Rwandans can now have free access to over 500 books through their smart devices following the launch of a mobile library platform, yesterday, at Innovation Village, situated on top of the National Library complex in Kacyiru.

Organised under the theme, "A reader today, a leader tomorrow,” the event attracted publishers, ICT technocrats, students and dignitaries from different domains.

Speaking at the launch, the State Minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Olivier Rwamukwaya, said promoting the reading culture through the use of ICT is the modern way to convey information to students.

He said that most students already have ICT devices in schools and they only have to be taught how to maximise them.

"Although we have distributed laptops at both primary and secondary level, it is now time to develop a master plan of helping students use the devices better,” Rwamukwaya said.

The library for all platforms is a result of a partnership between the Imbuto Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of the efforts to transform the country’s library services and reading culture into the digital era.

Rwamukwaya also commended the different partners for working to promote the electronic libraries in schools.

"We are collaborating with the different partners to help us equip schools but sooner than later, we shall move from One Laptop Per Child to One Identity per Child under the Smart Classrooms,” Rwamukwaya added.

Diyana Gitera, the deputy director general of Imbuto Foundation, said the initiative was introduced with the purpose of promoting the reading campaign that is organised annually with the idea of encouraging people to start reading at a young age.

"Our partners use materials that we all know and we can offer to young people to be able to use digital-oriented material that are of their interest,” Gitera said.

She added that these materials are relevant to Rwandans and will be provided and accessed through mobile devices.

Verna Eggleston, from Research and Development at Bloomberg Philanthropies, said that one of the primary pillars of good life is access to information.

"Once you have access to information you can live a good life this natural connection lines with our strategies to work very closely with the government,” Eggleston said.

Tanyella Evans, the co-founder of ‘Library for All’ said that Rwanda is leading a technology revolution in Africa with 70 per cent mobile penetration and an ambitious plan to have every school connected to the internet by 2020.

"In this context, a mobile library platform would ensure  surety to both local and international publishers without having to worry about piracy,” Evans said.

However, Stephen Mugisha, the chairperson of the publishers association, emphasised that electronic content is not coming to replace the physical, hence publishers won’t lose their jobs.

"Currently, the leading sources of information supply are physical books that may be hard to access but will still exist. Digital content is just to promote the dissemination hence publishers do not have to worry,” Mugisha said.

Serge Musabyimana, a senior three student from GS Gisozi, welcomed the e platform of reading, saying it will enable him practice his reading skills.

"At school we have laptops and I think we can also incorporate this application and use it to download more books,” Musabyimana said.