After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami which damaged most of the libraries in affected areas, AWF in partnership with the City of Melbourne and other partners has provided mobile libraries in the cities of Galle and Hambantota. Buses fitted with bookshelves and reading facilities serve as the libraries, and are staffed by personnel who manage the libraries. This has allowed bringing reading services to local communities that would otherwise have no libraries.

Client

City Councils of Galle and Hambantota

Project Partners

City of Melbourne
Sri Lanka German Technical Training Institute Old Boys Association NSW
Sri Lanka Association of Victoria
HELP Sri Lanka Inc.
Lonely Planet Foundation
Wesley Mission
Lord Mayors Charitable Fund
Graham Baumont Family and Friends

Project Leader

Dr Sarath Matararaachchi, Australasian Housing Institute, NSW, Australia

Sri Lanka Project Leader

Mr Walgamage, District Engineer, Public Works Department, Galle, Sri Lanka

Commencement Date

March 2005

Background and Description

Many educational facilities including library buildings (and their collections) were destroyed in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. AWF was committed to the reconstruction process and two days after the tsunami, Andrea Nield flew into Sri Lanka to assess the situation, followed in March 2005 by Esther Charlesworth (AWF Executive Director) and Sarath Mataraarachchi (a Sydney-based Sri Lankan Urban Planner). As part of this assessment, the team met with regional and associated local government agencies to discuss the possibility of partnering with them on specific community rehabilitation projects. More than two months after the tsunami, most of the needs for emergency shelter had already been met by the multitude of international NGOs working in Sri Lanka. The critical need identified at this time was the provision of education and training facilities for children and teenagers in damaged coastal areas. Libraries serve an important educational function and also as a focus of community life. It was for these reasons that AWF and the City of Melbourne chose to direct their immediate attention to ‘building’ new libraries for Galle and Hambantota - two severely affected cities in southern Sri Lanka. These were conceived as mobile libraries inside brand new Leyland Viking buses fitted with bookshelves, computers for internet access (with wiring for power by an external source), seating and tables for readers, fans, speaker system, and staffed by librarians, drivers and cleaners.

Status

Galle now has the first mobile library in Sri Lanka. The library is “on the road” touring 14 villages and houses a collection of books, two computers and four staff members: librarian, assistant librarian, driver and cleaner. Patrons each pay 25 rupees (about 50 cents) to become a member. Similarly, the Hambantota mobile library was subsequently launched with a brand new bus fully fitted out and provided to the City Council. The recovery from the tsunami in Hambantota has been slower than in some of the other councils, such as Galle, as they were better able to manage the rebuilding process. Hence the bus was launched later and after a number of discussions the City of Melbourne through the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Fund has secured operating funds for the first two years of operation. This was combined with a generous donation to AWF from a private donor in Sydney, which provided much needed books. In addition to providing the money for the bus and fit-out, the City of Melbourne has helped to buy two computers and to provide wages for the driver and cleaner. Additional training for library staff has been provided through the Galle City Council. The Galle and Hambantota city councils have developed a program that outlines the scheduled routes and locations. The library visits community centres throughout council areas and stationed for a 5-hour period each day. The program has been designed with a 2-week cycle: each identified location is visited by the library every two weeks.