Serving culturally diverse communities in South African public libraries

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the multicultural nature of South Africa including the meaning of multiculturalism and multicultural public libraries in the South African environment. An empirical survey was conducted to determine the status quo of the collections and services being offered by South African public libraries to culturally diverse communities, and to determine if these are representative of South Africa's culturally diverse communities. The findings suggest that public libraries in South Africa often do not recognise the diverse nature of the communities they serve. Causes for the current situation are identified. Finally, suggestions for the development of multicultural library services and collections are also given. The results show the importance of training in cultural diversity issues for libraries.