Mortenson Distinguished Lecture

Abstract: Small non-governmental libraries in rural Uganda (and elsewhere in Africa) are scarce when compared with their more formal municipal counterparts. Where these libraries do exist, the impact on the communities they serve has been understudied, and often, undervalued. Anecdotally, the overall sense is that these libraries have positive benefits for their users, but an evidentiary base to support this positive impact is also important. An empirical demonstration of the influence of these libraries can enhance their continued development and growth in several ways, including supporting fundraising and grant funding opportunities. This lecture will detail the longitudinal research from several small communities in Uganda: Kitengesa, Mpigi, Ggulama, and Kabubbu; and present project aims, research methods (qualitative and quantitative), outcomes, and implications. In particular, details related to the ongoing library-based preschool intervention, the Storytelling/Story-Acting (STSA) Protocol, will be shared. Finally, the role of two key organizations – Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL) and the Uganda Community Libraries Association (UgCLA) - and the relationship between this research project and the aims of the Mortenson Center ("to strengthen international ties among libraries and librarians worldwide for the promotion of international education, understanding, and peace") will also be discussed.

Dent is a dean and professor at St. John’s University in New York. She holds an M.S.W. and M.I.L.S. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from the Palmer School at Long Island University. Her primary research interests include the impact of chronic poverty on development; rural libraries in Africa and related literacy and reading habits; ethnographic approaches to understanding the user experience; and emerging technologies. She has published a number of books, including Qualitative Research and the Modern Library (2011) and Rural Community Libraries in Africa: Challenges and Impacts (2014) with co-authors Geoff Goodman and Michael Kevane. She is the co-founder of the Rural Village Libraries Research Network. Her collaboration with Goodman, which began in 2009, explores the overlooked impact of rural village libraries on preschoolers' learning and school readiness skills, and in 2014, the researchers were awarded Fulbright Fellowships which allowed them to spend eight months working in two rural village libraries in Uganda establishing an intervention program to facilitate the development of school readiness skills in preschool children.