Books For Africa Supports Library Training Project in Ethiopia

Our friends at the Ethiopian Knowledge and Technology Transfer Society (EKTTS) have updated us on some of the achievements in their ongoing librarian training partnership with Books For Africa!

The partnership between EKTTS and Books For Africa began in 2018, when BFA Executive Director Patrick Plonski travelled to Ethiopia to formalize a four-year mentorship and assistance agreement for 50 libraries and their staff across the country. As part of this agreement, BFA is shipping a total of eight containers, for a total of 176,000 books.

So far, EKTTS reports that the pilot Librarian and Outreach program is having a positive influence on library services and readership habits of the communities where EKTTS and BFA are running the program. This program has provided library science training to 301 libraries, and 21 public libraries have improved their services to library patrons.

The most recent report comes from the seventh round of reader mobilization and librarian empowerment, which took place from January 26 – February 18, 2020, in Wolkite (20 trainees), Halaba Kulito (25 trainees) and Worabe (5 trainees), and from January 1 – January 17, 2020, in Addis Ababa (15 trainees) and Ambo (17 trainees).

As a result of these trainings, librarians were better able to classify and catalogue library materials, create library databases, and attract library patrons to improve their reading habits. Trainers also met with Academic Vice Presidents at sites from Wolkite to Worabe to raise awareness about the valuable books BFA can offer in potential future partnerships.

EKTTS reports that there is high demand for additional public libraries in the towns they are working in, and BFA hopes to continue this initiative in the future in Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Read the report from EKTTS and stay tuned for future developments!