Library

Ankole Western Institute of Science and Technology has a library that it is very proud of. They have received a couple significant book shipments in the past year that have allowed them to develop an significant library, that should help them pursue their desired university status here. (Currently they are licensed as a college and can confer diplomas, but not university degrees). In reality, the library will be extensive once the books are unloaded out of the plethora of boxes, become catalogued and placed on the shelves. Jeff has promised to help them sort through the computer section. Unfortunately, people often donate older textbooks, and if the technologies are no longer available, these books are useless to anyone, but the librarian puts them on the shelves because, in order to be a university, the bookshelves must be full! But how much better if the bookshelves are filled with useful books. Jeff has promised to stop by someday and help organize the computer books into useful and non-useful books for the students.

I have been pleased to find donated textbooks from professors from the Ontario Veterinary College lining the shelves here. OVC has had a history of sending donated textbooks to other countries who request these texts. It is nice to see the other side and appreciate the value of the anatomy, physiology and other textbooks contributed by people that I know.

I spend a lot of time in the library since, other than the computer lab, it is the only space on campus to sit! I enjoy reading the newspapers and learning about Uganda News. The news here is all very local, so it is interesting to hear about Kenya, Uganda and the Congo from a local perspective. The library also has a dictionary in Lunyankole, which I occasionally consult to try to figure out words. I have since bought my own portable copy so I can pick up a little more each day.