South Africa’s LIS Transformation Charter: Policies, Politics and Professionals

dc.audienceAudience::Library Theory and Research Section
dc.conference.date16-22 August 2014
dc.conference.placeLyon, France
dc.conference.sessionTypeLibrary Theory and Research
dc.conference.titleIFLA WLIC 2014
dc.conference.venueLyon Convention Centre
dc.contributor.authorHart, Genevieve
dc.contributor.authorNassimbeni, Mary
dc.contributor.translatorChaimbault, Thomas
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-24T08:10:43Z
dc.date.available2025-09-24T08:10:43Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractThe rhetoric of public librarianship includes many ringing claims for the role of libraries in democracy; and, on the 20-year anniversary of the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, it is an opportune moment to examine the rather confusing fortunes of libraries in our young democracy. In recent years, some 20 libraries have been destroyed in social protest; yet the LIS profession would argue that libraries are agents of development and social transformation. The paper reports on the work of the authors on the LIS Transformation Charter which, after a start-stop-start process of two phases over six years, has now been handed to government. The paper analyses the political and professional forces that influenced the Charter writing process; but we argue that the final Transformation Charter offers a vision of a transformed and integrated library system that has meaning to all sectors of South African society.en
dc.description.abstractLe discours autour des bibliothèques publiques porte de nombreuses déclarations en faveur du rôle des bibliothèques pour l’exercice de la démocratie et, à l’occasion du 20e anniversaire de la venue de la démocratie en Afrique du Sud, en 1994, ce semble le bon moment pour examiner les fortunes plus ou moins confuses qu’ont rencontré les bibliothèques dans notre jeune démocratie. Ces dernières années, quelques 20 bibliothèques ont été détruites au cours d’émeutes populaires, quand bien même les professionnels de l’information et des bibliothèques arguent que les bibliothèques sont les agents du développement et d'un renouveau social. Cet article analyse les forces politiques et professionnelles qui ont influencé le processus de rédaction de la Charte, mais nous estimons que la version finale de la Charte de Transformation porte la vision d’un réseau de bibliothèques intégrées et renouvelé qui fait sens dans tous les secteurs d’Afrique du Sud.fr
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dc.identifier.relatedurlhttp://conference.ifla.org/ifla80/
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/5260
dc.language.isofr
dc.rightsAttribution 3.0 Unported
dc.rights.accessRightsopen access
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
dc.subject.keywordSouth Africa
dc.subject.keywordDemocracy
dc.subject.keywordLibraries
dc.subject.keywordLIS Transformation Charter
dc.titleSouth Africa’s LIS Transformation Charter: Policies, Politics and Professionalsen
dc.titleLa Charte de transformation des bibliothèques en Afrique du Sud : grandes orientations, cadre politique et professionnels de l'informationfr
dc.typeArticle
ifla.UnitSection:Library Theory and Research Section
ifla.oPubIdhttps://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/834/

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