12 Jul 2015

Productivity is based on the quantity and quality of information and knowledge people possess, says the MP for Mahalapye West, Mr Joseph Molefe.

Officially opening the 7th annual Botswana Library Association in Mahalapye recently, Mr Molefe said  knowledge was becoming the basis and guiding principle of human activities.
The meeting was held under the theme: Access to information for sustainable development.’

He said according to UNESCO, building knowledge societies was a complete and fundamental programme of its long term development and was globally accepted as the obligation of each state.

He said each individual and social group in their place of residence would have equitable access to knowledge and sources of knowledge, and that these would enable them to improve themselves and their communities.

Mr Molefe said communities and states were expected to assure not only in a declarative way, but also in conditions for free access to information and knowledge.

He said to realise the goal, the basis precondition was assurance of access to knowledge suitable to one’s age, level of education, skills and abilities which knowledge societies stand for.

Mr Molefe said in the course of centuries, libraries have not been only reliable and recognised keepers of the written word and recorded knowledge, but have also been irreplaceable and active mediators in the transmission of knowledge and guarantors of access to all sources of knowledge.

Furthermore, he said the library which was generally seen as a repository of knowledge for users to utilise in satisfying their information needs was extremely critical to the attainment or achievement of knowledge societies.

The MP said library and information centres, especially public libraries, have vital roles to play in helping to tackle information inequality existing in the formation societies as a result of the growing information gap and the digital divide which were threats to the development of knowledge societies and sustainable development.

He said during the meeting in Glasgow on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, it was asserted that library and information services promote sustainable development by ensuring freedom of access to information.

Mr Molefe said libraries contribute to the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom and help safeguard basic democratic values and universal rights. Ends