Mmabatho: The newly built North West Provincial Archives and Library Headquarters are ready to feed the brains of communities within the province.
The library has an 85 seater auditorium, two conference rooms, a boardroom, computer laboratory, six record rooms and six archives rooms. The state of the art headquarters is a beautiful glassed structure set across the University of North West Mafikeng campus on the corner of Dr Albert Luthuli Drive and University Drive.
The library and archives will operate as a Central Reference meaning, users will first have to search for books at local libraries; if these are not available librarians will interact checking for availability of requests from provincial headquarters where if available, will then be distributed for collection by the user at a local library. There is a system called Special Request, which operates within provincial boarders.
It is implemented when users cannot find certain books in community libraries. The system assists to search books provincially. Another system is called Inter-Library loan. It is implemented when books asked by users are not available within the province. Librarians communicate with colleagues at national libraries and material is sent to the provincial headquarters where it is needed.
In her state of the province address earlier this year, Premier Maureen Modiselle said libraries will be equipped with web-based information, accessing technology.
“We will explore best models for information communication technologies (ICT) connectivity in the rural areas; best practice already exist in the cell phone literacy rate that is fast surpassing computer literacy”, she said.
The North West Provincial Archives and Library Headquarters have a variety of technical services that ensure an effective processing of ICT needs. The Technical Systems buys books, process and dispatch them while Reading Awareness and Library Promotions offer toy library services. Toys are provided to community libraries which work closely with pre-schools.
This state of the art facility has an archives section with a Records Centre consisting of six strong rooms for storage of public and personal records. An additional six repository strong rooms for materials of archival value of more than twenty years and a conservation and preservation unit which is not yet fully functional.
For more information, contact:
Kgotso Khumalo
Cell: 082 7288 400
Tel: 018 387 3805
E-mail: khumalok@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
4 May 2010
