Repositioning school library committees to advance school library development in South Africa Maredi Samuel Mojapelo and Luyanda Dube Maredi Samuel Mojapelo Department of Information Science University of South Africa mojapsm@unisa.ac.za Luyanda Dube Department of Information Science University of South Africa dubel@unisa.ac.za Abstract The existence of an effective and apposite governance structure is vital for the survival and functionality of an organisation, including school libraries. School library committees are governance structures indispensable for the establishment, development and maintenance of effective and functional school libraries world- wide. In South Africa, the establishment of school committees including library committees is sanctioned by the South African Schools Act (SASA) Number 84 of 1996. This is a concept paper sharing insights on how school library committees as governance structures could be repositioned to champion, influence and provide strategic direction and guidance for the development of school libraries. Keywords: School library committee, school library, school library governance, South Africa Introduction and background The compelling argument in today’s information and knowledge -based society for school libraries is that they are necessary to encourage learners to develop an Open Rubric