Hello Vijai and Carolyn,

I have really enjoyed and learned a lot from you discussions. Is it not amazing what technology can do?
Vijai,your last article on the cost implications has made my day.You seemed to have been reading my mind.

Technology has helped to reduce,or is it eliminated??, the freight costs of the books but it now seems to
be clear that this cost has been transfered to the user.Getting more computers is an option which will be cost effective in the long run, but for this one there is also the question of the electricity bill.In whatever way we look at it the question of raising funds is still there.

The printing and binding costs in our country are still quite high. So the question still remains, which is cheaper,the printing and binding costs or meeting freight charges for donated books?

Mulenga

Hi Mulenga,

You have raised an important issue about the costs of inputs being quite high in your country. If we look at it from a different perspective, the free printed books will not reach the village unless a fund of a few thousand dollars is generated to pay for the freight expenses to transport the free books from various countries to the village. By the time the books do reach the children, it may perhaps be a case of too little too late, since the children would have grown a bit older just waiting for the books to arrive.

On the other hand, if you shift your focus to downloading and printing the e-books of your choice, on demand and without any waiting, it will fulfill a greater need of the children. You can choose which books to print, the number of copies to print, and when to print. You can control the expenses through a periodic budget, and print only the quantities that your budget allows. You need not print a thousand books in a week, but gradually add to the collection. You can decide that books for older children can be read on the computer itself and need not be printed at all, or printed in much smaller quantities. Books for younger children can be printed in larger quantities. You may install a projector and project books through the computer on a large screen for a group of children to read collectively in a class, no printing is required in this case. There are endless possibilities, once the control is in your hands.

The idea of e-books is basically to encourage reduced use of paper in view of environmental concerns. A large part of the world has already shifted to a paperless environment for several business processes. The funds spent on paying for the freight can be better utilized to install more computers in the library so that children can read the books on the computers, and hence the number of books to be printed can be reduced. There can also be a greater focus on requesting donors for computers instead of printed books.

And of course, the process of books reaching the village from various donors can continue as at present, but this will no more remain critical for the reading needs of the children, since their primary needs can be met through the huge choice of free e-books that can be made available to them at very short notice from the internet.

Perhaps it is a bit far-fetched, but you may even dream of a paperless section in your library at Garden some day, where books can be read only on computers !

Someone once said - Aim for the stars, and you will certainly hit the ceiling !

I hope this is thought-provoking enough, and this might take a long time even to think about and convince others, but at least a small beginning can be made, and the rest will follow.

Vijai

Vijai- for a "stalled" task you have certainly kick-started this discussion again for us :)
Thanks for opening our eyes.
I guess Mulenga one option would be to trial the use of on-line books. For example, you could select one for the 6-7 ages range and one for the older kids, and print them and see whether it is a style of book that the kids will pick up and read or not. You could also try to calculate how much it would cost you to print and bind. Of course binding can be as basic as a stapler OR even a large clip. Or another way would be to place each page in a folder with pastic sleeves. You would need to buy the folders from a stationarty supplier but they are durable, and easy to use.
In a previous conversation we had you told me about the website that that the school kids use a lot for their school curriculum. SO in one way the kids are already doing on-line learning and on-line reading.
I suddenly got his vision of Garden library being very innovative- providing a "virtual" library for the youth! It's quite exciting!
Also- Vijai your idea about projecting a book onto a screen for the younger kids is fantastic. Mulenga-perhaps there is room in your literacy programs for this kind of activity.
Anyway..lots of food for thought! Thanks Vijai.

Hi Carolyn,

It was a pleasure to read your message. I can already visualize the transformation in the lives of the children at Garden merely through a state-of-the-art library. To take it to the next level, allow me to suggest what I visualize six months from now in this library.

One of the rooms in this library has 10 computer terminals all connected to a common server. All terminals are connected to the server though a LAN (Local Area Network). Only one internet connection is provided, which is at the server end. Downloading of rights-free e-books from the internet is done by the librarian who controls the server. These books will be stored in the server. Children rush to this e-library immediately after school. They immediately rush to the librarian, who allots them one hour each on any vacant terminal. The children read any book of their choice from what is stored in the server. The only restriction is that a person can get only one hour on a terminal at a time, to allow others to use the facility. Hence at a time at least 10 people will be reading a book each of their choice on the computer, and during 8 hours each day at least 100 people can use this facility for one hour each. How much can this cost ? Hardware prices are not so high, and the above arrangement for 10 terminals connected to a common server will cost much less than 10 stand-alone computers. Printing of books will not be required, so the only expenses would be the electricity for the computers, which will be pretty less since desktop computers use very less electricity, and the internet expenses for downloads on the server.

