A nationwide training programme for Senior High School (SHS) Librarians by the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA) has commenced in Ashanti Region.

The training forms part of the School Libraries Transformation Programme, spearheaded by the Authority with support from the Ministry of Education.

It forms part of initiatives to inculcate a reading lifestyle among young people and to ensure that school libraries are well equipped to support the provision of quality education.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum said the training is a sign that government is committed to ensuring quality education, within the framework of the implementation of Free SHS. 

He encouraged the SHS librarians to continue to read to be atop of their profession in order to inspire students to read more.

Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum

The educationist also tasked the librarians to “be agents of change and be innovative in motivating students to patronize the use of the resources at the libraries.”

The Acting Executive Director of Ghana Library Authority, Hayford Siaw, in delivering a welcome address applauded the participants for the enthusiasm they have shown for this training programme.

“The GhLA will continuously invest in ongoing professional development  for school librarians and we will soon roll out online courses that will afford you the opportunity to acquire additional skills in library and information science” he added

On completion of this training, SHS Librarians are expected to implement the knowledge acquired in organizing their libraries, create visibility for the library among the student population and optimize the use of the materials available.

On her part, the Board Chairperson of Authority’s Board, Dr Helena R. Asamoah Hassan, who chaired the opening event, encouraged the beneficiary Librarians to embrace this opportunity and learn as much as they could.

Board Chairperson of Authority’s Board, Dr Helena R. Asamoah Hassan

“Since you have been denied this training for a very long time, make optimum use of the engagement with the facilitators and go back to equip your students to enable them to be ready for rigorous research and information search at tertiary”, she concluded.

The training has been categorized into four zones. Zone1 comprising schools in the Ashanti, Bono, Ahafo and Bono East Regions is underway at Kumasi.

Zone 2 will be made up of schools in the Greater Accra, Central, Western and Western North Region while Zone 3 will focus on schools in the Eastern, Volta and Oti Regions. 

Finally, Zone 4 will cover schools in the Upper East, Upper West, Savannah, Northern and North East Regions

About 700 school librarians are expected to be taken through training areas such as Cataloguing and Classification, Preservation of Documentary Materials, Practical use of Library Management System for collection management and many others.