A Digital Heritage Session

Public libraries in Africa are navigating an increasingly digital world.  More and more people are accessing digital sources of information such as social media, like Facebook and Twitter, or online encyclopedia, like Wikipedia.  While libraries retain their core roles in providing access to information, promoting literacy and offering spaces for community engagement, they recognise a changing landscape.  In an increasing digital and connected world, public libraries in Africa show a clear desire to attract non-traditional users, provide digital services and demonstrate their societal impact.

As community information hubs with links to educational and other institutions, public libraries in Africa are well positioned to capitalise on opportunities that the digital age presents.  But there are challenges: cost, the limit of what individual libraries can achieve, and how to demonstrate the impacts and social change that libraries can drive.  iAfrika is a potential solution for public libraries to navigate this changing landscape.

iAfrika is a digital library service that provides access to cultural and historical information in African languages.  It is optimised for African cell phone users with basic devices and limited amounts of data.  Many important aspects of African culture and history are not readily available online and in African languages.  iAfrika offers digital skills training to empower Africans to record and share their cultures and histories in their own languages, on the internet.

iAfrika has the potential to attract new library users, to promote digital skills and community outreach, and to support literacy in various forms (reading, digital, information).  It promotes individual libraries whilst harnessing the collective power of libraries in achieving their goals and increasing their social and developmental impact.

Presenter: Dr Grant McNulty

Grant runs McNulty Consulting and is an experienced researcher and project manager. He focuses on making cultural content in African languages available online. He has held various positions at University College London and the University of Cape Town (UCT) including a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative. He has an MA in Zulu (University of KwaZulu-Natal) and a PhD in Social Anthropology (UCT).