As many African women spend much of their spare time in hair salons, Ivory Coast’s chief librarian and President of their National Library, Chantal Adjiman, came up with a brainwave scheme to help them read and learn to read.
A total 23 hair salons now offer customers a range of books on loan from the National Library. The book collections will be renewed several times a year through the ‘Alternate Lending’ programme, which features 175 French books, as it is Ivory Coast’s official language.
The initiative was launched by Adjiman in 2012, and has successfully engaged several women and young ladies, who usually have little time on their hands between work and childcare, to be able to allow themselves the opportunity to seek out books. The initiative’s management chose a collection of important books for women such as novels, and books on education, health, nutrition, psychology and childhood.
