Achieving Sustainable development through Libraries: Some Preliminary Observations from Botswana Public Libraries

Sustainable development in the 21st century is based on access to information and knowledge. Like their counterparts, African libraries have recognized the key role of libraries in achieving sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The National Library of Uganda provides ICT training to female farmers to access weather forecasts, crop prices, and to set up online markets in their local languages. Nigerian Librarians developed a SDGs Action Group on Facebook to achieve SDGs. Similarly, public libraries in Botswana are actively engaged in achieving sustainable development goals. For example, supporting Goal 8, some public libraries provide basic ICT training to empower community so as to increase access to information for career and job opportunities leading to social and economic development. To support Goal 4: Quality education, some Public Libraries provide homework assistance to children to build strong educational foundation. To address Goal 5, Gender Equality, some public libraries in Botswana organize gender related activities to support girls and women. The aim of this paper is to share Botswana public libraries’ initiatives toward sustainable development. The data for this paper was collected through interviews with the librarians, who are actively involved in SDGs and observations.