South Africa lacks a culture of reading and libraries remain largely underutilised, so children are unaccustomed to borrowing books to take home to read for enjoyment. In a quest to overcome illiteracy in South Africa and to make distance less of a barrier to reading, Nal’ibali will be giving new bicycles to 50 lucky children who have registered for a library membership card.
Over the next two months – from 15 October to 29 November – Nal’ibali will be rallying all South Africans to take up a free library membership card in any one of three ways.
Firstly, online at www.nalibali.org/library.
Secondly, Nal’ibali literacy mentors will help children register for a card through a series of events at local libraries and registration drives at malls and community centres throughout the country.
Thirdly, literacy mentors will be visiting selected schools to distribute library membership application forms to motivate children (and their caregivers) to join. Caregivers will be encouraged to complete the forms and to attach the necessary documents to ensure their children can be registered at their chosen library.
Whichever way people choose to sign up, library membership cards will be fulfilled by the applicant’s selected library and caregivers will be notified to collect the cards when they are ready. Nal’ibali hopes to increase library membership by 120,000 new members over the next two months.
Libraries are unique and they are open to everyone. While children can spend the whole afternoon at the library, they usually leave without taking a book home to read because they don’t know that they can. Many parents think a library membership card must be paid for – but, according to municipal libraries, your first library membership card is free and a replacement fee is charged only if the card is lost.
For more information about Nal’ibali’s library membership drive and how to sign up online or in person, visit www.nalibali.org/library. You can access our great selection of multilingual children’s stories at www.nalibali.org. You can also join our FUNda Sonke loyalty programme and win rewards at www.nalibali.mobi. Find Nal’ibali on Facebook and Twitter: @nalibaliSA.
