1. The Department of Arts and Culture (DCAS), in conjunction with the South African Book Development Council (SABDC), has declared that National Book Week (NBW) 2017 will be celebrated from 04 to 10 September 2017. This year’s theme is "#BUY_A_BOOK".

2. The theme encourages and motivates members of our society to "buy and donate a book" to promote more local and diverse books in local languages.

3. The campaign will run at Exclusive Books, Bargain Books and Takealot.com from 28 August to 17 September 2017. These booksellers will sell selected titles at R20 to the public.

4. The Education Library and Information Services (EDULIS) challenges all Western Cape Education Department (WCED) employees to buy at least one book and to donate it to your school of choice in order to augment the school library/classroom library/reading corner collection. EDULIS encourages all institutions to place a box for donations at a central point.

5. This year, International Literacy Day (8 September) will be celebrated worldwide and the theme is "Literacy in a Digital World".

6. This theme aims to explore the different kinds of literacy skills people need to navigate increasingly digitally-mediated societies, and to explore effective literacy policies and programmes that can leverage the opportunities that the digital world provides.

7. The WCED encourages schools to participate in discussions and activities to:

  • deepen an understanding of the different kinds of literacy skills people need to navigate in a digital world and what this means for literacy teaching and learning;
  • share and analyse promising practices with regard to policies, programmes, monitoring and evaluation as well as funding that advances literacy in a digital world; and
  • explore how digital technology can support progress in youth and adult literacy.
8. The following district officials may be contacted regarding school library services:

Faith Lawrence School Library Adviser,
West Coast Education District		 tel. no. 021 860 1562
Janine Ontong School Library Adviser,
Cape Winelands Education District		 tel. no. 023 348 4657
Carol van der Heever School Library Adviser,
Metro South Education District		 tel. no. 021 370 2084

9. In response to requests from educators for school library advice, the following EDULIS staff member may be contacted:

Timothy Cloete Coordinator: School Library Services tel. no. 021 957 9626


SIGNED: HA LEWIS
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: EDUCATION PLANNING
DATE: 2017:08:24