Cape Town celebrated an impressive milestone that coincided with South African Library Week. As 128 is a ripe old age, and Observatory Library is one of those several ‘grand old dames’ in the City’s Library and Information Service.
The library was originally known as the Observatory Road Public Reading Room. It was located in temporary premises on the corner of Drake and Station Roads. Resident Stephan Trill donated land for the construction of a library, which opened to the public on March 29, 1906.
Also on March 01, 1954 the library was incorporated into the Cape Town City Library Service, as a free municipal library service.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Services and Health – Councillor Francine Higham stated that this is a special milestone for Observatory Library. It’s not only a historic building, but a popular and longstanding community hub.
Higham further added that the library offers many programmes for young and old. She wants to encourage the residents to join these events and discover for themselves what a special place it is.
Currently, it runs three major programmes i.e. Story Time, Youth Programmes and Adult Programmes. Under the Story Time, the organisers manage Pram Jam Story & Rhyme Time with nannies, parents, grandparents and babies or toddlers every Wednesday morning from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It also consists of Preschool Story Time for 02- to 06-year-old age kids, where learning is made fun through stories, rhymes and crafts.
Another one, the Youth Programmes, under this the organisers manage Information Literacy, in which they “Book-a-Librarian”, where a learner can book a librarian for assistance for a school or fun project on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons. The learner and accompanied parent or guardian are taught information literacy skills, research skills and assisted in finding the information.
Second programme which runs under Youth Programmes is Reading Programmes, the library promotes two reading campaigns for different age groups i.e. 1000 stories before school for ages 0 to 6 years. Also, achieve 3000 minutes for ages seven years and older. Participants receive small incentives when they reach their reading milestones.
Under the Adult programmes they run, Obz’ Wise Library Seniors (The OWLS), which is the social senior club that meets every Tuesday afternoon at 02:30 p.m. to 04:00 p.m. They socialise and participate in library activities such as dancing, crafts and chair yoga.
Another one is, Fountain House Readers and Makers Hub which is a special wellbeing programme developed for the members of Fountain House (associated with Cape Mental Health). They meet fortnightly on Thursdays at the library. This programme has been running for the past three years.
Third one is, Obz Book Club where members meet on the first Friday of the month at the library. They discuss and engage around the books they read and their favourite authors. The club has been in existence for over 10 years.
Next is, the Digital Literacy where computer classes are given on request. It is for beginners learning how to use a keyboard and mouse, opening an email account for the first time and learning how to use it.
It also offers Author meet and greets/talks at least twice a quarter, where an author is invited to the library to promote their book titles. These events are held either on a Tuesday afternoon or Saturday morning.
Notably, new programmes are being planned, that included chess, coding and knitting clubs. And once details are finalised, these will be announced via the library’s social media pages.