Dear Jamaal-11, This is great and exactly what is needed and I think a good use of the potential of the Internet. Thank you for your contributon and I will post what info I find that may be useful in a couple of weeks time and I promise any information collected from this site will be passed on to people who may be able to help improve library provision in respect of the Somali community which is a large one in London. In the meantime the more comments we get the more representative and useful it will be. Librarian

Somali Library Project : What are Somalis' cultural needs in relation to public libraries and how could the library meet them? 1. Do you use public libraries and if not, why not? what might stop you from going in? 2. How do you get to hear about things, events, what the library provides and equally how do you let your community know about an event that might be of interest? 3. What do you want more of and access to, communication through sound (radio, phone, talking books, music), images and text (books of photos, videos, DVDs, ICT, Books in Somali, Arabic, about Africa or Somalia or where, newspapers, magazines)? 4. Have you had any problems in joining a library, with say proof of address or identity? 5. What changes could be made so that you would be comfortable in and using the local library? I am looking for stories and incident about your experiences, both positive and negative, and it would be helpful if you could identify the country/town in which you had a positive or negative public library experience and what it consisted of. The research is for an MA Information Management in the UK but as I work as a project officer for a London Borough it could result in positive changes that benefit some of the London Somali community. Please help if you can, and may I thank you for the help some of you have already given me. Librarian

Dear All, What wonderful contributions you have made, very many thanks and please keep sending your ideas. I have sent some of your ideas and the booklist to five London boroughs (their librarians), Merton, Enfield, Newham, Camden and Brent. All of these ran a project last year trying to mainstream library services to refugees and asylum seekers. The project report is online at http://www.llda.org.uk/cms/contentpage/wtyl where there is a link to a .pdf file. As I don't speak/read Somali myself, I have sent the list of tapes to some Somalis working for projects like Sure Start and in Saturday Somali classes to see which tapes might be popular for the library to stock. There is a danger that we select material that is too technical or academic for the general public to want as we are not an academic library and rely on our stock being well used in order to justify renewing it and buying new stock. I like the idea of using poetry to try to get Somalis to use the library space and hopefully get introduced to a reading culture. Ideas about how to find audiences and who to have as a poet are very welcome. I just wish there was a whole lot of romances or light reading, like Mills and Boon are to the English, available in Somali. There is a whole lot of room for desktop publishing. The story of the Tower Hamlets project is interesting. A library in Kentish Town opened on Sunday to have English language classes for Somali parents with a teacher from Westminster Kingsway and a local Somali community leader who helped the children with homework and Somali language. It all fell apart when power politics got involved. He called them 'my' people and could not understand why he could not take their names and addresses even after the library staff had tried to explain about the Data Protection Act and how he could get accredited as a teacher. End of homework and language club. Another difficulty is getting audiences to events and getting performers who do not charge a lot. Money always being in short supply. A popular performer like singer Fatima Qaasin Hilowle with musician and dancer can cost £400 for an hours performance. She does bring many Somalis in as they know about her but they don't come back to the library. I think that Somalis like political discussions and I wondered if panel debates would be popular or might attract Somalis to libraries. Would they come to discuss politics or would they all fight and tear down the library? Just joking. But if I may comment as a non-Somali and ignorant, in the sense of not knowing, person I think that Somalis outside of Somalia seem to lay aside clan differences and get on as a collective group with one national identity. My researches suggest that there is a great demand for basic skills and English language material. Another more philosophical question is should public libraries go for assimilation or acculturation- where I understand acculturation to mean keeping your culture while making out in someone else's country and assimilation to mean becoming completely absorbed into the culture of the other country? Please correct me if I am wrong in using these terms. Above all I would like Somali communities to know that libraries are fun places where videos and music are available more cheaply than in video shops, provide safe and relatively quiet places to study or write, have free email and internet facilities, (well in Camden there is a free hour of use and web enquiries are always free). It would be great if London Somali communities that the libraries do want to engage and are willing to discuss the use of space for the community to enjoy. Can I ask for suggestions about music CDs and popular video/DVD material, probably mainstream American movies? Thanks for putting up with my ramblings but if even one bit of someone's life is improved by one library as a result of all this then I think this is very good.

Sophist, Thank you and I will get in touch by e-mail. Swiss Cottage library in Camden has a small Somali collection and one is going into Queens Crescent (Gospel Oak area) and Regents Park libraries. They have had a popular Somali singer Fatimah Hilowle and a story teller. I love Dostoyevski (I know I can't spell his name) and when I read Crime and Punishment I went round feeling guilty for weeks. Books can transport you and save your life. They helped me when I was suicidal. Be well.

Dear Sophist, Fair comment. What I was hoping for was a debate about what kind of library nomads would like while they sojourn in cities with public library facilities. In cities like London, Toronto, Malmo, Oslo, Rome..wherever they find themselves. The government has no idea, just as I don't. We have to start somewhere and I would like to take this further. You are right. I am doing research. Hopefully something positive will come out of it. The only piece of research that I know about was Anthony Olden's published as “Somali refugees in London: oral culture in a Western information environmentâ€, Libri 1999, vol.49, pp 212-224. Thank you and please comment if only to tell of what experiences you had using a library, or why you don't use them? Best wishes, The Librarian

Dear All, alykum salam, Libraries and Somali Culture I work in London public libraries and I am interested in helping them become more attractive to the somali community. There are big debates going on currently about what libraries should be and what they should provide. The government’s strategic vision for the future of the public library service has been strongly criticised by library managers as not going far enough and being uninspiring. It appears to echo the kind of library service in existence in many authorities rather than offering a challenge for change to meet the needs of more of the community. John Pateman writes, “The Framework is based on a number of fundamental myths and misconceptions about public libraries. It is claimed that they are "open to all" when all the research evidence suggests that they are only actively used by 30% of the population; two out of three library users are middle class; and libraries are massively underused by Black communities, Travellers, refugees, asylum seekers, the homeless and other marginalised groups. Libraries are used most by those who need them least; and they are used least by those who need them most. “ (Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the new decade 2003 p24) I want to know how we can change this and what nomads would like to see from and in public libraries. What libraries currently provide Free public access to the internet for library members. Information about Council and other local services and organisations and access to the community and educational databases. A collection of self-help leaflets. Photocopier and neighbourhood noticeboard. Large print books for adults; CDs, DVDs and videos for adults and children; talking books and language courses on cassette and CD for adults and children. Newspapers and magazines. Some suggestions of what might be added Somali books (we need titles and authors, what they are about and where to get them. We would like popular titles and not just academic books. In as much as Somalia has a largely oral society would books be borrowed or wanted, would audio CDs and tapes be more popular and what should they be, what Somali, European poets might be popular?Would secular Arabic writers be read, would Arabic be more useful as a reading language than Somali? What topics, genre, would be popular subjects?) Somali events What would be popular? (would vocalists, musicians, plays, poets, storytelling be popular and how do people normally have a good time?) Maybe something else totally, people seem to want loads of basic skills material, would african literature, history and politics in general be popular or only Horn of Africa stuff? Please let's hear from you, complaints, advice, thoughts, issues involve publishing, there does not seem to be much published in Somali that would have a wide appeal.. Nuruddin Farah writes in English and many books in Somali seem very academic, dual language texts available are not that appropriate..Paddington Bear, for example? Also how can the culture be preserved and recorded for future generations who may be growing up in a Western culture, how do we help to keep your oral traditions alive and well? Looking forward to your response and let me say as a Trinidadian and not a Somali, I see myself as a guest in the "Camel Milk Threads' Librarian