South African libraries have developed over a period of more than 150 years. The world’s first free public library service was established here by Lord Charles Somerset in 1820, by levying a tax on the sale of wine. When he returned to England, tax reforms by the new governor spelt the end of the free library, but it formed the basis of what is today the National Library of South Africa (NLSA) in Cape Town.
By 1900, subscription libraries were operating in most towns and cities, financed by annual membership fees and, in most cases, grants from local authorities. An investigation in the 1930s by the Carnegie Corporation of New York found that most of these libraries were inadequate and poorly funded. The necessity for government support to ensure free public libraries was recognised.
By the 1950s, all four provinces of the Union of South Africa had ordinances that set out the functions of local and provincial government, and public-library development gathered momentum.
In 1985, librarians commissioned Unisa to investigate the role that libraries could and should play in developing South Africa.
The result was that greater emphasis was placed on providing material that would support formal and informal education. Outreach programmes to schools and pre-schools received priority. Many libraries also started presenting literacy classes for adults.
South Africa’s growing LIS sector includes a national library, public/community libraries, special libraries, government libraries and higher education (HE) libraries.

Provincial library services
The Department of Arts and Culture is in the process of drafting the South African Community Libraries Bill to set the norms and standards for a transformed community library sector. This Bill  is expected to be tabled in Parliament in 2010. Libraries in the nine provinces offer outreach, literacy, information technology, reading and children school-information programmes to various extents.

National Council for Library and Information Services (NCLIS)
The NCLIS was established in terms of the NCLIS Act, 2001 (Act 6 of 2001), (Annexure A). The NCLIS advises the ministers of arts and culture and of basic education on matters relating to LIS to support and stimulate the socio-economic, educational, cultural, recreational, scientific research, technological and information development of all communities in the country.
The functions of the council are to develop and coordinate LIS in the country. The council was reconstituted in March 2008. Its main activity in 2008 was to finalise the development of the Library Transformation Charter that was initiated in August 2006. The aim of the charter is to align the role of libraries with the vision and strategic framework of government.

National Library of South Africa
The NLSA is a custodian and provider of the nation’s key knowledge resources. It is mandated by the NLSA Act, 1998 (Act 92 of 1998), to collect and preserve intellectual documentary heritage material and to make it accessible worldwide. It ensures that knowledge and information are not lost to posterity and are available for future research.
The National Library’s collections contain a wealth of information sources, including rare manuscripts, books, periodicals, government publications, foreign official publications, maps, technical reports, and books on special interest, including Africana material and newspapers. These may also be available on CD, microfilm, in digital format or on the web.
 The functions of the NLSA are to build a complete collection of published documents emanating from or relating to South Africa; to maintain and preserve these collections; to provide access to them through bibliographic, reference, information and interlibrary/interlending services; and to promote information awareness and information literacy.
In terms of the Legal Deposit Act, 1997 (Act 54 of 1997), the NLSA receives two copies of each book, periodical, newspaper, map, manuscript material or other publication that is published in South Africa in any medium, whether print or electronic.
Other legal deposit libraries are the Library of Parliament in Cape Town; the Mangaung Public Library in Bloemfontein; the Msunduzi Municipal Library (formerly the Natal Society Library) in Pietermaritzburg; and the National Film, Video and Sound Archives.
The Legal Deposit Act, 1997 also provides for the establishment of official publications depositories (OPDs) in line with sections 6 (2) and (3) of the Act. The Constitutional Court Library was the first OPD to be designated and the Phuthaditjhaba Public Library in the Free State the second. North West Provincial Library, Information and Archives Services was designated OPD status with effect from 1 January 2009.
The NLSA and the Department of Arts and Culture are in the process of revitalising and transforming public and community libraries in adherence with the national priorities, mainly to promote accessibility to books and supporting African literature.
The new building of the Pretoria Campus, funded by the Department of Arts and Culture, was inaugurated on 1 August 2008. The new premises cover 33 000 m2, have seating for 1 300 library users and cost about R347 million.

South African Library for the Blind
Blindlib is a statutory organisation located in Grahamstown. Its aim is to provide, free of charge as far as is reasonably possible, a national LIS to serve blind and print-handicapped readers in South Africa. It is partly state-funded and depends for the remainder of its financial needs on soliciting funds from the private sector and the general public. Blindlib also produces documents in special media such as Braille and audio formats. It develops standards for the production of such documents and researches production methods and technology in the appropriate fields.
It also acquires, manufactures and disseminates the technology people with visual disabilities need to read.
Blindlib is based on five broad objectives, namely to significantly contribute to:

Blindlib has a membership of more than 5 500, an audio and Braille collection of over 22 700 books and an annual circulation of more than
170 000 books, in Braille and audio format.

Blind SA
Blind SA is an organisation of the blind, governed by the blind, and is located in Johannesburg. One of its prime objectives is to provide services for blind and partially sighted individuals to uplift and empower them by publishing books, magazines and other documents in Braille. Blind SA provides: