The Lady Hooligan’s Page

For a long time, I thought my dream was to be able to live in my own space… to “do what [I] wanna do, say what [I] wanna say, live how [I] wanna live, play how [I] wanna play”. (Like the Addams Family!) However, I have realised in the past few days (me being alone isn’t what it’s cracked up to be!) that there are other dreams in my heart and mind that I would rather be following.

I have been given the chance to go back to the East End library, where I started my library career, to oversee the reopening and the first few months of operation. It’s not going to be easy - it’s an extremely demanding community to work in! However, I guess I have found my sweet spot there many years ago, and it’s time to act on it!

The Rustenburg library system forms part of the Directorate Community Development in the local municipal system. However, I see precious little being done in terms of really developing communities around the city. A large part of the population is poor and badly educated, which means that the so-called Digital Divide will affect them the worst. If one adds a whole range of social problems onto that, it’s a recipe for disaster!

What I’d love to see happening, is for that little library (it’s really, really small!) to be part of a “hand up” for the community, giving them the tools to empower themselves, be it resources for school work, a safe place for studying and even a healthy environment for personal growth and development.

As far as I’m concerned, one cannot develop a community if one doesn’t empower individuals. It’s both that simple and that difficult.

So that’s the biggest reason for me going back to the books. I want to be a librarian where one is needed most. Not in the ivory towers, but in the communities themselves, making a REAL difference!