I recently posted about a fund-raiser, Libs for Africa. Sharon Karasmanis, the organiser tells more about this project.

P.H. Can you tell me something about “Libs for Africa”?

S.K. Libs for Africa was formed in November 2006 by a group of interested librarians at La Trobe University Library.  The objective is to raise as much money as possible for registrations for African librarians to attend the IFLA Conference in Durban.  The project consists of two stages – stage one is the La Trobe fundraising effort which currently stands at approx $2,000 AU.  Stage two takes the fund raising initiative to other libraries within Australia and overseas.

We are just embarking on stage two – emails are about to be sent out to the lists, I was waiting on our web page update.

This is an opportunity not to be missed – the world IFLA conference is being held in South Africa – I feel that we should be trying to ensure that as many African librarians attend the conference as possible.

P.H. How did you get involved?

S.K. This was an idea I had last year when in Seoul and saw the promotion for the IFLA conference and wondered how African librarians would be able to attend. I was very privileged to be fully supported by La Trobe, as I presented a paper at the satellite conference in Shanghai for the Management and Marketing group.  In most cases support for conferences for anyone is difficult, but I thought it a good idea to support as many African librarians as possible to attend, as the conference is in Durban and the travel and accommodation would not be as onerous.  I was confident that we could raise enough money at Trobe for at least one registration, I then thought that once this was done, the word could spread to other Australian (and overseas?) libraries and interested parties to help as well.

I spoke to the IFLA Secretary and keep in constant touch with the organisers and IFLA.  They are very supportive and will organise the screening and granting of applications.  I thought that if we just kept to registrations alone it would be simple and achievable.  If the conference fees are paid (this being the main expense) accommodation and transport could be paid by the successful applicant, their library, or the South African Library Association may be able to assist.

P.H. How much money has been raised so far? 

S.K. AUD $2,010-00

P.H. How can libraries and librarians participate?

S.K. Details of our fundraising events are on the web page at  http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/africa/index.php

We held an African Feast and monster raffle – photos are on the web page.  It was fantastic, everyone was so supportive and we raised enough to pay for three librarians to attend the conference!
The campaign will finish about April, when one of the IFLA sections will handle screening and applications.

So thinking caps on, how will you support this cause. It’s easy to make a single donation , but why not have some fun and organise a do with your colleagues. Details on how to make donations are on the website.