Press Releases
U.S. Participates in One-Day Shramadana to Celebrate Renovated Libraries
Colombo, August 2, 2007: Two libraries and three reading halls in Hambantota have received a facelift thanks to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Last week, U.S. Embassy officials and USAID staff joined the Hambantota communities to celebrate the re-opening of the Indivinna Library (under the jurisdiction of the Urban Council) and the Pradeshiya Sabha Library in a one-day shramadana.
Chamal Rajapakse, Minister of Ports and Aviation,
Irrigation and Water Management, and Terry J. White,
Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs for the
U.S. Embassy in Colombo, opened the Samagipura
Reading Room of the Hambantota Urban Council
Mr. Chamal Rajapakse, the Honorable Minister for Ports and Aviation, Irrigation and Water Management, also took part in these events July 27, helping to re-open one library and reading hall, reflecting the importance of these facilities to the local community.
In partnership with the Chairmen of the Hambantota Pradeshiya Sabha, the Hambantota Urban Council, librarians from each library and the library clubs, USAID renovated the libraries’ reading rooms and upgraded the buildings to include an additional story for meeting and computer space.
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Terry J. White, Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs |
“The re-opening of the libraries and reading halls today will ensure better services to these tsunami-affected communities by enabling them to share and access information and experiences,” said Terry J. White, the Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs for the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, at the inauguration event. “The libraries will also provide a community meeting point that will enhance the unity among the people in the area.”
The communities themselves chose to renovate these libraries in particular because they wanted to provide a sense of normalcy to the area after the tsunami. The libraries were in a dilapidated condition with extremely old equipment and were not suitable for studying. Now, they have been provided with five computers each, which have been networked and installed with the national library board-recognized book referencing system. The librarians have been trained how to use this system that will help them to manage, file and lend out the books, thus improving the communities’ access to the books.
“The public library has been historically a vital instrument of democracy and opportunity in both the United States and Sri Lanka,” said Deepali Talagala, Director of the American Center Library in Colombo and former President of the Sri Lanka Library Association. “I hope people in the Hambantota area will read their way to opportunity and achievement in these public libraries.”
USAID has also provided a large collection of books in English, Tamil and Sinhala that the librarians helped to choose. For the Tamil speakers, particularly the students from Tamil-speaking schools, this has been especially important because previously there were only limited numbers of books in Tamil in the main libraries.
USAID has also supported two workshops conducted by the National Librarian Services Board to build the capacity of the librarians and increase the library clubs’ involvement in the management and sustainability of the libraries that they use. “Now that the library is fully equipped and renovated by USAID, I have more enthusiasm to work, the readers are more interested and the community is happy,” said Mrs. K.G. Chandra, the Assistant Librarian at the Hambantota PS Library. “The library clubs that have participated in the workshops conducted a march and have raised money that can be used for future activities so that the library doesn’t depend only on the Pradeshiya Sabha for funds and activities.”