Zambia’s libraries in a mess-Kalumba
Written by Millennium on August 1, 2019
ANDREW MUKOMA writes
@SunZambian
LIBRARIANS and information keepers in Zambia should be proactive and innovative in the way they run their institutions which are presently in a mess, says Ministry of General Education permanent secretary Jobbicks Kalumba
Dr Kalumba said public and institutional libraries in Zambia were in chaos due to lack of innovation to bring transformation in the by those managing sector.
He said the success of the library sector in Zambia lay in the hands of librarians and information keepers.
Dr Kalumba speaking during an interaction with librarians and information keepers in Livingstone on Wednesday, where he went to officiate at the Library and Information Association of Zambia (LIAZ) 2019 annual general conference to represent the minister David Mabumba.
“Our libraries today are in a mess because of you librarians. You haven’t been proactive and that is a reality,” he said.
Dr Kalumba said that it did not require experience to transform the sector and change the system but what was needed was sheer passion.
He charged that all those in the library sector had paid very little attention to the management of libraries in Zambia.
Dr Kalumba claimed that the sector had been treated as if it was not in the transformation agenda of the nation and it’ people.
“Libraries can bring a lot of change if well managed. It must be the centre of knowledge for our country because it is from libraries where people find information,” he said.
The permanent secretary was quick to put the blame on librarians for not being ‘real’ in what they had been doing in providing information to the people.
