Two years into independence, Uganda had already realised that she couldn’t achieve a lot with an illiterate populace. Her efforts were channeled towards nurturing a reading culture. As a result, the Public Libraries Act of 1964 was passed, leading to the establishment of the Public Libraries Board (PLB) charged with establishing, equipping, managing and maintaining public libraries.

Charles J. Endra, the Deputy Director of the National Library of Uganda who worked with the board for a long time, vividly recalls how people queued up at public libraries to borrow and return books.

“The usage of public libraries at that time was high,” he recalls. But 45 years down the road, Uganda is one of the countries with the poorest reading culture. This, coupled with the current decaying state of public libraries, dents the future of the country’s intellectual life, Endra notes.

“The system has changed. Previously, we would prepare our own budget and send it to the Ministry of Finance and the money came directly to us. But now the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development gives us a fixed lump sum,” he explains.

Endra says there used to be money set aside for buying books but that is no longer reflected in the funding. Gertrude Kayaga Mulindwa, the Director National Library of Uganda (NLU), said government budgets Shs 500 million for the NLU and 14 public libraries, which existed at the time of decentralisation in 1997 when public libraries were handed over to local governments.

Of the Shs 500 million, about Shs 100 million is for capital development, which Endra says is used to among other things to buy books, furniture and build libraries.

“Ideally, we are supposed to divide the Shs 100 million among [the 14] libraries. That means each library gets very little money. Books are expensive. That money is not enough to buy books which are published locally or outside,” he explains.

Endra adds: “We largely depend on donated books but what we receive is sometimes not relevant. Yet there are many books produced locally and culturally relevant.”

He says the local governments in particular have no money to buy books. Endra disputes the belief that Ugandans are poor readers. “It is not that people don’t want to read. What they want to read is just not available,” he says.

“We used to provide services to Mulago Hospital and Luzira Prison. We would move with books on a trolley or send a box to the medical social worker because that is part of his work. Reading is part of the healing process because instead of the patient lying idle, they can read a book,” Endra recalls.

“We used to have mobile library services which moved to different parts of the country renting out books. We used to have book box services whereby community centres or schools borrowed books in boxes for a month and then returned them and we give them another box.

The postal office was also effective. We used to post books to people upcountry and they would post them back. We used to have a children’s library [Kampala Children’s Library], it is not there anymore. You go to the city mayor, his interest is business. If funds were provided to buy books, people would be able to read,” he adds.

Background

The National Library of Uganda (NLU) was established by the National Library Act of 2003, which repealed the Public Libraries Act 1964 that had established the Public Libraries Board (PLB). This followed the Local Government Act 1997 that decentralised public libraries to local authorities but without a monitoring and coordinating body.

“We needed a national library. National Library of Uganda retained the responsibility of laying down national policies in regard to these libraries, giving advice, issuing standards, norms, guidelines and work manuals, providing technical and professional advisory services and coordinating and carrying out advocacy for these libraries at local and international levels,” Kayaga  adds.

Until 2003, Uganda had no national library. This role was performed by Makerere University and Uganda Management Institute (UMI). These institutions were storing centres for works published in Uganda but according to critics they couldn’t perform well because they had their own obligations to their students and staff.

Kayaga says at the time of decentralisation, only 14 libraries existed out of the 21 libraries that were under PLB. Seven public libraries, including those in Masaka and Mbarara, had been destroyed during Amin’s regime. Although they were later re-established, the fact that they opened after decentralisation leaves them out of the government funding.

Endra says only 14 libraries which local authorities inherited at the time of decentralisation are funded by the government.

“The money they [libraries] receive is what they used to receive when still under the Public Board. At that time, the money was for staff salary, rent and development fund. So if you had a big staff, you obviously got big money,” Kayaga says.

As a result, some libraries such as Entebbe Public Library receive as little as Shs 3 million annually. Districts that never had libraries under the PLB find it hard to start libraries.

“They find it hard to recruit staff because these vacancies are not recognised by the Public Service Commission. Even though districts are willing to establish libraries, it becomes hard for them to hire and run libraries,” he said.

Five districts have since the closure of PLB opened up libraries, bringing the total number of public libraries to 26. But they are struggling to get funding. NLU only provides the oversight role.

“We set policies, give them guidelines on standards and produce manuals for them on how libraries are run. But they do the day-to-day running of the libraries,” Kayaga says.

The 26 public libraries are in the towns of Arua, Entebbe, Gulu, Hoima, Ibanda, Jinja, Kabale, Kabarole, Kagadi, Kalangala, Kampala, Kamuli, Kisoro, Lira, Masaka, Masindi, Mbale, Mbarara, Moroto, Moyo, Mubende, Nakaseke, Nebbi, Paidah, Soroti and Tororo. They are run by their respective urban authorities, except Soroti and Kalangala which are managed by the district administration.

Governance

NLU, which is housed in a rented building on Buganda Road, Kampala, operates under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

“The premises were not originally meant to house a library. The space is very limited, and the atmosphere is not conducive to study and research, and the physical environment inside where the library is, is not suitable for a national collection,” Endra says.

NLU is one of the legal deposit centres for books and documents published in the country. Authors and publishers are required to deposit at the library three copies of every publication. The library is meant to facilitate researchers and the general public to have access to this collection of books and documents which are preserved for future generations.

The library is also supposed to publish the National Bibliography which shows a list of books and documents published by Ugandans over a specified time period. It issues international standard book numbers (ISBN) and international standard serial numbers (ISSN) to Ugandan publishers who wish to have their books, journals, newsletters and other publications recognized internationally.

Government recently allocated land for setting up an all purpose-built national library. However, the land is part of the contested Naguru estates. Some $8 million, according to Kayaga, is needed for the construction of the library.
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EDITOR’S WORD: Careers are not degrees

Much has been said about career guidance of recent but with little clarity and commitment. Career refers to an individual’s passions, work and roles over their entire lifespan. Career doesn’t mean attaining a university degree or obtaining high professional training. Nor should one’s career be determined by one’s academic performance while still in training. Many great people developed great careers on the job.

Career must be something one has a passion for and identifies one’s progress in life with: it’s what someone has been, not what they wished to be or what they formally trained in. A career choice is often made through family or peer pressure. The ideal, however, would be feeling an inner motivation to take on what someone feels they can handle best and enjoy most of their time.

It’s not good being a slave to an unloved career. It is wrong thinking that whoever doesn’t go through university has a bleak future. Even after O-level, one can venture into a career: such as the military, the Police, entertainment, sports, entrepreneurship and religious service.

Our educational institutions should have career departments that can avail the most up-to-date information and decision-making skills on careers, job market trends and psychology of human satisfaction. Career should match the skills (which are acquired through training) and the passion that is inherent in the person. This is how so many people have performed so well academically in certain disciplines but ended up serving in totally different fields, even if offering lower remuneration.

Students also need to have flexibility and know that at any point in their life, they can switch from one career to another. It should be made clear to them that it is possible and even advantageous for a person to have dual or multiple careers, either sequentially or concurrently.

With the 21st Century’s high fluidity of social life and highly integrated global economy where the internet has brought about new work styles such as business process outsourcing (BPO), the wise are more likely to have many careers rather than one. Let it be clear as well that career can be travelled both horizontally and vertically. There are many career counselors, career advisors and employment agencies around that should be engaged by the parent or educational institutions if deemed necessary.

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