libraries and librarianship in kenya: a background paper

hint Libr. Rev. (1982) 14, 303-315

Libraries and Librarianship in Kenya: a Background Paper J. M. NG’ANG’A*

INTRODUCTION

. . . Scholarship and culture represent a precious source of national wealth. This is why in every development plan as well as in all educational planning, to keep the individual well informed is an important means of encouraging economic and social development. In order to be educated and cultured, one needs among other things, an efficient system of education; and an effective system of education is hardly conceivable without a cultivated and systematic habit of reading. Reading presupposes the availability of books and consequently a library is needed. Without libraries there can be no good primary schools, no efficient secondary schools and no productive universities. In the absence of libraries, it is not possible either to encourage and maintain a permanent education of adults. . , .

The above statement by a former UNESCO Librarian, Carlos Victor Penna, clearly illustrates the three main r&s played by libraries, i.e. educational, cultural and informational. Libraries are principal centres for the dissemination of knowledge and culture and pIay a significant role in life-long education.

With this background in mind we shall look briefly at the present position of libraries and librarianship in Kenya, highlighting the problems, and we shall also attempt to give suggestions on how these problems can be tackled.

PRESENT POSITION

There are well over 100 different types of libraries in Kenya, varying from very small ones in government ministries to the university library. The types of libraries existing in Kenya can be grouped into four categories as follows.

* The Library, Kenyatta University College, P.0. Box 43844, Nairobi, Kenya.

0020-7837/82/030303 + 13 803.00/O 0 1982 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

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Academic libraries

J. M. NG’ANG’A

These are libraries in the institutions of higher learning. They include:

The University of Nairobi libraries Kenyatta University College Library Kenya Polytechnic Library Kenya Science Teachers College Library Egerton College Library Kenya Technical Teachers College Library Kenya Institute of Education Library Kenya Institute of Administration Library.

These libraries are at different stages of development. The two university libraries are very well provided with the requisite resources, i.e. funds, manpower and book stock.

Learning resource centers are under construction in the primary teachers’ colleges. Manpower to run these centers is currently undergo- ing a year’s inservice training. It is expected that within the next year or two, each of the 17 primary teachers’ colleges will have reasonable resources center.

Academic libraries serve a defined clientele, i.e. students and staff of the respective institutions. However members of public with specific needs are given assistance in obtaining the information they need.

Public libraries These are libraries which are designed to serve the general public. Usually they provide popular literature.

The main public libraries in Kenya are:

Kenya National Library Services (K.N.L.S) The Nairobi City Libraries.

The Kenya National Library Services Board was established by an Act of Parliament to provide lending libraries for the whole country. There is the Headquarters library in Nairobi and a library in all provincial headquarters. It is intended to establish branch libraries in the districts. During the current development plan it is expected that 10 district libraries will be established.

The Board also has a fleet ofmobile libraries attached to Nairobi and provincial libraries which serve the city or town environments.

Eventually the Board is expected to provide a library in each district. The Nairobi City Libraries consist of the Macmillan Library and two

branches at Kaloleni and Eastlands. Although the Macmillan Library is the oldest library in the City, its impact on the city population is minimal.

LIBRARIANSHIP IN KENYA 305

To use the council libraries one has to pay a subscription of lo/- per year for every book one wants to borrow. One has even to pay for reference service for the use of newspapers and the Africana Collection. These charges have made it difficult for the African people to make use of the library resources.

The growth of the council libraries has been affected by the economic constraints and very few books are acquired each year. There has been talk of a merger with the Kenya National Library Services, but nothing has so far materialized.

Although established for a slightly different purpose, the Ministry of Information Libraries serve similar purposes as KNLS and both institutions tend to duplicate their services.

Both the Kenya National Library Services and the Nairobi City Libraries have children’s wings. But due to shortage of relevant books, the children tend to read whatever is available within a short time and then fade away.

Special libraries These fall into several categories and include:

government libraries research institute libraries.

