Promoting a reading culture through a rural community library in Uganda

This paper discusses what is meant by "reading culture'', and how a rural community library in Uganda can contribute to promoting one, by posing the question: How does a community library promote a reading culture in Uganda, and how successful is it in doing this? Data consist of semi-structured interviews, observations, and the library records of borrowed items. Street's (1984) concepts of "autonomous'' and "ideological'' models of literacy are adapted to develop a framework of critical questions. The findings indicate that the library is based on a local initiative, relatively well resourced, and fairly well integrated in the community. Together, these indicate the gradual development of a reading culture. Rather than assuming libraries and literacy are intrinsically good, this article stresses the need to take on a critical view of the role and function of community libraries in developing countries, and suggests a framework for doing this.