Pocatello library to hold celebration on Saturday of partnership with library in Zambia
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POCATELLO – A library in Pocatello will hold a celebration to kick off its partnership with a sister library – that’s on a different continent, well over 9,000 miles away.
The city of Pocatello announced on Monday that the Marshall Public Library has entered into a sister library partnership with the Kasama Provincial Library, located in the Northern Province of Zambia. The library will host a celebration of this partnership on Saturday at 11 a.m., where people can eat some traditional African snacks and write letters and draw pictures to send to the sister library.
“We hope this will continue for years to come,” said Jack Garett, library specialist.
The Kasama Provincial Library, which opened in 1972, serves a community of 17,000 people in the Northern Province of Zambia, which is in the eastern Central African Plateau.
This partnership became a possibility when Garrett began researching a list of 100 libraries through the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, looking for one that would be a good fit for a sister library partnership with the Marshall Public Library.
The Kasama Provincial Library stood out to Garrett because of its “Open-Door Project,” which was launched to get more children engaged with using the Zambian library. This struck a chord with Garrett, as the Marshall Public Library had launched the STEAM Exploration Center February 2024, also targeted at children.
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“We both have great children’s programs. We want to help our kids. We want to help our whole community, so it just made sense,” Garrett said.
People who attend the celebration in the exploration center will have the chance to hear a presentation and story time from two native Zambians who live in Pocatello and see a video introduction from the Kasama Provincial Library.
Garrett believes that both libraries will benefit from this international partnership by giving people the chance to learn more about a different culture and country. The sister library display is in front of the exploration center, and Garrett hopes to establish an ongoing sister library corner, where there will be monthly themes for the display.
Garrett hopes that the sister library partnership will give people a “different community to think about and care about, and we want each library to know that there’s patrons out there who want to help them.”