Script for presentation to Springfield Commission on International Visitors

One presentation slide depicting the number of different types of libraries in South Africa was on the screen.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk very briefly on Libraries in South Africa. My name is Ingrid Thomson and I will be speaking on behalf of my colleagues, Alvina Matthee, Rhundu Mhinga, Raspy Ramagondu, Mariam Natalwalla, Terese Els and Ronelle van Vollenhoven.

South Africa has a population of 45 million; we have 11 official languages, 2 capital cities - in Pretoria and Cape Town and 9 provinces.

As the slide shows, we have over 11 000 public and community libraries, just under 9 500 school libraries, 88 academic and higher education libraries, numerous special libraries which includes corporte, research and medical library - A very special library to mention here is the Library for the Blind in Grahamstown - and a national library with two branches one in each capital.

The message that we would like to bring to you is that libraries are making difference in our country. As our young democracy grows, so all the different types of libraries play an ever-growing important role in our society in their own communities and jointly, across different sectors, by making information available and accessible to the citizens of our country, helping to create an information-literate society and creating a culture of reading through a variety of activities like literacy classes, reading programmes, advocacy training and so on ... with the benefits that this brings to our society and economy.

Libraries in South Africa do make a difference!