President of Zanzibar inspects construction of new central library

On Friday 28th September 2007, the President of Zanzibar Hon. Amani Abeid Karume visited the new Central Library building at Maisara, Zanzibar Town. The President toured the building and saw the progress of the construction. The site engineer Mr. Ramadhan Mussa Bakar informed the President that 95% of the construction work has already completed.

Later the President addressed members of the Zanzibar Library Board and the construction team. In his speech, he told the audiance that he is satisfied with the progress and encouraged the people of Zanzibar, particularly children, to make use of this modern library when it opens. He added that the library is more spacious with specialized services for adult and children including internet services which could be available free of charge. He commented that the new library, surrounded by beautiful gardens, will provide a conducive environment for reading, study amd relaxation.

Please complete ZLS survey of funding sources for library development in Zanzibar!

The current level of library provision to communities in Zanzibar is depressingly low:

• There are only two public libraries, poorly resourced but well used, in the entire archipelago.
• Nearly 60% of schools on Unguja currently have no form of school library at all.
• The 10 Teacher Centre (TC) libraries on Unguja and Pemba are generally unable to function as 'district libraries' serving local communities, due to inadequate training of staff, insufficient and ill-equipped library spaces and inappropriate library stock.

In response to this situation, Zanzibar Library Services (ZLS) is compiling a directory of possible funding sources for schools, Teacher Centres and other organisations in Zanzibar interested in applying for funding to support the establishment and improvement of libraries.

This directory will be distributed during ZLS training workshops for school and TC staff, aimed at assisting schools and Teacher Centres to develop and maintain libraries within their institutions.

If your organisation is interested in promoting literacy and improving lifelong education on Zanzibar, please help us by competing this survey online today!

ASANTE SANA!

Swahili guides on reading promotion and library management from CBP

Children's Book Project in Tanzania (CBP) has kindly donated over 400 guides to reading promotion and basic library management to ZLS. This collection of guides, developed by CBP and written in Swahili to support the development and promotion of school libraries, includes the following titles:

• Maktaba na zana za kufundishia usomaji (Libraries and teaching aids to teach reading)
  
• Misingi ya kusoma (Foundations of reading)
  
• Mwongozo wa usomaji katika shule za msingi (Guide to reading in primary schools)
  
• Pamoja na utumizi wa hadithi kufundishia kugha (Using stories to teach language)
  
• Usomaji wa kuongozwa (Guide to reading)
  
• Usomaji na uandikaji wa pamoja (Reading and writing together)
  

ZLS will be distributing copies of these guides to the 10 Teacher Centre libraries on Unguja and Pemba in October 2007, and using them to support future ZLS training initiatives for schools.