Find out more about Biblionef, a valued partner of Puku.co.za

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Biblionef is one of Puku’s valued literacy partners. Earlier this year the Puku team had a wonderful Zoom call with Sunitha Arnod, the Managing Director of Biblionef. It was inspiring to hear about the work that Biblionef does in bringing only the best storybooks to the children of South Africa.

Biblionef – Puku History

The relationship between Puku and Biblionef goes back to even before the formation of both organisations. It started when a founding member and current executive director of Puku, received a call from Max Vegelin van Claerbergen around 1995.  He explained that he was a former Dutch ambassador to France who had founded an organisation called Biblionef in 1989. He had contacted Elinor who was a member of the Book Development Foundation working with the Centre for the Book at the time, because he had heard of her interest in children’s books and he wanted to explore the possibility of starting a Biblionef chapter in South Africa. 

Ambassador Van Claerbergen had a long meeting in which they exchanged ideas about their passion for children’s books and their determination that no child should be denied the opportunity to read books for enjoyment from the earliest age. Ambassador van Claerbergen explained that when he was Ambassador of the Netherlands in Suriname, he was disturbed to discover that the majority of children in that country had little exposure to books and many did not read at all. This prompted him to start a book donation organisation to provide children in disadvantaged areas of the world with storybooks to read for enjoyment. The word ‘Biblionef’ derives from “biblio” referring to books and “nef” referring to a ship, a fitting name for an organisation that ensures that books travel to children in remote parts of the world. Ambassador Van Claerbergen explained that Biblionef offices in different countries worked independently of each other.

Elinor Sisulu was initially skeptical of the need to have a Biblionef office in South Africa. I felt that  South Africa already had a publishing industry, and needed to strengthen it further. I was wary that a flood of book donations from abroad might undermine the South African publishing industry. Ambassador van Claerbergan took me quite seriously and he recognised that the situation in South Africa was not comparable to other countries that had no children’s book publishing industry at all. We agreed on the importance of books in mother tongue and that a South African chapter should focus on sourcing books locally wherever possible.  I’m proud to say I am one of the voices that encouraged Biblionef to focus on South African authors.“ 

Ambassador Van Claerbergen got South Africa’s Biblionef chapter off the ground in August 1998 with the financial assistance of the Biblionef International and the Dutch Government. He was fortunate to identify a remarkable and visionary Executive Director in Jean Williams. In her years at the helm of Biblionef, she made remarkable progress in building a competent team and systems that would ensure a body of South African children’s literature published in all languages. Puku shares Jean’s strong conviction that: “Books really can change your life. They open your mind and that changes your attitude towards life and the world around you. Once you taste the joy books bring you, you’ll become a life-long reader and readers are normally good citizens who can act wisely. ”http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2018/06/27/books-really-can-change-your-life-a-qa-with-jean-williams-executive-director-of-book-donation-ngo-biblionef/

Sadly all good things have to come to an end, and Jean Williams retired in 2018 after 20 years of service to Biblionef. We think her sterling contribution to the organisation she led and the South Africa’s children’s literature and reading ecosystem as a whole, has not been sufficiently acknowledged and lauded. But that is a story for another day. 

Thankfully Jean has a capable successor in Sunitha Amod who herself has over 14 years of experience with Biblionef. This has enabled Biblionef to continue its mission of making books available to all children so that they can have the opportunity to read for pleasure and enjoyment in their own languages.

Catalogue project partnership

In pursuit of one of its main objectives i.e. to develop a more structured and organised system for selecting, reviewing and sharing accurate data on children’s books, Puku initiated a concept for the collaborative development of catalogues in indigenous languages. Concerned about the lack of a central, easily accessible source of data on children’s books in all South African languages, Puku approached a number of partners to collaborate on developing digital catalogues for each language that could be widely shared and updated. Puku envisaged that catalogues developed through a collaborative process involving experts from respected institutions would have more value and weight than anything produced by a single organisation. 

Puku secured the support of the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), the UNISA Department of Information Science, the International Board for Books for Young People (IBBY) SA  and Biblionef. The organisations initially agreed to collaborate on three languages as a pilot, but due to funding constraints narrowed it down to one language isiXhosa. Funding from the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP) enabled the engagement of an highly accomplished editorial team to recommend 100 books in isiXhosa for the catalogue that they promptly referred to as Ikhatologu Yethu. 

To restate the observation made in our first newsletter, the value of great collaborations is the ability to leverage the strengths of partners. One of Biblionef’s major achievements is that it has curated extensive collections of children’s books in all South African languages. The collections reflect Biblionef’s commitment to culturally and linguistically appropriate books that foster a lifelong love of reading. Rather than reinvent the wheel and start building a collection from scratch, the Ikhatologu Yethu partners decided to select books from the Biblionef collection. Four members of the editorial team for isiXhosa books spent a day at the Biblionef offices in the Cape Town suburb of Pineland. From the Biblionef collection of over 240 isiXhosa books, they recommended the 100 books for the catalogue. 

Fundraising to develop the remaining catalogues continues. The task is made much easier by the fact that Biblionef already has produced catalogues in all eleven South African languages.

Visit the page http://www.biblionefsa.org.za/view-catalogue/ to download the Biblionef catalogues.

How does Biblionef operate?

Biblionef is a registered Non-Profit Company, and all donations made to the organisation are tax-deductible. Biblionef South Africa donates new books in all 11 languages to organisations with an educational focus, e.g. schools, ECD Centres, literacy organisations, drop-in centres, children’s homes, etc. The majority of the books Biblionef donates are locally produced and contain beautiful illustrations that South African children can relate to. These books support endeavours to improve literacy levels and help create the right circumstances to foster a love for reading. 

When funding allows, Biblionef also provides teacher support and training to Foundation Phase teachers on incorporating storybooks into the CAPS Curriculum.

The Biblionef website can be found at: http://www.biblionefsa.org.za/  

How does Biblionef acquire its books?

Biblionef  obtains their  books in several ways:

  • Purchasing titles from publishers and booksellers at a discounted price. The affordability of the book is an important issue.
  • Receiving book donations from publishers, booksellers and individuals.
  • Commissioning the publishing of appropriate titles.

Biblionef tries to keep to story books only rather than readers,so that they can avoid having to grade books which Sunitha described as ‘a big, complicated issue.”  The actual selection of books is done by the team with the assistance of an educational consultant.

Visit the Biblionef website and download other free literacy resources

Biblionef has developed six short films and a training booklet to help educators teach reading and writing for meaning. If you wish to view these free resources, you can follow this link to the Biblionef resource page: http://www.biblionefsa.org.za/about-2/

 

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