This paper was presented at the Library Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) Seventh Annual Conference, held in Pholokwane, South Africa, September 27 to October 1 2004, with the theme “Libraries and Democracy: The Vital Link”.

This paper starts with the premise that information is the catalyst which will bring Africa towards prosperity and that library and information workers in Africa have a key role in this. Countries that do not develop their informational capacity will lag behind in their cultural, scientific, and economic development. In its statement about libraries and sustainable development, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) emphasises that libraries and information services promote sustainable development by ensuring freedom of access to information. It is believed that free and universal access to information is a major tenet of a democratic society.

The paper discusses the history of democracy in Africa, commenting that “most African countries after independence have launched several development plans – short, medium, and long – but these have not achieved the desired results because attention was not paid to good information management.” The writer maintains that in order for governance to be effective, information provision is essential and libraries are the best providers of it. For the past three decades, libraries in Africa have not flourished, from school through public to special and academic libraries, similar problems present themselves: “inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, including telephone and electricity, limited qualified personnel, inadequate (information communication technologies) ICT facilities, lack of technical support for ICT, are some of the major factors that limit the support African libraries can give to the sustenance of democracies.”

It is necessary then for African governments to exhibit the genuine desire to have information disseminated, by putting in place necessary structures, including ICT facilities and adequate funding. “Government will also need to invest heavily in ICT hardware and software for libraries to enable them to be used for quick and easy dissemination of information. Telecommunication systems must also be improved tremendously.” The paper notes that in its contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society, IFLA stated that libraries “contribute effectively to the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom, safeguarding democratic values and universal civil rights. They encourage social inclusion by striving to serve all those in their user communities regardless of age, gender, economic or employment status, literacy or technical skills, cultural or ethnic origin, religious or political beliefs, sexual orientation and physical or mental ability.”

The paper comments on the need for indigenous knowledge to be harnessed and documented, particularly in fields like agriculture, medicine, science and technology, and folklore. Librarians need to collect, organise and disseminate this information widely. It is proposed that democracy be enhanced by setting up an interactive online service, such as public debates on topical government issues, between government and the governed. This service could be carried out by libraries too. The author proposes that African librarians need to link up researchers and scholars within the continent and with their counterparts in the developed world through ICTs. She writes: “This is to exchange information, among which is that which will support democracies and development.”

Asamoah-Hassan provides suggestions for schools libraries, information networks, national and regional library associations, and librarians. She refers to LIASA’s five-point policy issue made to the South African government proposing that if libraries are to be relevant partners in the success of democracies in Africa, more advocacy is needed to make them visible and change their visions into reality.

The paper concludes: “The challenge to libraries to be effective partners in sustaining democracies can be surmounted when governments accept the fact that they need libraries to among other roles, organize and disseminate information, including those they create in their day to day governance, so that the citizens will be better informed to participate effectively in governance. Accepting the fact means making available funds and facilities needed by libraries to carry out their roles effectively. I believe that with strong advocacy we shall overcome and in the near future libraries will become the hub on which government decision-making and planning machinery revolve.”