Phase one of a multimillion-rand libraries project to shore up Internet connectivity in SA is complete, Vodacom announced this morning.
The National Department of Arts and Culture project, driven and managed by the National Library of SA (NLSA), is being implemented in the North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. Upon completion, it will equip 300 community libraries with free Internet using VSAT and Vodacom ADSL services.
NLSA CIO and head of the project, Lesiba Ledwaba, says it came into being when the organisation was implementing the SITA/NLSA open source Library Information Management System (LIMS). “There's a need for all our libraries countrywide to communicate with each other and have access to one another's collections. Before the roll-out of LIMS, it was noted that there were many libraries without connectivity, so connectivity for LIMS became a priority.”
Ledwaba says the next logical step was to extend Internet connectivity services to local communities. “With so many schools, especially those in rural areas, without libraries or connectivity of their own, it became clear we could really start to make a difference in the education and lifestyle of these rural communities.”
Managing executive of Vodacom Business Services, Chris Lazarus, says NLSA partnered with Meso ICT Solutions to implement the project across the first three provinces. Each library will have an average of 14 connected workstations.
Meso Group CEO Thibedi Mogoba says a 1MB pipe has been installed at each library that has been connected so far. The North West now has 64 libraries on VSAT and 36 on ADSL, Mpumalanga has 86 on VSAT and eight on ADSL, and Limpopo has 50 on VSAT and 18 on ADSL.
The project is in line with the national objective of socio-economic transformation, to enable all levels of society in SA to gain access to knowledge and information. Lazarus says libraries have seen job-hunters, school pupils and SMEs making use of Internet services.
“Connectivity is more than access to the Internet. It provides citizens with information, knowledge and resources that can literally change their lives. The fact that they can now access the wealth of information available globally, for free, brings the outside world that much closer to their everyday lives. This project is a milestone in our education and social services sectors, bringing information to the most remote rural communities.”
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