Day 21 of Blog June!
Today's post is from Eleanor Gerrard, ALIA Sydney's event officer.
As we have all seen many times, libraries are
crucial to to the continued education of people, development of society, and
preservation of our histories and culture. But what about in countries that are
still developing, where education, history and culture is oppressed, and where
democratic freedoms have not always exercised?
The University of Technology Sydney’s Cosmopolitan Civil Societies blog has
written about the important role that public libraries have played in the
development of democratic societies in Africa. Considering that ‘African knowledge about Africa is swamped
by Western knowledge about Africa’,
it is more important than ever for African countries to establish their own
information collections that are independent to the West, and a true reflection
of that country’s heritage so that it
cannot be lost.
The article also points out how libraries can
play a vital role in educating women and girls in the region, which has been
proven to ‘lead to poverty
alleviation, to the development of active citizens and to the creation of a
more open and democratic society.’
Read more from the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies
blog to find out about how the establishment of libraries can have a positive
impact on developing democratic societies: http://cosmopolitancivilsocieties.com/2014/02/28/libraries-and-the-development-of-democratic-societies/
Eleanor Gerrard
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