The purpose of this article is to report on a small study that investigated the availability of library and information resources in rural schools of Limpopo Province, South Africa. For the school curriculum to be successfully implemented, adequate library facilities, collections, staff and funds are required to support it. Data was collected by means of questionnaires directed to all teacher-librarians and principals in the high schools of the Lebopo Circuit, Capricorn District. The study found that most schools do not have functional school libraries. Converted classrooms serving as libraries are unorganised making it difficult to retrieve and access information. Some schools use staffrooms and storerooms to house library materials but learners cannot use these materials because of limited space. Unqualified teacher-librarians lack library skills and cannot guide learners to use resources. A few schools are without electricity making it impossible to operate electronic equipment. The authors recommend that schools should be provided with library-based resources managed by professionally qualified teacher-librarians to meet the needs of learners and the aims of the school curriculum.

The results of an investigation into the public library's role in the provision of educational and vocational guidance and information to the youth and its links to the school and other career guidance service providers in South Africa are reported. The empirical study focused on public library services to the youth in general and to high school learners in particular. The results showed that public libraries continue to provide separate user services to children but that separate provision is only made for teenagers and young adults in the case of large public libraries. Career-related requests are frequently received from high school learners but inadequate resources affect the development of specialised educational and vocational guidance and information services (EVGIS) for them. Lack of cooperation between public libraries, schools and other career guidance service providers hinders the development of support networks for learners.It is recommended that existing general user services to the youth could be extended to introduce specialised EVGIS for high school learners. Recommendations are made in respect of collections, facilities. staff and funding.

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