Valeda F. Dent

Rural Community Libraries in Africa: Challenges and Impacts

Around the word, in developed as well as developing countries, libraries play an important role in the dissemination of knowledge. The availability of information resources can often mean the difference between poverty and prosperity, particularly in underdeveloped African communities. Rural Community Libraries in Africa: Challenges and Impacts investigates the relationship between local libraries and community development. From the historical roots of rural libraries to their influence on the literacy, economy and culture of the surrounding region, this book will present academics, researchers, and, most importantly, librarians with crucial insight into the tangible benefits of rural community libraries and the obstacles they must overcome.

The rural library's role in Ugandan secondary students' reading habits

This study explores reading and library factors related to secondary school student academic outcomes in rural areas in Uganda. This mixed methods study utilized quantitative data collected as part of a more extensive project to explore six student factors in relation to students’ school, library, and home environments. The Kitengesa Community Library in Uganda (www.kitengesalibrary.org) served as the site for this study. The factors explored for this study include reading frequency, library use frequency, library access, overall grade average, and presence and type of reading materials in the home. Results indicated that both reading frequency and certain types of reading materials read for recreational purposes are correlated with higher overall grade average. Reading frequency was positively correlated with student overall grade average for all students.