infs 431: literature and services for children · 2018. 9. 4. · college of education school of...

College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education2014/2015 – 2016/2017

INFS 431:

LITERATURE AND SERVICES

FOR CHILDREN

Session 10– DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S LIBRARY SERVICES IN GHANA

Lecturer: S. Nii Bekoe Tackie, School of Information and Communication Studies, Department of Information StudiesContact Information: [email protected]

Session Overview

Library services for children in Ghana, as with the rest of the world, began with the establishment of the public library service in Ghana by the Colonial government. Public Library Service actually began in Ghana in 1928 with the pioneering effort of Rt. Reverend John Orfeur Aglionby, the then Anglican bishop of Accra who used his personal books to start a library service for “the growing literate” population of Accra.

S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS Slide 2

Session Objectives

At the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Identify the beginnings of children’s library services in Ghana

• Describe the services provided for children

• Examine efforts made by other library service providers

• Describe the current state of provision for children


Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are:

• Topic 1: First Efforts at the Development of Library Services

• Topic Two: Current State of the Provision of Library Services in Ghana

• Topic Three: The Way Forward


Reading List

Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS Slide 5

FIRST EFFORTS AT THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIBRARY SERVICES

Topic One:


Service Provision for Children

The first effort at the provision of library services for children in Ghana was made in1930.

• It was an initiative by the Department of Education in the Gold Coast.

• The service consisted of a mobile library service for children in government schools.

• A lot of care was put in the selection of materials

– not suitable for the children

– materials had foreign backgrounds

– children found difficult to relate to. S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS Slide 7

Service Provision for Children(Cont.)

• Eighteen (18) years later in 1948 the public library service begun

• In 1950 the Gold Coast Library Board was established

• Gold Coast Ordinance Cap 118 of 1949

• Thus began library services for Ghanaians including children.


Service Provision for Children(Cont.)

• In Ghana, as in other parts of the world, the provision of services for children begun at the same time as the adult services.

• A section of the Aglionby Library (as the library was initially called) was used for the children’s service.

• Books that were provided included local language books as well as English language books. – Local language books, however, were text books published by the

Mission bookshops.

• Majority of materials provided were religious literature. • Popularity of the children’s service

– Kaneshie and Osu libraries

• Within a short period of commissioning those libraries membership had risen to 5,000.


Services

Service for children consisted of basically circulation services.

• However, parents who live around the library sent their children to the library to study.

• Children were required to register as members just like adult members. However, children enjoyed free membership.

• The libraries were equipped to cater for children from pre-school to age 17.

• In the beginning, children were allowed to borrow a book for two weeks.

• As time went on it became clear that it was necessary to generate and sustain children’s interest in the library so extension activities were added to the services.


Services (Cont.)

• The most popular extension activity was the story hour which was organised from Monday to Friday.

• Books for the story hour were selected from the classics, folktales and fairy tales.

• Other activities included inter-school essay competitions, spelling competitions, quizzes etc.

• Prizes were given to winners of the competitions..

• There were film shows, radio talk shows and puppet theatre.

• There were also book exhibitions for children.


Survey of Children’s Reading Interests

In 1955, there was a survey of children’s reading interests. • The survey covered 16 locations in the country and the

population was 10,295 children. • The survey found out that there was uncertainty about the

ages of children in each class. • The problem that that posed was that it was difficult to

provide books that to meet the reading interests of the whole class.

• It was also found out that titles of books that children read were so varied that it was difficult to group them into specific areas of interest.

• The most popular book was the Bible stories which both girls and boys indicated.


Survey of Children’s Reading Interests(Cont.)

• Least title of books that were mentioned was books about children in other parts of the world.

• Children did not show interest in books about children in other parts of the world

– They could not identify with the background of those children.

• Ghana Library Authority requested for advance copies of books for children to read to determine their interest before books were ordered.


Second Survey of Children’s Reading Interests

In 1965, another survey was conducted to find out whether children’s interests had changed.

• The survey was conducted because Ghana and Africa had been undergoing the struggle for independence.

• It was discovered that children’s reading interests had not changed much.

• However, books from other subject areas were being read

• For example

• science fiction and

• books on children from other parts of the world


Second Survey of Children’s Reading Interests(Cont.)

• In terms of hobbies, the survey revealed a range of interests that the children had; some were even foreign.

• For example, – bird watching, – stamp collecting, – photography, – coin collecting, – music – cycling.

• Again, it was discovered that children in Accra and Sekondi libraries had been reading books in series which was a very rear occurrence.

• Examples included • the Nancy Drew series; • the Bobsey Twins series; and • the Enid Blyton series.


Children’s Magazine

The GLA decided to improve upon the services to children

• It encouraged them to establish their own magazines in which they contributed – short stories,

– poems,

– plays,

– riddles.

• These were all done to encourage the adoption of reading as a life long habit.


Other Initiatives in the Provision of Children’s Services in Ghana

There were efforts by other organizations to provide library services for children• Apart from the Ghana Library Authority, some district assemblies

have been providing libraries for children. • The National Commission on Children also started providing library

services for children as part of a project to build a children’s park and library complex for each of the ten regions in Ghana.

• This effort was in the early to mid 1990s. • The Ghana Book Trust also set up a children’s library with an

electronic component in 2000. • Mention must also be made of the efforts of Cathy Knowles, a

Canadian lady who established children’s libraries in • Osu, Latebiokorshie and Kanda.


CURRENT STATE OF PROVISION OF SERVICES TO CHILDREN IN GHANA

Topic Two:


Introduction

Library provision for children in Ghana is on the decline instead of being on the rise.

