ON THE WEB

Arusha residents always ready to read!

Don’t believe the cynics who claim that the culture of reading is dead. The Arusha Regional Library for instance, has over 7,800 permanent members. Regional Librarian, Sophia Laboke this week had a chat with our reporter; Nyamanoko Bwire.

Question:   On average, how many people visit the library every day?

Answer: About 370. Most of them are however men, who may total up to 220. We get around 150 female readers per day.

Q:   Why this vast gender difference?

A;   I suppose it’s tradition. In Africa, girls or women in general, do almost all the household chores at home, therefore while boys and men have ample time to visit the library, their female counterparts are busy working at home.

Q:   Apart from students who form the vast majority of readers, who else visits the library for serious reading?

A: We also get many foreign tourists and quite a number of local adult readers as well.

Q:   Are there any special credentials for a person to become a member of the regional library?

A:   Sure. A person has to be a permanent resident of Arusha, who agrees to the terms and conditions of the library.  In some cases, potential members need to have reliable and residential sureties.

Q: Do you charge members?

A:   Yes. Adults pay an annual membership fee of Tsh.3,000, Secondary school students Tsh.2,000, primary school students Tsh.1,000, while temporary users pay Tsh.500 per day.

Q:   And where exactly does the money go?

A:   We use it to generally run the library by buying stationery, newspapers, books and maintaining both the building and its surroundings.

The government doesn’t allocate any funds for such activities, they only pay our salaries.

Q:   Don’t you think that maybe these membership fees are the major hindrance to local library users?

A:   We haven’t received any complains yet, our readers, both local and foreigners seems to be quite satisfied with the arrangement.

Q:   So far, how many members have registered to use the library services?

A:   We had a total of  7,817 members by June this year, the number constantly goes up.

Q:   So, where  do you buy or acquire the library’s stock of books.

A:   We buy most of them from local book shops. Others are donations from various individuals, institutions and organizations both local and overseas ones.

Q:   Any steps in ensuring that, these books are safe from culprits who may want to steal them?

A:   We have our own security people, plus each person get inspected when either getting in or out through the reception desk.

Q:   Being a regional library, how does it cater for those outside the municipality like for instance people in Karatu and Monduli districts?

A:   Well, they  visit the library mostly on weekends. Rural  rural students normally come during school holidays.

Q:   Why don’t you let the library stay open on weekends, when people have ample time to come for either borrowing books or reading?

A:   We tried, but people never showed up on Sundays, however we are always open on Saturdays as from morning up to around 2.00 pm.

Q:   What types of books do you currently stock?

A:   The library has fiction, non-fiction, educational books and some rare books in the reference sections.

Q:   How often do you change the types of books on your shelf displays?

A:   Normally, we do it after every two weeks, when fresh consignment of books come.  However, some books, precisely those under school syllabuses remain in stock and only get changed when the syllabus changes.

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Last modified: July 12, 2002.
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