Course:LIBR562/S2012/Group3/Wallis and Futuna

Wallis and Futuna spans a land area of approximately 264 km² and is comprised of two main island groups: the Wallis Islands and the Hoorn Islands (also referred to as the Futuna Islands). A French overseas territory (officially called the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands), Wallis and Futuna is home to roughly 16,000 people. According to the 2003 census, Wallisian, an indigenous Polynesisan language, is the most spoken language in this territory (58.9%), with Futunian (30.1%), French (official, 10.8%) and other (0.2%) languages spoken as well. Approximately 50% of both male and female populations over the age of 15 can read and write.

Featured Library

Cafe Fale

Though the Libraries of Asia Pacific Directory does not list any libraries in Wallis and Futuna, the capital of Wallis and Futuna, Mata'Utu, is home to Cafe Fale (Culture Action Formation Education dans le Fale), a cultural association that runs the only library on the island of Wallis. The library at Cafe Fale is open six days a week (Monday – Saturday) and relies primarily on donations. Two employees run the library with the help of volunteers. Jeanne, an art teacher and author of the blog “Wallis ou la vie dans le Pacifique Sud” (in English, “Wallis, or, Life in the South Pacific”) wrote the following on Cafe Fale: “Promouvoir la lecture et les livres dans une société où la tradition est orale …beau et noble défi. Heureusement, il y a beaucoup de livres pour nous aider!” Roughly translated, Jeanne notes that promoting reading and books in a society of oral tradition is a beautiful and noble challenge. According to the Cafe Fale website, “la bibliothèque associative Cafe Fale contribue aux loisirs, à la culture, à l’information et à la documentation de la population” – the library contributes to the leisure, culture, information and documentation of the population. In addition to running a youth/children’s space, Cafe Fale offers writing workshops, a reading club, and a selection of books on cinema and literature for adults.

Preservation Concerns

Wallis and Futuna are Fench territories that recently entered into an agreement with SOPAC to get aid in its disaster preparedness, something of a concern for preservation beyond climatic concerns. The focus of the agreement will be on tsunamis as Wallis and Futuna are particularly vulnerable to them. The agreement will moslty cover things like training and communication infrastructure.