For the first time, a librarian of the Northern Cape won the prestigious national Librarian of the Year award.
Manda Hough, acting manager of the Kimberley Libraries and Research Services, received this award by the Library and Information Association of South Africa (Liasa) and Universal Knowledge Software (UKS) last week.
Hough, a professional librarian with a B Bibl Degree and 24 years’ experience in various library environments, is currently studying towards her honours degree and has a passion for community outreach.
In her current post she manages eight public libraries, as well as the Africana Research Library.
She started her career in 1998 as a regional librarian in the Western Cape.
In 2000 she became head librarian in Kakamas where she managed ten libraries.
Later, as the head of the Beaconsfield Library in Kimberley, she conducted various outreach and literacy programmes, as well as reading and drama sessions for the elderly and disabled. Amongst other, Hough started the Imagination World Reading Club at the Beaconsfield Library to inculcate a reading culture in the community.
“It is very satisfying to see the improvement the children made since they started in the reading club and how some children that struggled to read, can now read fluently in front of their peers,” she says.
In 2019 the Reading Club featured on SABC TV on International Literacy Day and the children testified how their participation in the club helped them to improve in their school work.
Under her leadership, the library won the second place in the Municipality’s Unit Performer of the Year competition in the service delivery section in 2015. Also under her leadership, the Northern Cape won the President’s Most Improved Branch Award.
“I will continue to mentor and encourage young librarians to reach out to communities and to understand the value of continuous professional development so that they in turn can do the same for the librarians that will follow after them,” Hough says.
