World libraries is a fascinating topic. I began with a general google search and read about book boats and other types of bookmobiles and even little libraries. Fiji is a place that I feel a connection to since my father was Fijian. Fiji is well known as a tourist destination but it is also a developing country.
I wondered about how Fijians accessed books, libraries and technology. All I know about Fiji comes from stories I've been told and from what I have read, as I have never been to Fiji myself.
Fijians struggle with: 1) remoteness (Fiji has 333 islands, 110 are inhabited) 2) Decades of political unrest. 3) Cyclones - Fiji experiences 2-3 cyclones per year that cause severe flooding, evacuations and power outages. 4) Poverty - The instability in Fiji means there is poverty (32%) and an overall lack of funding and infrastructure, with remote and rural areas receiving fewer resources than the main islands of Fiji. In addition, Humanitarian Response reports that just over half of Fijians in rural areas have access to electricity while no number was reported for the remote areas of Fiji.
How Libraries Support Patrons In Fiji
I had a hard time finding information on the libraries of Fiji. I was most successful in finding information on the libraries on the main island of Viti Levu, where 75% of Fiji's population resides. I was not able to find any libraries on the other 109 islands where the other 25% of Fiji's population live. Perhaps because of the remoteness and smaller populations, these islands do not have libraries beyond those found in schools. I was able to collect some information on remote Fiji from aid organizations that have published about their experiences in these areas.
The libraries on Viti Levu do not have dedicated websites but they do have Facebook pages (Nausori Town Council Library, Western Regional Library) with only one library with a website (Suva City Library). Looking through various photos from Facebook pages and the Suva City Library website, I was able to make a few observations about how the libraries on Viti Levu support their patrons:
1) Displays to Inform
Looking through the Facebook photos I found that libraries created displays for to inform, much like we do here. Diwali, Breast Cancer Awareness and origami for Valentines Day were all opportunities librarians took to engage their patrons with curated displays.
2) Community Meeting Place
Libraries in Fiji, like here, are meeting places. Retires gather to read and learn. Students gather at libraries to study.
3) Accept Donations
Book Donations
With some more searching I found that the libraries in Fiji are often stocked with books that have been donated (Fiji Book Drive). This is how the libraries of Viti Levu are stocked as well as the school libraries in Fiji.
While I don't think these libraries want our weeded out collection of books, I do think they need books. Poverty and remoteness work to make getting any books into the hands of people very difficult. Pacific Outreach reports that delivering books to Kavadu Island was a struggle. Kavadu Island can only be reached by speed boat. Once on the island, mountainous jungle terrain must be travelled across in order to deliver books to school libraries. Cheryl MacDonald, reports that new books are hard to come by in Fiji and that technology is non-existent in school libraries. Many school libraries have books that are very out of date or in poor condition. Donation is one way to go to get more books. She suggests sending books directly to schools based on a wish list made by those who need books the most. The wish list could be housed on Amazon.
4) ICT
While Fiji has good internet and mobile service on the main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, smaller islands have spotty or no service at all. There seems to be a lack of information regarding mobile devices on these islands.
a) Computers and Internet
As noted earlier, information on libraries in Fiji is almost non-existent and some of my information has come from library Facebook pages like this photo of children surrounding a computer at the Nausori Public Library.
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| Nausori Public Library, 2019 |
This photograph reminded me of a 2012 Ted Talk by Sugata Mitra. Collaboration, interest and encouragement are a magical combination. In the Hole in the Wall Experiment, Mitra has shown that kids can teach themselves when they collaborate to learn a topic of interest with some encouragement. What was interesting is that they didn't just consume, Mitra found that kids even created their own music - they became creators, too. One device with internet access can change children's lives. Unfortunately, computers or other devices are not accessible in many areas of Fiji.
So then, what about children in places, such as remote Fiji, where there is no internet, no devices and at times, no electricity? SolarSPELL may help.
b) SolarSPELL
Only about half the population of Fiji has an internet connection which means that half are probably not using devices, mobile or otherwise. Arizona State University has developed a solar powered, digital library called SolarSPELL. SolarSPELLs are digital libraries that need no electricity (solar powered), holds many books, articles and videos and mimic surfing the internet and using websites. Users develop some information literacy skills that they could otherwise not, if it were not for access to the SolarSPELL.
Arizona State University has provided many remote schools in Fiji with their digital library. They returned later and found that the libraries were well used by teachers and students. While the SolarSPELL is a good start, the information on it is curated by people who are not using the device themselves. What impact that has on users is not known. Also, because the device is not connected to the internet it may not offer the most up to date information. However, it is small and portable, necessary attributes for cyclone prone areas where quick evacuation must occur. It's a lot easier to carry a SolarSPELL than a box of books. They also provide a more democratic access to information. All remote schools who receive the SolarSPELL will have the same resources available to them.
Summary
Fiji is a developing country still working towards political stability and providing the infrastructure to support libraries and mobile devices. As a result, there are few libraries and those that exist, lack resources. Despite this, they work with what they have to provide programs to patrons. My research into libraries yielded few results. I am guessing that this is because of the limited internet and lack of computers at schools, where most libraries seem to be housed on most of the islands of Fiji. Fiji is dependent on outside help to get books and technology to remote and rural areas where libraries only exist in schools and as a nation, they rely largely on the weeded books from other countries. Hopefully with continuing political stability further infrastructure can be put in place to support those in remote and rural areas.
Well done exploration on this week's prompt. Your deep dive into the Fijian experiences and supports was very interesting! Your personal connection to this country really helped connect me with your topic and exploration as I was able to see more personal rationale for support and the organizations you found that can help were excellent examples of using new technology to support underserved areas. It was also fascinating that you were able to glimpse into the supports, resources and images from these remote communities through facebook. I appreciated your focused, personalized topic to explore for this prompt and felt it brought a new level of awareness on this topic for me.
ReplyDeleteSo fascinating! I had never considered the library experience in Fiji. Thanks for taking me on this deep dive - I learned a lot. I found the concept of SolarSPELL devices to be very interesting. I can imagine a future where these devices can be plugged into the net occasionally to receive "updates" on the information it contains. Even if they were to be updated only once or twice a year it would be a great work around to providing information to students who are not connected to the internet regularly. I see great potential for devices like these in Manitoba too since our northern communities are often left with little to no internet connections as well. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Suzanne! Honestly, I haven't ever considered libraries in Fiji either. It was eye opening for me. I was most surprised by the lack of information. It seems like everyone is online here and everything is searchable. I have to agree with you, for remote communities in northern Canada, the SolarSPELL would make a lot of sense. I found that the SolarSPELL is currently being used to upgrade skills and knowledge of medical professionals and of farmers in remote areas too which I thought was a great idea.
DeleteThis was a very interesting way to explore this topic. I think I might bring an aspect of this into my classroom when we talk about world differences and similarities. I, like Suzanne, had never considered experiences in Fiji and I also learned a lot. It has made me want to do some more research on different little countries like Cyprus and Papua New Guinea just so that I can expand my thinking about their needs and struggles. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. It would be interesting to find out more about smaller countries. I remember reading that Fiji had one of the highest rates of literacy despite its lack of books in remote areas. Papua New Guinea actually had a much lower rate of literacy. At the time I wondered if it was because Fiji was under British rule at one time and the dominate language in Fiji is English so books are easier to come by. I think comparisons of smaller countries would be interesting too.
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