Basic
Information
The Eastleigh Library opened
in November 2002.
The British Army aided us in creating the library. They also paid
for re-wiring, damp proofing, made all the shelving, and provided
the carpet. The army staff trained the youth of Eastleigh library
in all of these skills.
When the library building was ready we added the library book stock.
This was donated by the British Royal Airforce.
4 members of MYSA
staff were trained in library classification, colourcoding, A- Z,
and cataloguing.
The staff were later trained in storytelling using books - where English
is a second language.
UPDATED
NOVEMBER 2007!!
Membership,
Staffing and Stock-
We have one staff member
at Eastleigh library, who is paid, Other volunteers come and go. This
is causing real problems now (November 2007)
. We currently have a membership of 5,340
. We have managed to encourage
many more members of the Islamic community into the library.
UPDATED NOVEMBER
2007!
Our stock is 4,952
We have 26 primary schools, 19 Secondary schools, and 11 Institutes
of Higher Education currently using the library
We are trying to acquire more books in
Arabic for the library's Somali population.
Henry Xavier (late) and
George (Joshe)
Challenges
-The library is housed in a rented building.
Unfortunately the landlord doesn't maintain the building and also
increases the rent on a regular basis. -We have had raw sewerage flowing
through the building twice in two years. The building is riddled with
damp, has very little natural lighting, and no flow of air to prevent
damp.
-We need to find land which we can build a purpose built library and
will support the population. -We have found land in the Eastleigh
, but the costs within this area are extremely high:- over 4 million
Kenyan Shillings for land alone. The building we need can be built
in two stages;- the first floor being the children's library, office,
and activities room. The second floor - which can be added at a later
date as finances allow- comprising the adults library, a quiet reading/
seminar room, and a computers area. Each floor currently will cost
5million Kenyan shillings to build.
-Initially the library staff often did not turn up for work but since
we started pay they began to come. We need donor help to support this
as well.
November
2007
Challenges:-
- mishandling
and mis-shelving of stock by users
- Members not being able to use the catalogue
cards properly
- Lack of enough space due to the large
number of children using the library - particularly during class visits
by schools.
- Loss of some books
-Members are asking for internet access,
which we do not have
- Lack of reading space
- stock gaps- for example African materials
- Power shortages
- Insufficient water supply
- Sewerage blockage in the office
Achievements:
Increase in number of users
Increase in Muslim members- both children
and adults
Positive impact on the community from
community members, head techers and parents
Trained over 200 children in computer
skills to date.
Visitors- November
2007
We had visitors from Norway,
Germany and at the same time Czech Republic as well as Canada and
USA, they all gave positive remarks concerning the initiative and
some gave some books to the library