They are established to serve .a special group of interests generally related to the needs of the organization they serve. It is interesting to note that although these are libraries which should be properly staffed by qualified staff, these libraries are very poorly staffed. Except a few ministry libraries, the bulk of special libraries in Kenya are staffed by unqualified staff. They are also housed in inadequate accommodation and are poorly organized.

Libraries hardly exist in our schools and where they exist they are poorly equipped and organized. It is possible for schools to borrow 200 books per term from the Kenya National Library Services, on payment of an annual subscription of Sh. loo/-. Not many schools have taken the advantage of this service. It may also be added that the bulk of registered users in the adult sections of the KNLS Board libraries are students.

A number of secondary schools, especially the large ones, have some reasonable libraries. However, even these are faced with such problems as lack of suitable books, lack of funds, and hardly any has trained manpower.

School libraries are generally organized by an interested teacher with full teaching load.

306 J. M. NG’ANG’A

Thus so far we can see that we have in Kenya all types of libraries though they are at different stages of development. The country however lacks the key type of library, i.e. The national library.

Nutional library The National Library of a country has distinct functions which other types of libraries are not able to handle. These are:

(1) Systematic acquisition and preservation for posterity of all material produced in the country or by the nationals of that country.

(2) Acquisitions for research ofall foreign material that other libraries are not able to acquire.

(3) Production of the national bibliography. (4) Leadership and guidance in all matters relating to library

development. (5) National and international clearing house.

Thus the national library preserves the nation’s cultural heritage and disseminates information through bibliographies etc. of the contents it holds. These are the functions performed in other countries by such national libraries as the British Library, the Library of Congress, Washington, and the Nigerian National Library, to mention but a few.

This is an institution that is sadly lacking in Kenya. Suffice it to mention that the preservation oflocally produced books is performed by the University Library, the KNLS and the Kenya National Archives. These institutions receive a copy of all publications deposited with the registrar-general as required by the Boolcs and ~ews@@~~ Act.

Nutionul bibliography Kenya is one of the few countries without a national bibliography. For a nation to be able to produce a national bibliography, there must be a national bibliographic agency. This is usually the national library. For both the agency and the bibliography to function properly, it is essential that they should be backed by legislation. Thus we need an Act of Parliament to establish the National Library of.Kenya. This should not be confused with the Kenya National Library Services, whose functions are completely different.

Documentation services Except the Ministry of Agriculture there are no documentation services as yet in the country. The Kenya National Archives is in the process of establishing a national documentation service based on Government- generated documents.


At the national level, the National Council for Science and Technology is in the process of formulating proposals on the establishment of the National Documentation Centre.

PROBLEMS

Manpower There is a great shortage of trained manpower in the fields of librarianship and documentation. As we have seen above, only the major libraries can boast of reasonable numbers of properly qualified staff, but even here there are several vacant positions that cannot be filled.

The main cause of this shortage is lack of training facilities in the country. Manpower training has always been done overseas or at Makerere University College. It has not been possible to send students to Makerere during the last few years and overseas training has become impossible as the cost of training increases. In Kenya, the Kenya Polytechnic runs a one year course for para-professionals. There has been talk of establishing a post-graduate training school in the University but there are no signs of such training in the near future.

Kenyatta University College (K.U.C.) is offering a one year post- graduate inservice course for the Ministry of Basic Education for personnel who will man the proposed Learning Resource Centres. A few more courses are likely to be run during the next two years.

Within the Diploma of Education program, K.U.C. Library offers two elective courses on School Librarianship. It is expected that this will be extended to BEd and post-graduate programs in the College. This, it is hoped, will meet the needs of school libraries.

Accommodation and equipment The majority of libraries, especially those in Government departments and institutions, are housed in inadequate premises. Indeed, except the Kenya National libraries, almost all others have inadequate accommodation,

The majority of our libraries lack the necessary equipment for effective dissemination of information. There is only one bindery at the University of Nairobi Library. Reprography is inadequate.

Books Another weak area is lack of suitable and relevant reading material, especially in the field of children and new literate population. The bulk of books available in our libraries are imported and with the increased price of books and inadequate funding, most libraries are not able to acquire adequate stocks.

