This Library series will take our children to libraries all over the country. It is about time that we as parents introduce our younger generation to reading books and to library culture.
Going to the library was always an event in my school career. Now er days our children never goes to the public libraries in our cities because they find everything on the Internet. This Library series will take our children to libraries all over the country.
It is about time that we as parents introduce our younger generation to reading books and to library culture.
About this Cache
The second cache in this series is an easy cache in the parkinglot at the Alkantrant municipal library in Lynwood, Pretoria. Look out for muggles in their cars in the parkinglot.
The cache is in a tree about 2m from the ground at an arms lenth for most people.
This cache is not available after hours as the gate is locked but it is open 7 days a week.
Please return it as you found it.
History of libraries
In 1818, Lord Charles Somerset, the Cape Colony's first civil Governor, issued a proclamation to control the wine trade, imposing a tax on wine brought into Cape Town for sale. The net proceeds would be used to form a Public Library which should "lay the foundation of a system, which shall place the means of knowledge within reach of the youth of this remote corner of the Globe," (presuming a globe hath corners) "and bring within their reach what the most eloquent of ancient writers has considered to be one of the first blessings of life, 'Home Education'."[1]
Since that time, South Africa's library development was bifurcated although the library in Cape Town was the original establishment.The most likely model for Cape Town's "Public Library" was the London Institution (established in 1805 in the style of an Athenaeum).[1] The Library's first significant acquisition was the collection of Joachim Nicolaus von Dessin, who bequeathed his books to the Dutch Reformed Church in 1761 to serve as the foundation of a public library. In 1820 the board of trustees decided to donate the Dessinian Collection to the new library. Other notable donations followed over the years, among others Sir George Grey who when he left South Africa in 1861 presented the Library with his remarkable personal collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and rare books.
In 1873 the South African Public Library became a legal deposit library for the Cape Colony, and from 1916 it received all printed items published throughout the country. The Library continued as a legal deposit library until 1954, when this function was taken over by the City of Cape Town. From then on it began to develop its unique character as a national reference library devoted to research based on its extensive stock, with a concurrent name change in 1967 to the South African Library.[2]
Diplomat Edmund Roberts visited the library, then called the South African Library around 1833 and described it as "once the pride and boast of the colony." He noted that the library had approximately 10,000 volumes and called it a "highly creditable place."[3]
The history part was taken from Wikipedia. For more information please visit http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_of_South_Africa.