African Digital Library On-LineCentre for Lifelong
Learning November 8, 1999
A digital library for the benefit of users throughout
Africa, went on-line
today, 3 November 1999. In response to the need for
library books in Africa,
Technikon SA (TSA) has provided an initial sponsorship
of R1m to set up the
African Digital Library.
The library is being established by TSA and the
Association of African
Universities in collaboration with netLibrary, a
private American company.
It will provide Internet access to African users
throughout the continent to
a library of full-text books at no cost to the user.
Over 60 publishers will provide full-text books.
Encryption will ensure that
only one user will access a book at any one time, and
loan periods will be a
few hours as users work with the books.
"The cost of establishing physical infrastructure,
purchase and maintenance
of books makes the provision of an acceptable level of
support a daunting
task. The cost of joining virtual libraries is out of
reach for many African
institutions. Accordingly, the COLISA (Confederation
of Open Learning
Institutions of South Africa) partners are coming in
to provide support.
TSA's Centre for Lifelong Learning is approaching
private and public sector
institutions," says Paul West, the Centre's Director.
Sponsorships will be on a per-book basis, and sponsors
will be able to
advertise by means of banners per book sponsored.
As far as use is concerned, persons in any Africa
country with a server
having an African domain, will be able to access the
library via
http://www.AfricaEducation.org/adl/. Servers such as
those with a .com
suffix which cannot be identified as African should
provide the Director of
the Centre for Lifelong Learning with their IP address
range so that the
service can become accessible free of charge to their
subscribers also .
Users will then be able to open an account with the
library free of charge.
The library will be made available to people using the
Internet in Africa
only. As Internet access expands in Africa, the e-book
collection will grow
and accommodate user needs.
"At this point the library contains 3000 books, and
the collection will be
built as fast as funds permit," said West. "The
African Digital Library is
yet another venture initiated by TSA's Centre for
Lifelong Learning to bring
learner support to learners in Africa. It is an
exciting step which will
open doors for many who would previously have had
limited access to resource
material. Technikon SA has great hopes for development
of this service for
the benefit of the peoples of Africa."
For further information, contact Paul West, Director
CLL at Technikon SA at
e-mail address [log in to unmask]

=====
21st Century African Youth Movement
International Coordinating Secretariat
P.O.Box 8582
Madison, WI 53708-8582
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." -- Einstein
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