The first democratic elections in 1994, leading to the end of apartheid education, new
educational legislation and a new curriculum, brought fresh optimism to South African
school library circles. This was prompted by two lines of thought. First, it was hoped
that the merging of the 19 racially based departments and fairer provisioning might redress
the unequal distribution of school libraries across previously advantaged and disadvantaged
sectors. Second, South African educational reform echoed international trends
in its emphasis on developing lifelong learners who are able to compete in the information
society.
In 1994, the new Ministry of Education published a draft policy discussion document
setting the tone for the educational legislation of the next few years. It stated that the
curriculum should encourage “independent and critical thought, the capacity to question,
enquire and reason, to weigh evidence and form judgements, to achieve understanding,
and to recognise the provisional and incomplete nature of most human knowledge”
(South Africa, 1994b). This kind of language indicated recognition of the need for
information literacy education – widely accepted to be the specific mission of school librarianship.
The interim curriculum of 1994 included an Information Skills Learning
Programme (South Africa, 1994a) and, in a series of workshops, school librarians across
the country designed an information skills programme to be incorporated into the envisaged
new curriculum.
The shifts in education on both fronts seemed to promise a favourable climate for
school libraries. However, in 2007, it has to be said that the promise remains unfulfilled.
This chapter’s account will describe the present situation and, hopefully, by delving
a little into the educational and historical context, explore possible reasons for the
disappointments of the past 13 years.