As recently as 1877, a British Army surgeon at the Kathmandu residency commented that finding “schools and colleges in Nepal is like finding snakes in Ireland”—he was not even looking for libraries, they were non-existent.
To this day, Nepal government does not have a coherent national library policy and, to our disgrace, our country does not have a half-decent public library. [break]
To their credit, INGOs, NGOs and local communities have established some rural libraries; however, in the absence of supportive government policies and their own limited resources, their impact has been very limited.
The current budget and recent public pronouncements by government officials offer a glimmer of hope on library development in the country. The government allocated one billion rupees in the current budget “to enhance student’s access (in schools) “to Information Technology and Connectivity [ICT]”. Under this program, schools that can contribute Rs 60,000 from their own sources will receive a government grant of Rs.140,000 to buy five computers, one printer, and establish internet connectivity.
Following this announcement, about three months ago, the Chief Secretary inaugurated an “e-library” in Chitwan and the District Education Office of Chitwan invited schools under its jurisdiction to apply for government grant to buy computers. Although there is no mention of e-library in the budget allocation, on the occasion of National Library Day, the Education Minister, Madhab Prashad Poudyal announced that “the government plans to establish 1,053 e-libraries”.
This is all very confusing. The emphasis of the government program appears to be to buy computers, although government officials seem to suggest it is to establish e-libraries. The government needs to be clear of its intent: whether it is to give students an opportunity for hands on experience in working with computers or to enhance their access to existing digital libraries (i.e. e-library).
It should be noted that ability to access e-libraries is not the same as establishing e-libraries. In the last decade, the European Commission, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka and others have, through various studies, developed significant understanding of issues related to digital learning and development of digital information system (digital library).
They considered a clear definition of the term “e-library” and development of the local content critical for the success of any digital learning program. These findings are corroborated by Nepal Library Foundation’s (NLF) experience.
Between 2007 and 2012, the NLF, a Canadian-registered charity dedicated to library development in Nepal and a Non-Nepali Residents Association’s agent for implementation of their Public Library project, contributed over 100 computers to a number of schools and community libraries in Nepal.
Prior to this, READ Nepal and Room to Read, other players in library development in Nepal, had contributed computers to schools and community libraries. It was evident from NLF’s on-site monitoring of the use of computers in schools and community libraries that the use was limited primarily to learning basic computer skills taught in the classrooms and for social communication. Our expectation that the computers will be used to access on-line resource for learning, given the education status of rural Nepal, turned out to be unrealistic.
Room to Read suspended its ‘Computer Room Redesign’ program after a few years of its initiation, citing lack of reliable infrastructure (e.g. electricity), lack of sustainability, and low skill levels. We found, in addition to unreliable power source, lack of proficiency in the English language and limited bandwidth of wireless signal as major handicaps in the use of computers for information retrieval in rural Nepal. These findings led NLF and few other donors to support Open Learning Exchange (OLE), Nepal, to develop “e-pustakalaya” (Nepali for e-library), an online library with educational content.
The library has now over 4,500 holdings and receives an average of over 26,000 hits each month. An offline server developed by OLE Nepal and installed in schools and community libraries mitigated the problem of slow downloading due to limited bandwidth. The government, in collaboration with OLE, could enhance the availability of e-pustakalaya in schools in addition to providing them computers. The two could develop targeted programs to improve reading habits and encourage independent learning among students. The current version of e-pustakalaya needs substantial additional work and a lot of money to serve as national level digital repository.
For a start, the word “e-pustakalaya” (e-library) has to be defined in the national context. The management, design and operation of e-pustakalaya is a multi-layered task involving ever-changing technology, culture, current social issues and trends and intended service provisions of e-pustakalaya. The definition will set the scope, the functionality and objectives of e-pustakalaya. Meaningful, responsive conversation with the public and private stakeholders in library development needs to be initiated to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing, essential for sound public policy development.
The government’s recent announcements related to e-library have excited those who believe in the truism “that a public library is essential for the welfare of a community”. Let us hope the government follows with some serious actions to start content expansion program, along with making provisions for schools to own computers.
The author is the President of Nepal Library Foundation
naresh@nepallibrary.org
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