DLS hosts session on decolonising the academic library collection

On November 15, 2022, the Department of Library Services (DLS) hosted a hybrid session in the library auditorium on decolonising academic library collections, while many participants attended virtually. Prof. Archie Dick delivered the keynote address in person at the session, which was attended virtually by academic librarians from various South African institutions of higher learning. Professor Dicks' speech challenged attendees to ask difficult questions, and question how we do things. The following crucial questions were posed:

• What is our background (South Africa, University of Pretoria, and DLS)?
• Are we heading in the right direction toward the decoloniation of academic library collections?
• Is a colonial library still in existence?
• How do we get out of the bind of using colonial library collections to generate the kind of Africanist knowledge required to counter the pessimism?
• What exactly is Africanist knowledge?
• What role do African librarians play in the decolonisation of academic libraries?
• What is collection decolonisation, and how can we achieve it?

Prof. Dick took the delegates through the history of South Africa, the University of Pretoria (UP), and the UP library, including its origins and evolution. Following the establishment of the South African Republic in 1902, the University of Pretoria opened its doors in 1908 as the Transvaal University College. The Merensky Library, which is now a heritage site, first opened its doors in 1938. Both the University of Pretoria and the Merensky Library were born with decolonisation in their DNA. The formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 brought with it a form of special colonialism in the form of apartheid laws. Despite the fact that UP was founded with decolonisation in its DNA from British rule, it benefited from unequal resource allocation during its expansion years and the establishment of Merensky II in 1976. It also benefited from its association with the National Party through the then-head of the UP library, P.C. Cotzee, who was D.F. Malan's secretary. He also believed in readership culturology, which meant separating collections for apartheid dogmas closed off racial groups. His associations and ideology harmed the UP library's image.

What should the decolonising of academic libraries look like? Should our future be bitter or blind to the intrinsic values of building and reshaping our academic library collections in the light of our history? The call for decolonisation became loud and clear during the “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign in 2015, and the need to answer these questions has grown. Is it Africanisation after decolonisation, or does it mean the same thing, or does it matter? Prof. Dick introduced Ali Manzui's ideologies on maximum interplay and interpretation of realities represented in academic library collections, as well as the importance of language and literature in representation, and different realities in collections as presented by Mahmood Mamadani. Mamdani promotes the study of African languages and literature of translation units to produce the best global, African literature in these languages.

The African continent's successful decolonisation initiative requires the participation and support of vast institutional networks of universities, newspapers, magazines, publishers, library collections, and sources of public funds. To summarise, decolonisation is more about adding than erasing, sharing than tearing, and remembering than dismembering.

Many participants ultimately agreed that more conversations of this nature are needed, where participation from all over South Africa, and indeed further abroad, could enable important insights to help us while we're grappling with what it means, exactly, to decolonise our academic library collections.