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Finances

J. M, NG'ANG'A

The level of funding of almost all libraries does not match the important role the libraries are expected to play.

Co-operation There is no formal agreement on interlibrary ca-operation in Kenya. This does not mean that inter-lending never happens, but the informal lending that exists, is very much on a gentleman’s understanding. There are no union catalogs and therefore it is not possible to know what resources are available in the country. However, in the field of periodicals, an attempt has been made by the publication of the Periodicals in Eastern African Libmries: a Union List by the University of Nairobi Library. Although this list is not yet exhaustive, it is a remarkable attempt. One thing that is revealed in the list, is the extent of duplication in acquisition of periodicals.

The subject of library co-operation has received greater attention in conferences but na formal agreement has been reached yet. There are a number of problems which have contributed to this situation, chief of which are:

(i) lack of information on available resources (ii) distances and communication

(iii) lack of adequate resources such as manpower, materials and finances.

Thus we are in a situation where library development is unco- ordinated. As a result of this, one finds a lot of unnecessary duplication. For instance in the field of medicine we have three libraries on the same site and all duplicating their services.

PROPOSALS FOR ACTION

Information is a vital resource and needs to be planned and organized properly. Access to it is one of the basic human rights. It is an essential instrument in socio-economic development of any nation. In order that information may contribute to the economic development, it has to be harnessed and developed. Like all valuable resources, such as water, information can easily be wasted. It can flow away into the river of books or periodicals in a sea of shelves and an ocean of stock and then remain unused,

If Kenya is to receive any benefit from its information systems and services, and if we are to avoid wastage of scarce resources, then all information networks must be properly planned and coordinated, if possible centrally. It is only then that they will be able to function as


important elements in the nation’s educational, cultural, economic and scientific progress. A planned and co-ordinated system is likely to eliminate unnecessary duplication and overlapping in services and help to fill serious gaps in the provision ofinformation that exist in the present unto-ordinated system; and of course provide an effective and efficient service. It also creates institutions which are capable of acting as national counterparts in international efforts.

In Kenya there is no formal or adequate machinery for co-operation between different information systems. The exchange of information as envisaged by the UNESCO’s General Information Program (G.I.P.) concept cannot be handled on an informal basis. It needs to be planned centrally. A UNESCO Mission (Gehrke Report) in 1975 made some recommendations on the pattern of development. The rep rt was discussed extensively, but nothing has so far come out of it. ndeed, another mission visited the country last year, and its report is no under

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discussion by the National Council for Science and Technology. We would like to suggest in this paper that the government s ould

come out with a definite policy statement concerning the develop ent and use of information. It is suggested that this policy should be clearly spelt out in the next Development Plan, 1984-89.

We have at the moment a clear research policy. However, it is our contention that ifmeaningful research is going to be carried out and thus justify the amount ofmoney allocated to research, it must be backed by a properly organized and co-ordinated national information system. A research worker needs up-to-date relevant information which may be derived from data bases in and outside the country in order to carry out his investigations.

It has been pointed out that if the nation is going to derive benefits from the information system, the system must be co-ordinated. Co- ordination is not likely to work on an informal basis. Consequently it is suggested that whatever policy is adopted, it must be backed by the necessary legislation. The legislation should create a National Council for Information Development, which would be the national policy making and co-ordinating body. Among its functions should be:

(1) To advise the government through the relevant Ministry on all matters relating to libraries, archives and documentation services.

(2) To co-ordinate the development of the national information system.

(3) To be responsible for setting standards on services, staffing, acquisition and organization.

(4) To undertake research on matters pertaining to information and communication.


(5) To work closely with National Council for Science and Technology so as to ensure that the dissemination of the results of research is carried out and to ensure that information is easily accessible for national development.

(6) To achieve the most effective use of national information resources ’ and the largest return for funds invested in them through co-

ordination and the elimination of unnecessary duplication of efforts and expenditure. Thus it would facilitate co-operation and resource sharing.

(7) To act as the national and international clearing house for information resources.

