the coming together of two or more libraries for the purpose of achieving a common goal or objective, this can be formal or informal. We included this information as well in our workshop so that Library staff would know that they can work and cooperate with other libraries in the region and the country. There is so much information being generated on a daily basis in today’s world of internet technology. Cooperation between different libraries helps in sharing the resources each Library has.
Young woman using the library. December 2015
- When and if an agreement is made between Zambia Knowledge Bank Nkhanga Library and other Libraries, Nkhanga Library will be able to borrow books from other Libraries in the country they cooperate with and return the books back at a given time. It is not easy to have every book you need in the Library because information keeps on changing every time.
- The Library has been operating without conducting motivation talks in villages and schools around Nkhanga. The people of Nkhanga and surrounding schools and villages have to be sensitized to fully understand what a Library is and its services.
- If this can start with the committee then it will be easy for them to carry the information to the people in the community.
Catchment Area
- Nkhanga comprises of 24 nearby villages that are within one hour walking distance. All these villages have been beneficiaries of Zambia Knowledge Bank Nkhanga Library. These villages are Bila, Kapinda, Njolonjo, Malonga, Mulopwe, Mwata, Chidesa, Limbalimba, Musalo, Kamuzati, Chikoya, Zabalwe, Chipeni, Chalochadonda, Saonga, Chitaonga, Kahonoko, Kabaye, Chawowa, Zakumowela, Sulubi, Zichoka and Enyasya.
- Nkhanga has a quite good number of schools but as it stands eight schools have been using the Library namely, Nkhanga Primary School, Chasamwa Primary School, Boyole Primary School, Kamatete Primary School and Chimpelo Primary School.
- The total number of men and women who have used the Library since December 2012 to April 2016 is 1204 (one thousand two hundred and four).
- The total number of readers per day is 10 (ten) and the total number of teachers stands at 20 (twenty).
