As part of the Public Library’s social service mission to the community they serve, the library should include provision of indigenous knowledge resources.  Indigenous knowledge is part and parcel of the culture and history of a local community.  It affects the wellbeing of the majority of people in developing countries. Some 80% of the world’s population depends on indigenous knowledge to meet their medicinal needs and at least 50% rely on indigenous knowledge for food supply.  Indigenous knowledge is also the cornerstone for building an own identity and insuring coherence of social structures within communities.  Because it is mostly stored in people’s minds and passed on through generations by word of mouth rather than in written form, it is vulnerable to rapid change.  Development processes like rural/urban migration may contribute to loss of indigenous knowledge.  Indigenous knowledge faces extinction unless it is properly documented and disseminated. The project is underpinned by the guidelines set out in the National Policy Document (2005) on the role of libraries in the preservation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems.  The policy states that libraries should:

• “facilitate indigenous and local community information access, based on their own identified needs;
• provide opportunities for indigenous and local communities to actively record and share their contemporary history, culture and language with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples; and
• use new technology creatively to support Indigenous and local community development.”

More on the Programme at www.ulwazi.org and view the indigenous knowledge database at http://wiki.ulwazi.org.