The membership of the Council should consist of all organizations involved in the creation, organization and dissemination of information, namely, scient,ists, publishers and booksellers, archivists, documental- ists, librarians, educators, planners, journalists and Government officials.

Once the Council is formed it should look into the whole information system and prepare a policy document which would be a broad outline ofthe national information program within the G.I.P. concept, in which it would set out clear objectives that would guide the future planning and development of a national information system consisting of such infrastructures as the archives, documentation centres and libraries. These should be based on UNESCO’s NATIS Objectives, 1974.

The Council should also look into the following services which are now lacking, with a view to making specific recommendations on their development. Some of them, we may emphasize, are urgently required:

(1) The National Library. (2) Legal deposit and national bibliography. (3) Compilation of bibliographies and determination of the role of

Kenya in furthering the aims of universal bibliographic control. (4) Areas of specialization for which different libraries could be asked

to be responsible for the acquisition, storage and dissemination of the relevant information.

Manpower We noted that one of the major problems is the shortage of professional manpower. This is an area that needs urgent attention. It is an area where UNESCO assistance could be sought. Indeed UNESCO hopes to meet objectives by “. . . encouraging the training of communication specialists and the development of information infrastructures”.


It is suggested that as a matter of priority, we should:

(a) Expand the Kenya Polytechnic course to accommodate more students and also to offer the diploma program.

(b) Establish both undergraduate and post-graduate courses either at Nairobi or at Kenyatta University College.

(c) Develop within the BEd and all teacher training courses, suitable programs on school librarianship. This would give many teachers the basic knowledge required in the organization and utilization of school libraries. If this is to succeed and in order to make maximum use of available teaching manpower, it seems logical that the proposed school should be based at Kenyatta University College.

Books If the libraries are to satisfy their educational, cultural and informational roles, there must be an adequate supply of reading materials in all forms of recorded word that will help meet the needs ofall users at all levels of’ literacy development. It is essential that there should be adequate numbers of interesting reading literature.

The situation in Kenya is such that about 90% of the nation’s book requirements has to be imported. It is hoped that with the establishment of the Kenya Literature Bureau, many local writers will be encouraged to publish relevant and suitable material.

Another problem facing the book production is that the bulk of published books are in English. There is need to produce books in languages that will be understood by the new literates.

It is suggested that:

(a) The Government should reactivate the formation of the once proposed Kenya Book Development Council. The membership should include those involved in book creation, production and distribution. Among its functions should be:

(i) To act as a national agency for concerted planning and co- ordination and management of various activities of all groups, bodies or individuals, both public and private, concerned with books.

(ii) To encourage indigenous authorship and ensure the’ provision of opportunities for local writers, publishers, translators and printers to produce books both in the national official language and in the vernaculars.

(iii) To arrange to carry out a comprehensive study and research programme on all problems essential for the development of the


book industry and for the provision of an effective service to the reading public.

(iv) to ensure the establishment of suitable machinery for the promotion of the reading habit among all age groups particularly among children.

(b) Relate book production and distribution to the adult literacy movement. It is essential that enough reading material be made available so as to sustain readers’ interests and develop their reading habits as a life-long activity. In this regard, the Government should consider establishing an institution like the Jamaica Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (‘JAMAL) which would be responsible for the production of reading literature for the new literates. In Jamaica, JAMAL has an in-house production unit ofwriters, artists, and printers, who combine to publish many types ofpublications under the imprint of the JAMAL press. These materials are published in sets to form part of the curriculum kits. JAMAL also publishes useful series on phonics as well as monthly news sheet, Let’s Read. The monthly news sheets could gradually be expanded as part of newspapers designed for the rural population.

School library service Concern has been expressed by many people about the inability of educated people in reading after they leave school. H.E. The Vice- President and Minister for Finance the Hon. Mwai Kibaki, in a speech read at the seminar on “In search of a system for the dissemination of research findings and technology in Kenya, 1973” lamented the fact, that majority of our people hardly read anything after school.

