ALEXSAN COMMUNITY LIBRARY - SONNY MOTHOPENG
Apart from the library being used as both a reference and lending library and also a study centre, our additional activities covered in this period include: Careers Exhibition, School Debates, Literacy Classes, Saturday Classes, Educational Video's, Poetry Sessions, Book Selection, Membership and Acquisitions. The Internet Caf?donated by Sasol is still going strong. All in all around 5000 people have interfaced with the library over this past year.
Careers Exhibition
We invited companies, institutions and organisations to exhibit and hand out material. Grade 12's and the out-of-school Matriculants were invited. The Institute of Administration & Commerce offered bursaries, a representative from ABSA bank talked about Student Loans and Institutions of higher learning talked about the courses they offered and their requirements.
Central Johannesburg College had an exhibition on Electronics, Hairdressing, Motor mechanics, UNISA, Technikon SA, Technikon Witwatersrand also shared information on their different institutions.
It was agreed that we should organise another Exhibition as they are critical to our learners. The day was attended by 40 participants.
Debates and Essay Writing
The Library is still organizing school debates. These are held after school so that their timing does not disturb scheduled class times.
We ran an essay writing competition with Minerva High School on Sustainable Development within the Environment. Learners were encouraged to write on the topic where the top three essays received a prize.
Saturday Classes
The library continues to run Saturday classes for Matriculants. Thabo Chaone is teaching Biology and Nhlanhla Nkosi is teaching History. We are currently trying to outsource teachers in the fields of Maths and Science.
We recently purchased a Biology set to assist Thabo with his presentations to the learners and this has proven to be a great success.
Toyota has donated a Telematic machine to link us with lecturers at Pretoria University. We are currently working on getting the link line up and running.
Literacy Classes
Literacy classes for the year 2003 ran very smoothly until December. Unfortunately in February 2004 our literacy teacher encountered some problems with cancer so we have had to suspend the literacy class for a while. Up to this point we had 24 learners from Level 1 to Level 3. We may need to get another teacher to help us run the class in the meantime.
Educational Videos
Educational Videos are still being used in the library to complement what is being taught in the schools. We also have adults who have organized themselves as a group to come and learn from them.
A group of about 25 to 30 from the Adult Centre come twice a week to watch the videos and we have schools sending their learners to come and interact with the videos. From the Grade 12's we get approximately 70 learners.
Poetry Sessions
Maryam Abrahams was approached by a group of approximately 50 individuals who wanted to organise poetry sessions in the library. Maryam was prepared to sacrifice her Sundays to accommodate them. The group used this time to recite and perform.
From these beginnings we eventually sponsored a workshop inviting the Market Theatre where the participants showcased their work. The Market Theatre was impressed with what was being presented and consequently invited the group to come to a series of workshops that they hosted in town covering writing and poetry delivery skills. They group now operate permanently from the Market Theatre.
Book Selection
In this period the library had R20,000.00 (Twenty Thousand Rand) from the Provincial Library Services to spend on books. The venue for book selection moved from the Midrand Regional Library to Pretoria Central Library. The library was able to obtain reference books, fiction and non fiction for both adults and kids.
Membership
We used to charge R5.00 and two ID Photos for the usage of the Library for the whole year. This assisted us in purchasing newspapers for the users. Due to new government policy that we also had to follow, we were then not able to charge fees any more. The one advantage is that the number of users increased by over a third. The other side of the coin is that we needed to find alternative means to get our newspapers and periodicals.
Volunteers
The library has over the years empowered many young people by improving their skills through volunteering. At present we have two lady volunteers. One oversees the day to day operation of the library and the other assists with the running of the library.
Youth Office
The youth office has joined the library towards the end of this reporting period. This will be covered by the youth in their own report later.
Workshops
During the month of June together with the Rise aMzansi Project, Hip Hop Workshops were hosted. The project was aimed at empowering youth aspiring to be musicians with skills in writing music, life skills, self esteem, business skills etc.
The library is still engaged in the Life Skills workshops run every Wednesday afternoon by Sonny Mothopeng and Maryam Abrahams. Issues covered include self esteem, assertiveness, goal setting, handling customers, telephone skills, banking, tax etc.
Ongoing Traditional Library Activities
?The children's library operates from Mondays to Thursdays during the week for story telling, story reading, dictation and showing of animated videos.
?Winter School, where tutors are organized by the library to help students in Mathematics, Biology and English
?Drawing and Colouring
? Story telling
?Readathon (September)
?Book Day (23 April)
?Animated Videos
?Treasure Hunts
?Discussions
?Debates
?Sending Monthly Statistics to the Gauteng Provincial Library's Services
Internet Cafe
This continues to be a highlight in the day to day life of the library. Daily numbers range from 10 to 20 people. It is used to access information for assignments, tertiary students to communicate with lecturers, general information and specifics such as how to draft a business plan etc.
It is still a challenge to raise monies for usage however by having the ADSL line at R1000 per month for 24 hours a day, is certainly better that the ISDN line that at one stage cost us R3,500.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Cummins Corporation and Toyota for their ongoing support of the Library. Sasol for donating Alexandra its first internet caf?and continuing this assistance by keeping the ADSL line open.
I would like to thank my staff and volunteers who have contributed to the functioning of the Library over this year, as without you we would not have achieved the goals we set ourselves.
Overview
National Facilitator And Centre Director - Holly Luton-Nel
Centre Usage And Activities - Ben Mhlongo
Alexsan Community Library - Sonny Mothopeng
Computer Training - Olgah Phenya
Alexsan Youth Desk - Prince Mafora
Alexsan/Life Line Counselling Centre - Iris Maliboho
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