Children and residents in rural areas in Samoa with little access to external libraries will not have to worry anymore as they can now access a digital library.
The Minister of Education Sports and Culture, Seuula Ioane launched the Samoa Digital Library (SADIL) at the National University of Samoa on Monday.
The project is jointly funded by the UN agencies under the Indian UN development partnership fund and is one of the components of the Samoa Knowledge Society Initiative project.
The aim of the SADIL is to provide reliable and accurate information for the public for research, students work and for making inform decision, and inform the world in daily lives.
“I am told that digital library is linked to external libraries as well as links to local resources,” Seuula said.
“In addition, the digital library is trial in the education sector and extended to the ministries and later for all citizens of Samoa.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a heavy reliance on online technology for working and earning. Hence the digital library is timely with its wealth of digital resources providing online access to information for work, for education and for use in our daily lives.”
This national project was started in 2018 and is a joint effort by UN agencies and the Government of Samoa Ministries including the National University of Samoa under the goal, ‘Knowledge is power’.
“Therefore access to quality information empowers people to make the right choices and the right decisions and hence ensuring and empower knowledge in society,” Seuula added.
Seuula also acknowledged the UNDP for coordinating and implementing this valuable project and the NUS for hosting the project.
A student resident in Upolu, Seilala Tiatia was delighted to hear the good news. He attends the National University of Samoa.
“It’s always been a challenge traveling back and forth between the islands when we need to go to the Nelson library for our internal assessments for school,” he said.
“Not only it takes time but it’s also very expensive for us in Manono island who mainly rely on the sea for source of income.
“Now that there’s a digital library, why else do we need to travel when we can just spend at least $5 or $2 on a phone data and search for a book.”
The digital library is accessible for anyone and is free of charge. Even a fisherman on the sea can browse a book from his canoe and read.
The demonstration of how to use the digital library can be found on the NUS Broadcast Facebook page in one of its’ livestream videos on Monday, 17 January 2022.