[Photo courtesy of KNLS]
By Benjamin Wanguba
The Kenyan National Library Service has launched a one of a kind digital library dubbed V-Tabu. The Library that was launched this week, is set to have 200,000 digitized reading material available to the public at a low cost.
The Library which is accessible through https://vtabu.knls.ac.ke/ , is set to be a game changer to students and researchers as it contains books, periodicals, research papers, educational videos and government publications. According to the Kenya National Library Services Website the Digital Library will have content will that is available in different formats such as documents, videos, infographics, photo galleries, memes, how to guides, case studies, research data and podcasts. It is also poised to bring together digital content originating from authors, publishers, artists, entertainers, bloggers, vloggers, film producers, music producers and many more.
Speaking during the launch of the online Library, Sports and Youth CS Ababu Namwamba, stated that the Platform will help to improve the education sector, especially CBC. He also added the library system will also be used to support the running of other Government ministries and agencies.
“The library system will also provide cloud-related systems to other ministries departments and agencies. This is consistent in digitizing government services and improving access to information,” said CS Namwamba. During the event, he also declared the 12th of July as the national reading day.
The Library also has in a plan a revenue sharing program with creatives who upload premium content on a 70% -30% revenue sharing model. A quick review of the digital library reveals that some of the content is available for free while others require one to pay a membership fee to access. As per Citizen Digital, the membership fees consist of various options including a daily fee of Ksh.20, weekly fee of Ksh.100, monthly fee of Ksh.500, bi- annual fee of Ksh.1500 and annual membership at Ksh.2500.
The digital Library development had been initiated last year by the Government through Kenya National Library Service (KNLS) at a cost of Sh250 million.