News from the Mission
Inauguration of "American Corner" in KwaZulu-Natal's Msunduzi Municipal Library
July 14, 2006
Provides additional library resources as well as job creation and training
U. S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Donald Teitelbaum inaugurated the American Corner in the Msunduzi Municipal Library in Pietermaritzburg on July 3, 2006. This event occurred during the official opening of the library’s new children’s wing and Internet Cafe, funded by the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Many VIP guests, including Acting Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Mike Mabuyakhulu, President Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Corporation and Msunduzi Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo, celebrated opening the children’s library and Internet as well as the inauguration of the American Corner.
This is the first American Corner in the province of KwaZulu Natal and the second in South Africa. The Corner has a collection of books, periodicals, CD-ROMs and DVDs containing information about U.S. culture and society, as well as educational and business opportunities. Five computers will provide access to the optical discs and to the Internet with access to a shared printer and a fax machine. The American Corner is open to the public Monday through Saturday during regular library hours.
The U.S. Consulate General’s Information Resource Center in Durban will provide support and assistance as well as training to the American Corner staff that consists of a Director and one library science intern. The U.S. Embassy has established a grant to provide two six-month internships each year for a recent library science graduate from the University of KwaZulu-Natal to serve as assistant librarians in the American Corner.
In his comments at the inauguration, Chargé Teitelbaum remarked that "The U.S. Embassy will provide the American Corner in the Msunduzi Library with over 1000 books, 25 periodical subscriptions, five computers, EbscoHost database that provides full text of articles in over a thousand of periodicals covering the past twenty years as well as a collection of DVDs of American documentaries and classic feature films." He also stated that "Our hope is that as a result of this American Corner, the citizens of the Msunduzi Municipality and the province of KwaZulu Natal will have the resources to learn more about the United States, perhaps continue their education at an American school, plan a vacation to our country, develop commercial or business interest there or read the best new fiction and old classic by an American writer."
John Morrison, Msunduzi Municipal Library Manager, is very supportive of this initiative saying that it would enhance opportunities to attract wide audiences and further increase the usage of the library. In his remarks he said, "The American Corner is not just the addition of a library collection but it will also help in job creation and professional training since it provides funding for a six month salaried internships for a current University of KwaZulu Natal Library School student to work for 24 hours a week in the American Corner".
In the past ten years, the U.S. State Department has made a commitment to strengthen ties and relationships between the U.S. and other countries by funding American Corners in cooperation with public and university libraries in countries around the world. The success and the enthusiasm for this program has grown to the extent that there are currently over three hundred American Corners in more than one hundred countries.