JOHANNESBURG'S public libraries are hubs of education, giving residents access to books, magazines and audio-visual materials.

Besides lending out material, the City’s libraries offer a wide-range of other services including literacy classes, story telling sessions for youngsters, classroom support, gatherings for older residents and literary competitions.

They are also the venues for lectures, exhibitions, and talks.

Libraries can be found across the City’s seven regions, and mobile satellite centres also travel to far-flung areas.

The main library – the Johannesburg Public Library – is based in the city centre, in Market Street. It has over 1.5-million books in its collection and more than 250 000 members.
Also on the premises are a number of specialist libraries:

•    Central Reference Library
•    Children’s Library

Local authority notices The Johannesburg City Library Building will be closed to the public from 29 April 2009 till further notice in order to undertake extensive refurbishment. Download notice [PDF, 39kb]

•    Local Government Library
•    Michaelis Art Library
•    Multimedia Library
•    Music Library
•    Harold Strange Library of African Studies
•    Newspaper Reading Room
•    Cybase centre
•    Young Adults' Reference Library

The Central Lending Library is open from Monday to Friday between 10am and 5pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm.

The Reference Library's hours are from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, and from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. Apart from the main library in the centre of the city, there are many other libraries in the suburbs. 

• Region A
• Region B
• Region C
• Region D
• Region E
• Region F
• Region G

Find out more about the City’s library and information services
The core business of library and information services includes:

•    Collection development and management (including bibliographic management)
•    Provision of safe and free library facilities for reading and learning
•    Provision of free and guided access to knowledge and information (including online access to library and other information resources)
•    Development, promotion and maintenance of a reading culture through the delivering of programmes
•    Ongoing research, planning, monitoring and evaluation to improve service delivery

The library and information services also offer a satellite library service to those communities with no access to a library service. The aim of the service is to increase and promote access to library services by providing suitable loan collections of books at designated areas. While the emphasis is on the elderly and the youth, this is not exclusive and other communities, for example, prisons are also serviced by satellite services. 

• Strategic outcomes
• Strategic objective
•     Programmes and projects
  • Ready to Read: early childhood reading development programme
  • Battle of the Books: primary schools’ reading development programme
  • The Story Skirmish
  • Joburg Libraries Psyched for Science
  • JoLife – the Johannesburg Literary Festival
• Contacts

<< Back to Comunity Development