At a time when children’s rights issues are always at the forefront of discussions worldwide, it is surprising that there does not seem to be advocates for children’s libraries that will help children to inculcate the habit of reading.

If children learn to read they will become more conversant with their rights and needs and be able to articulate them.


Current State of Provision

• By 1975, about 30 children’s libraries had been established in the country by the Ghana Library Authority.

• Currently, there are 61 children’s libraries under the Ghana Library Authority.

• These are scattered across the length and breadth of the country.

• This number is woefully inadequate considering that the Ghana Library Authority has been in existence for the past sixty-eight (68)years.

• The paucity of libraries for children may be attributed to the inadequate funding that the public library system receives from central government.

• It may be due also to the declining reading culture in the country


Current State of Provision(Cont.)

• The Accra Central Children’s Library, the biggest children’s library in the country became run down from the mid 1980s to the 1990s

• Barclays Bank Ghana Ltd adopted it in the mid 1990s and refurbished it.

• Barclays Bank on an annual basis provided funding for five years

• For the upkeep of the library in terms of reading materials for the children who patronise the library.

• The initial grant that was made was 35 million cedis in the old currency.



• The efforts by the National Commission on Children came to nought since the whole idea was abandoned eventually.

• Some of the park and library complexes were never built;

• those that were in operation have virtually collapsed.

• One of the reasons for its abandonment was the problem of sustainability.

• Very little planning obviously went into the implementation of the project.

• People who had the technical and professional know-how in the provision of library services were left out of the project.

• Thus the project lacked technical and professional advice.



• Personnel for the libraries were drawn from National Service postings.

• This meant that every year fresh personnel were assigned to the libraries.

• Thus there was no continuity of personnel.

• Worse of all, personnel posted to those libraries did not have any library training whatsoever.

• The biggest problem, however, was the very obvious lack of interest generally by the national leadership where libraries are concerned.



• The lack of concern or interest on the part of national leadership is reflected in the fact that some of the children’s libraries of the Ghana Library Authority have had to be closed down.

• The Kaneshie children’s library, for example, which was one of the first two libraries to be built after the Accra Central Children’s Library, was closed down about forty years ago.

• All efforts by the Ghana Library Authority to have it rebuilt have proved futile over the years.

• It should be noted that the Ghana Library Authority is funded solely by government, therefore, if government does not provide funding the Authority can hardly function.



• The Ghana Book Trust Children’s Library has also been closed down after only seven years of operation.

• The reason as usual was lack of funds to sustain the library. • The initial funding to establish the library was provided by the Ford

Foundation. • Thus when that funding run out, there was nothing coming from

anywhere again. • The implication for the collapse of the library is that between Accra

Central and Dodowa, children had no access to any library facility whatsoever.

• About three years ago however, the Madina Community Library was commissioned on the premises of the Accra College of Education, formerly the Accra Teacher Training College(ATTRACO)

• JOY FM also as part of their Read 100 project solicited funding for the establishment of a Community Library in Ofankor in the Gt. Accra Region about two years ago


THE WAY FORWARD

Topic Three:


Introduction

For us to create a country of a reading citizenry we need to put a greater focus on the services provided for children and young adults.

We need to begin to show the concerns that are being expressed in the USA that Americans in the coming generations may not be able to compete globally because they are not reading anymore.


Going Forward

• At the inception of public library service in Ghana, children were catered for in much the same way as adults.

• However, greater emphasis was placed on extension activities for children.

• This was rightly so because it is extension activities that are used to attract children to the library and to sustain their interest in the library.

• Today, apart from the story hour, such activities like quizzes, spelling competitions, film shows, puppet theatre, vacation reading camps among others, which were a regular feature of the children’s libraries are no longer existent.

• However, if we want to create a highly literate society then we must bring back these activities and even develop new ways of providing those services such that it will attract a large percentage of children to the library.


In this era of information and communication technology, the public libraries can create websites at which activities for children in the libraries could be posted. • In the USA for example activities like

– Baby Time, – Toddler Time, – Story Time, – Craft Time and – Family Time

• Provided for parents or caregivers and their children. • Such activities would no doubt encourage parents and

guardians to send their children or wards to the library.


New Initiatives

New Initiatives(Cont.)

• For young adults, our public libraries right from inception hardly targets them in service provision.

• There are no specific programmes targeted at the youth to attract them to the libraries.

• Those who visit the libraries are those who are mostly studying for the WASSCE examinations.

• Thus they visit the library to look for a place to seat and study quietly.

• After the examinations they virtually vanish from the libraries.

• I expect the public library to design programmes that will attract young adults to the library and keep them in the library.



• Recreational reading targeted at the young adult should be made a part of the collection policy of the public library.

• A survey should be conducted of the reading interests of this category of readers so that books that they want to read would be what they would find in the library.

• It is worth noting that the last time a survey of reading interests of any group of people was conducted by the public library was in 1965.

• Jones et al (2004) recommend a variety of vacation reading programmes for young adults and

• a directory of websites for programming ideas that may be adapted for the public library.



• Jones (2002) advocates the provision of magazines for young adults in the library.

• Magazines are important sources of information to young people.

• Many of them are sources of health and self-help information to young people.

• In his own words he points out that: “The most current and often most readable information available for teens on sex does not come in books, but in the pages of these magazines”.

• In targeting young adults the public library would be helping in re-focussing and redirecting our youth into productive activities

• That would take them away from the streets and save them from the predicaments of directionless people.


References


infs 431: literature and services for children · 2018. 9. 4. · college of education school of...

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