Every year, International Women's Day is celebrated across the world on March 8. This year, Women's Day is celebrated on Sunday, March 8, 2020. The day marks a respect and honours the rights of women and celebrates their contribution to our society.

The International Women's Day 2020 comes with the Theme, “An equal world is an enabled world”. And on this, Librarians can do our bit to bring about gender equality.

Libraries have long stood for equal and equitable access to information and knowledge. Such access is a key to empowerment and the opportunity to improve one’s livelihood. That is why, by contributing their knowledge and efforts, libraries can help deliver on many aspects of women’s empowerment that access to information facilitates.

To support the IWD 2020 Theme, The Department of Reference and community Information Services of the Sokoine National Agricultural Library will continue to serve its patrons with regards to The 5 Laws of Library Science proposed by S. R. Ranganathan in 1931, detailing the principles of operating a library system, specifically the Second Law: Every Reader His/Her Book and the Third Law: Every Book Its Reader which emphasize equality in provision of information services.

• SECOND LAW: EVERY READER HIS / HER BOOK

  The second law of library science is "Every Reader His / Her Book". This law implies that the "books are for use of all" or "books for all." This law stresses on the democratization of the library where every reader has the equal right to get the book of his / her interest. The law fixes some responsibilities or obligations of the state, the library authority, the library staff, and the readers. A library should serve all patrons, no matter their gender, age, race, or economic status.

• THIRD LAW: EVERY BOOK ITS READER

  The Third Law prescribes Every Book its Reader. The emphasis is on the book. This law desires that every book in a library must find its reader. It implies that there should be maximum use of books by their users both women and men.

  This principle is closely related to the second law, but it focuses on the item itself, suggesting that each item in a library has an individual or individuals who would find that item useful. It is a duty of the library to devise many methods to ensure that each item finds its appropriate reader. This means a library's books/resources have a place in the library even if a smaller demographic might choose to read it.

DERCO and all its staff wish all women a happy International Women's Day.

DERCO staff in a group photo during the cerebration of International Women's Day in Morogoro.

An equal world is an enabled world.
#IWD2020  #EachforEqual