The Dansoman multipurpose library has recorded about 20,000 visits since its opening in November 2020. This was revealed when a team from the MTN Ghana Foundation visited the Dansoman Robotics and Community Library to witness first-hand how the facility has impacted the community.
The multipurpose facility was constructed and handed over to the community by MTN Ghana Foundation in November 2020 with the aim to help improve the reading culture of the community and whip up students’ interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses. The facility comprised of a 100-seater conventional library area, a 20-seater ICT center and a Robotics lab. The Robotics and ICT labs are used as learning resource centers for students and young people undergoing training in Robotics.
Speaking during the visit, the Senior Manager for Sustainability and Social Impact for MTN Ghana Foundation, Robert Kuzoe expressed his excitement about how the library has impacted the people and also applauded the management of the library (Ghana Library Authority) for their good maintenance culture in keeping the building in good shape. He said,“The records on the patronage has been impressive and it shows the facility is positively impacting reading habits in the community. We are happy to see that we are achieving the objective for which the facility was set up.”
“Additionally, I’m impressed with how the facility has been maintained. As we all know, maintenance culture is an issue in Ghana and in many instances, we have had to expend funds to refurbish relatively new facilities that have been handed over to beneficiaries. As you can see, this facility looks as if it was handed over today, but this was handed over in 2020 – two years ago,” he added.
The head of Dansoman Multipurpose Library, Madam Rejoice Akosua Agyei, expressed her gratitude to the MTN Ghana Foundation for their good deeds and urged them to visit regularly. She also stated that the facility has really impacted the students and communities as the library has seen good patronage. She said, “We have recorded 20,000 visits since we started operations. Averagely, we record between 2,000 and 3,000 people using the facility monthly. Day in, day out the patronage keeps increasing”.
The Dansoman Community Library situated within Ebenezer Senior High School at the time of the handing over was the first Secondary School library in Ghana to have a modern integrated ICT Center and a Robotics lab. The multipurpose facility was constructed at cost of GHC 770,000.