Renaissance of libraries and archives in Rwanda

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda marked the turning point in the growth and development of libraries and archives in Rwanda. New academic institutions were established and each of the institutions established a library. However, the first truly public library was opened in April 2012. Due to shortage of qualified librarians, a library and Information Science program was established in 2001 to train the much needed human resources despite having insurmountable challenges. Despite experiencing exponential growth of archival collections and libraries in Rwanda after the genocide, the impact of the genocide continues to be felt in the libraries. Many libraries and archival collections were destroyed during the genocide and the destruction was especially pronounced in archival collections in government departments because there had been a systematic effort to try and hide evidence of the existence of systematic atrocities that had been committed by successive regimes that had been in power. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of the library and archives landscape in Rwanda before and after the genocide and the challenges that archivists and librarians face in trying to meet their users’ needs