MAINSTREAMING NATIONAL LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF MDGS: A CASE FOR THE NATIONAL LIBRARY POLICY IN ZAMBIA

The Zambia Library Association has been pursuing the idea of establishment of the National Library Policy since 1985. The Ministry of Education through the Zambia Library Services embarked on a renewed effort to establish a National Library Policy (NLP) for Zambia in late 1998. As was the case with previous attempts, this effort appears to have been worsted or abandoned along the way to the extent that to-date, there still is no National Library Policy for Zambia. As a consequence library developments have been negatively affected in terms of numbers, collections, staffing and sense of direction. For this reason, Zambia has trailed behind library developments in other countries in the SCECSAL subregion because it lacks a national policy. The task of attaining the MDGs requires that as a country Zambia possess basic information services as can be provided under a well articulated national library policy. National Libraries have a national duty and obligation to provide needed information as underpinned by the NLP directions in order to alleviate illiteracy and poverty. Such empowerment comes from well-planned library services. The absence of a NLP has slowed down the development of libraries and the library profession in Zambia, thereby affecting the country's preparedness to implement the MDGs. In basically all the MDGs, information or knowledge stand out as the primary commodity for empowerment. The NLP guides the National Library on how best to harness, store and disseminate the national information resources in order to address the functional element of information, whether it be the eradication of illiteracy or the removal of ignorance. Zambia needs the National Library Policy to be adopted before information can effectively play its role in the attainment of the MDGs. Because of this importance of national library services, this paper seeks to argue that the establishment of the National Library Policy should be treated with such urgency and attention as to be considered the ninth MDG for Zambia.