HISTORY
OF THE LIBRARY/COMMUNITY
Gbulung Community Library (GCL) now
Gbulung Community Library Service (GCLS) owing to its recent enhanced mandate
to reposition itself to identify and serve the needs of its communities was
established on Latitude Zero Degrees by Power Stock (a school in UK) in the
year 2000. The library in located in Gbulung community in the Tolon/Kumbugu
District in the northern region of the Republic of Ghana and serves a total
population of 122,550
(2000 census) covering an area of about 2,741 square kilometers with 38
communities. The main economic activities of the communities are farming. The
community has one of the vibrant markets called “Gbulung Daa”in the
district with majority of northern inhabitants trading in that market. The
library is located near the market center adjacent to the Community Health
Center and the community Primary and Junior High School (JHS). Recently the
library was joined by a volunteer serving as a Resource Mobilization Officer
(RMO), since then, the library has seen a paradigm shift where it has
repositioned itself to identify and serve the needs of its communities. In line
with this action, the library has organized activities with youths, chiefs, and
women.
COMMUNITY LIBRARY
PERCEPTION STUDY
Community Library Perception Study (CLIPS) was the first step
initiated as a turning point in the history of the library. The aim of CLIPS
was to understand the perceptions of the district about libraries as well as
understand their expectations from libraries
SENSITIZATION CAMPAIGN
Sensitization campaign immediately followed the CLIPS since results
indicated that people did not see the relevance of libraries to the development
of the district. They see libraries as a traditional place of lending books to
students and studies. The results, even though not impressive also presents an
opportunity for the library to work hard changes this perception, demonstrating
the important roles library play in development in the 21st century.
The sensitization campaigns organized took a form of meetings, forums,
outreach, and courtesy calls aimed at educating communities, individuals and
traditional leaders on the important roles of libraries in the current information
revolution. This gained the library local community support and commitment
towards supporting the library and its initiatives in the future. Excerpts from
PLIP first grantees and their projects will be used as evidence-based education
to the communities.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
“Friends of the Library” refers to the users and volunteers
of the library were the first project to be initiated by GCLS. We
started to work with a group of 5 committed young people who joined the library
as volunteers. These young people are now a great source of human resource to
the library. We work with the friends of the library who receive
training in confidence building, public speaking, and PEER research in order to
build their capacity to be strong advocates to issues that impede their full
growth and potential, they will also be strong advocates for libraries as a
catalyst for community development.