The purpose of this paper is to explain how public libraries have been instrumental in early child school literacy teaching and learning. Most African public schools do not usually afford enough core textbooks and supplementary readers.,This was a qualitative case study in Western Kenya amongst public library staff members, public primary school teachers and parents of library children clients. The following questions were addressed: What is the book situation in public primary schools in the study site? What school-type literacy-related services are offered by the sampled public library? and What are library staff members’, teachers’ and parents’ feelings about the public library services offered? Observations, interviews and document studies were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically.,Public schools do not have enough core textbooks and the situation is worse for supplementary readers; the public library branch studied offers critical school-type literacies to school children both at the library building as well as at public schools registered with it; and library staff members, teachers, and parents express positive feelings about the services offered.,This was a case study whose findings might not apply to the larger situation and the study did not confirm actual literacy benefits of the library services amongst school children by, for instance, conducting literacy tests. The findings are, however, an index to the possible situation in the macro context.,The relevant stakeholders should find ways of co-opting public libraries as associates of public schools in literacy teaching. This relationship is not straight forward in Kenya.,The findings reported are from original research.

中文翻译：

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公共图书馆和公立小学扫盲：肯尼亚案例研究

本文的目的是解释公共图书馆如何在幼儿学校识字教学中发挥作用。大多数非洲公立学校通常负担不起足够的核心教科书和补充读物。这是肯尼亚西部公共图书馆工作人员、公立小学教师和图书馆儿童客户家长的定性案例研究。解决了以下问题： 研究地点公立小学的图书情况如何？抽样的公共图书馆提供哪些学校类型的扫盲服务？图书馆工作人员、教师和家长对公共图书馆提供的服务有何感受？观察、访谈和文件研究用于收集数据。数据进行了专题分析。，公立学校核心课本不足，补充读物情况更糟；所研究的公共图书馆分部在图书馆大楼和在其注册的公立学校为学童提供重要的学校式扫盲；图书馆工作人员、教师和家长对所提供的服务表达了积极的感受。,这是一个案例研究，其结果可能不适用于更大的情况，并且该研究没有证实图书馆服务对学龄儿童的实际识字益处，例如，进行识字测试。然而，研究结果是宏观背景下可能出现的情况的一个指标。相关利益相关者应设法将公共图书馆作为公立学校的合作伙伴进行扫盲教学。