. . . the greatest problem in public institutions is the fact that the people who leave universities and are employed by government or state corporations and the private sector, make up their minds that they have had enough education. You meet the same brilliant student five years later, and he has gone back to becoming quite illiterate in the Science in which he got distinction as a graduate. . . . When you meet them, the ordy language in which such men and women can speak to you is that of ten years ago when they left University. They are unaware of the numerous develop- ments in that field which challenge what they learned, which are much more immediately relevant to the situation now. They do not retain an open mind; do not read anything new, and are not aware of new challenges.

If this situation is to be avoided, it is essential if the concept of the life- long education is to become a habit, In order that this habit may be developed, it must be instilled into the children at a very early age. This will require that:

( 1) we develop a book production policy as mentioned in the previous section,


(2) the development of good children’s library services in the Public libraries and

(3) establishment of an effective school library service.

A major aim of the future development of education is to produce people who will be motivated to learn by inquiry and discovery. If this method is to succeed, it must be supported by adequate reading material and other resources. The students will also need to be trained on how to use such resources and obtain the relevant information.

The value of a library to the school cannot be overstated. It is not only the school’s intellectual central heating plant, but also the first step for the later use of public and other libraries.

Action towards realization of a comprehensive school library service is urgently needed.

As a first step, the government should establish a School Libraries Author@ that would be charged with the responsibility for the establishment and the development of a school library service for all schools. Both Ministries of Education should also establish school library inspectorate sections.

A major action of the authority’s functions would be staff development. It must be emphasized that unless these resources are manned by qualified staff, it will not be possible to derive maximum benefits. The amount of work involved in organizing school learning resources is more professionally demanding and requires the right people who are both academically and professionally competent. This calls for people who are both qualified as librarians and teachers as well as academically sound. This leads to the need to develop librarianship courses within the teacher training programs.

User education The users of information need systematic instruction on the use of available resources. This should be incorporated in the educational curricula at all levels of the education system.

In this regard, UNESCO hopes to promote the introduction of systematic teaching on the use of information resources in the curricula of educational institutions, particularly universities and technical schools.

Standardi&on A policy decision will be required on standardization of operational methods so as to facilitate maximum use of all resources in the country without problems. This is especially important if resources sharing and inter-library co-operation is to work efficiently.


Bibliogra.hic control The need to produce a national bibliography has been highlighted above. Similarly, if all resources are to be made available to all users wherever they may be in the nation, it will be necessary to produce:

(i) Union Catalogs of all books in all libraries. (ii) Periodical holding lists.

(iii) Subject union catalogs and any other lists that will facilitate easy transfer of information such as guides to literature in different subject fields.

(iv) Directories of research, institutions, etc. and available facilities.

It will be necessary for those involved to take part in the proposed activities by UNESCO as envisaged.

In addition, it will be necessary to develop machinery to improve accessibility, availability and use of information. In this regard UNESCO hopes to give support to the establishment of national abstracting and indexing services. This is urgently required in Kenya.

CONCLUSION

In this paper, we have shown the present state of the information infrastructures, the problems they face and have attempted to give proposals on the future action that can be followed so that it may be possible for every Kenyan to have information when he needs it and in the form in which he needs it. In all these areas, it would be possible to obtain assistance from UNESCO in one form or other.

There is a basic infrastructure upon which, with proper planning and co-ordination, Kenya should be able to build an effective national information system. This however needs government direction and it is likely to work more effectively if it is backed up by legislation. Only a co- ordinated system will be able to contribute to national development.

In the process of the formulation of the policy and objectives of the organization of the national information system, it will be necessary to involve the peoples, and organizations which are actively involved in the generation, organization, storage and distribution of information+ In this regard it is felt that the Library Association needs representation in all bodies that deal with information. Similarly it is felt that the academic librarians should be fully involved. Indeed, the librarians of the two university libraries should be full members of the Kenya Commission for UNESCO.

It is further proposed that the Commission sho-uld form another committee to deal with all matters related to the General Information Program (G.I.P.) and its implementation in Kenya.

LIFiRARIANSHIP IN KENYA 315

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libraries and librarianship in kenya: a background paper

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