The DBE is celebrating South African Library Week (SALW) along with libraries across the country from 18 to 24 March 2019 to promote a reading culture in South Africa. Led by the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), the theme for this year’s celebrations is “Collaborate @ your library”. South Africans are encouraged to use this week to read books written in indigenous languages and by African writers. This will contribute towards ensuring that the country’s diversity and unique heritage unite South Africans.

The SALW 2019 theme corresponds with the LIASA Presidential theme: “Libraries: Advancing development through collaboration, partnerships and innovation” to enhance mutual benefits from forging relationships. The Presidential theme, which focuses on the advancement of development through engagement with all interested parties, emphasises the significant role that libraries can play to implement the global, regional and national sustainable development agendas that call for public access to information, access to technology and lifelong learning.

In response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call to inculcate a culture of reading in the country, the DBE, in collaboration with the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT), launched the National Reading Coalition (NRC) on 15 February 2019. The NRC brings together leaders in education, community, government and the private sector to improve children’s literacy, and aims to mobilise and coordinate reading initiatives. The coalition will build on many other initiatives such as the outreach programme known as the Funda Mzantsi Project, which was established to improve the reading habits of South Africans, by instilling a love of reading.

During SALW the DBE calls upon South Africans to support a culture of reading through the establishment of book clubs and by visiting local libraries to “get the nation to read” and to ignite the Reading Revolution.