Notes

1. Gwala is a superintendent in education management in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, Pietermaritzburg.

2. The terms learners and pupils are used interchangeably in this chapter.

3. There is an on-going debate in South Africa about the concepts of public and community libraries. In this chapter, they are all referred to as public libraries serving the communities within which they are situated.

4. It should be stressed that this study was neither commissioned nor solicited by READ. It is not an examination of the READ programme but rather an assessment of the modality of classroom libraries. READ already has a strong internal programme evaluation system of its own. At the same time READ has been supportive in providing the necessary information for this study.

5. The conference on School Learners and Libraries was held in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in November 1995. It aimed at considering ways to make learning resources more accessible to school learners.

6. Participants expressed discomfort at having to make suggestions which sounded like demands from READ. They recognized that READ was giving them and their pupils a wealth of learning experiences, a responsibility that should have been shouldered by the Department of Education.