IU in Rwanda: Libraries and Literacy

By Michelle Crowe

October 15th, 2018

Photo of Mike Courtney, Outreach and Engagement Librarian, in front of a door in Rwanda.

IU faculty help teachers in Rwanda with literacy training.

For 10 years, IU's Books and Beyond program has provided an elementary school in Rwanda with books, literacy training and more.

In summer 2018, Indiana University's award-winning communications team traveled with faculty and students to tell their story. This page republishes one small portion of that excellent work. See videos, photos and many more examples of IU impact at rwanda.iu.edu.

One of the primary tenets of Indiana University's Books and Beyond has been access to books. Research has shown that when children are given a choice of what to read, it improves academic performance and attitudes toward reading and learning.

As Books and Beyond grew, starting a decade ago in 2008, it became clear that access to a library and training teachers in English language instruction would be key to creating a model of literacy to support the students at Kabwende Primary School in Musanze, Rwanda.

Enter Michael Courtney, outreach and engagement librarian with IU Libraries. Courtney joined the Books and Beyond Advisory Board in 2012, and the library project began in 2014. The dream was realized in earnest with a former classroom at Kabwende turned into a dedicated library in 2015.

The library started with about 400 donated books and currently has about 1,200 books that all students and staff can take advantage of. Donations are being gathered for a planned shipment later this year; books desired include early literacy reading levels, along with books in English, French and Kinyarwanda.

"The Kabwende library for me has been not just expanding and increasing literacy in this school but really working toward developing a reading culture," Courtney said. "The students are reading and engaging with information in the classroom, and I wanted to make that available to them outside of the classroom, whether that's in a children's book, whether that's in a nonfiction book, or access to these things."

Video Interview: see literacy come to life with Mike Courtney

This is a still image taken as a screen shot of a youTube video. It shows Mike Courtney with students in Rwanda.

Courtney taught a two-day workshop for 50 teachers at Kabwende that focused on the fundamentals of library and information science, classification and organization of library resources, and information literacy in the classroom.

The two-day workshop was part of a certificate program combined with a three-day English language workshop. Teachers who completed all five days received a certificate of completion that codified their participation and skills building.

"There is a larger goal of training teachers in the importance and use of the library in their school," Courtney said. "This is central to the larger mission of building a reading culture and tying library resources to classroom literacy instruction."

Along with the drought of reading materials at Kabwende School in 2008, when Books and Beyond was starting its work in Rwanda, the government changed Rwanda's official language from French to English.

The switch was an effort to help Rwanda become part of the global economic community, but finding a sufficient number of teachers who speak English has been difficult. Because the local Rwandan language, Kinyarwanda, is primarily spoken, Books and Beyond implemented teacher training into its three-week student literacy camp.

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