JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — Civil society groups and heritage activists are intensifying their call for the City of Johannesburg to restore Saturday access to public libraries, a vital community service that has been unavailable on weekends since June 2022. Yasirah Madhi, spokesperson for the Joburg Crisis Alliance Libraries Activist Forum, emphasized that restoring weekend hours is a critical step toward ensuring equitable community access to free educational resources, digital services, and safe public spaces.
The campaign, supported by organizations including the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, demands that the city extend library operating hours. Public libraries across the municipality have operated strictly from Monday to Friday following shifts in municipal labour agreements regarding standardized working hours. Madhi noted that while many other municipalities across South Africa continue to offer Saturday library access, all approximately 90 libraries under the City of Johannesburg’s jurisdiction remain closed on weekends.
Libraries serve multiple essential functions in the digital age, providing internet service, computer access for job applications, and dedicated spaces for students to do homework and study. Restricting these services to a 9-to-5 weekday schedule excludes a massive portion of the population who are unavailable during standard working hours.
While the City of Johannesburg acknowledges the importance of libraries to a functioning society, officials have cited operational concerns, ongoing labour negotiations, and municipal budget constraints as significant barriers. Activists are urging the city to confront these challenges directly and treat the diminishing access as an urgent crisis, rather than allowing the situation to deteriorate over an extended period.
The call for Saturday openings comes amid broader concerns about the preservation of library services. Several libraries have faced prolonged closures due to inadequate maintenance, most notably the City of Johannesburg central library, which was closed for nearly five years before maintenance was finally conducted. Furthermore, residents recently lost access to Libby, a digital online library service they had utilized for years, after the city could no longer afford to fund the platform.
To galvanize public support, the forum has launched an online petition that has already gathered around 670 signatures. Although the campaign is newly established and gaining momentum, Madhi highlighted a deeper underlying issue: a rapid decline in national literacy rates. Citing the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, she pointed out that almost 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning.
Addressing this crisis requires fostering a robust reading culture outside the formal schooling system. Madhi stressed the importance of drawing young people away from endless social media consumption and toward physical books that can expand their attention spans, vocabulary, and curiosity about the world.
Countering assumptions that library collections are outdated, Madhi assured the public that the City of Johannesburg is actively maintaining current and relevant materials. Libraries such as Killarney, Sandton, and Norwood feature modern collections, including young adult fiction and titles released within the last five years. The Norwood Library, for example, recently underwent renovations that expanded its computer section, added ample seating and plug points, and modernized its book inventory to meet community needs. Librarians actively monitor borrowing patterns to ensure their stock remains relevant to local demographics.
The activist forum has outlined a clear, two-step strategy for the future. The immediate first step is securing Saturday openings to make the spaces physically accessible to the working public. The second step involves a broader community campaign to draw residents into these spaces, encouraging engagement with educational materials and utilizing the libraries as safe, functional hubs for community building.