For this dream to be fulfilled within 6 months from now, you will need an IT professional to assist you with finalizing the specifications for the hardware, and then push for funds for an outright purchase, or for donation of the computer systems in whole or parts, and setting up the LAN and commissioning the system at site. For the price part, there is a wide range of prices depending on the brand, but suppose a desktop stand-alone computer costs US$ 400, then 10 of such stand-alone computers will be for US$ 4000 if they are new. Compared to this, the server with 10 terminal points as above and the costs for LAN all put together may be less than this amount for a new system, and it could be still lower if the computers are used, or donated.

The advantages ? - no printing so printing and paper costs are nil, no waiting for books, no waiting for donations, negligible expenses on electricity and internet, enough books to choose from, environment friendly since paper is being eliminated, and techno-savvy kids at Garden who get a better start with their education, and will later compete with the best in the world.

Meanwhile, the printing of books after downloading can be done in phases depending on the funds situation, till the inauguration of the e-library as described above. Once the e-library is commissioned, printing of the downloaded books may be done only in exceptional cases and not as a rule. to keep the expenses at negligible levels.

And once the system is fully functional, it may even be multiplied as a package in all villages. Imagine the possibilities when this happens, it will be the dawn of a new age.......

Vijai

Hi Vijai,

Thank you very much for your thoughts. Infact this morning I was telling Carolyn during our chat,the more I think about your contributions the more I see them happening at Garden.

So as you suggested our first step to to get an IT expect to work out a system we can use and at the same time try to see if we can find 10 computers so that in the next six months we can be where you see us. It can be done and I assure you we will put in our best to have done.

As Carolyn stated the Kids are already using ischool.zm for their school work and I am very sure transforming our Library to a paperless one will not be very difficult.

What do others neighbours think.

Mulenga

Hi Mulenga,

This is great ! Remember that an ocean is a lot of tiny drops, and together they make a big ocean.

With best wishes for the future.

Vijai

Hi Carolyn and Mulenga,

After the above posts, I was invited by Sushmita to join Kalna, a nabuur location at India. I have shared with her the concept of the e-library as suggested by me for Garden. I have requested her to be in touch with Mulenga for the details of execution, to see if the same can be duplicated at Kalna also.

Further to my previous posts as above, the following information shall also be useful for the e-library so that the operating expenses can be kept very low :

- Any book is to be downloaded only once from the internet and will be stored in the server hard-disk. Downloading will be done only by the librarian, and not by the children. So downloads from the internet can be controlled to keep internet expenses low.

- In addition to downloads from the internet, e-books and other learning material can also be transferred from CDs or other storage devices to the server hard-disk, and can be accessed by the children from any terminal. In this case downloads from the internet will not be involved. Hence, efforts can also be made for donations of educational CDs.

The above two methods alone will keep the operating costs of the e-library at negligible levels.

I hope the above helps.

Vijai

Vijai

Yes you are right if done this way e-library will not be expansive. The concept of repackaging is a good one especially if they only download what is needed and the library keeps a copy of whatever has been repackaged.

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DM

Hi David,

The only costs involved in the e-library will be towards the internet charges for downloading. This expenditure will be under the control of the librarian, since he will be the only person authorized to download books from the internet. He can decide how much to download based on the available budget during a period. A good number of books can be downloaded in each 1 GB download from the internet. The charges for downloads can be assessed in the local region to arrive at an estimate of the expenses. A book needs to be downloaded only once and stored on the hard-disk of the server. And over a period of time the number of books stored in the hard-disk will keep on increasing.

If educational material is available on CDs, the data can be transferred from the CDs and stored on the hard-disk. Here downloading from the internet is not involved, so expenses are nil.

Vijai

Hi Mulenga,

In case you have been unable to discuss with an IT professional about the configuration of 1 server and 10 terminals connected through a LAN, you could explore the other option of organizing stand-alone computers. These stand-alone computers could be added to the library as and when they are delivered to you. I am keen to know the existing number of computers at your location, their hard-disk capacities in GB, and their present use.

I am of the opinion that this e-library at Garden must be considered as a pilot project, and could be later duplicated at all other nabuur locations worldwide.

Let's hope it works out.

Vijai