The Library Landscape in Kenya.

The Library Landscape in Kenya.
The network of public libraries in Kenya is expanding slowly but steadily. More than 10 percent of the population are registered users of a library. Sometimes one has to be creative to reach the people outside the urban centres.
Prior to colonization, the Kenyan population thrived on oral transmission of knowledge, skills and cultural traditions. Older people served the same purpose that schools and libraries do today. Foreigners introduced libraries to serve their own needs. The earliest libraries included the Sir Seif Bin Salim Public Library and Reading Room (1903) in Mombasa and Desai Memorial Library (1942) in Nairobi. These two were designated for Arabs and Asians while the Lady McMillan Library in Nairobi (1931) served Europeans.
In 1948 the East African Literature Bureau (EALB) set up the first library for Kenyan Africans in Nairobi. The EALB had been set up to serve Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Its mandate was to encourage African authorship, publish materials in vernacular languages, and establish libraries. It was later disbanded and each of the three countries set up its library bureau. Read more