Digital Libraries are important for Africa as they will enable the creation of local content, strengthen the mechanisms and capacity of civil society, and increase the portability, efficiency of access, flexibility, availability and preservation of content.

In this context the free and open source software (FOSS) Greenstone digital library software suite, whose development and distribution are coordinated by the University of Waikato in New Zealand, provides a unique resource to promote the development of digital libraries in Africa. Greenstone is a user-friendly, multi-lingual, multi-platform package for the assembling electronic documents into digital collections and for publishing these collections on the Web or on CD-ROM. It accepts documents in a wide range of proprietary and standard formats, supports numerous standards for document and metadata exchange, including compliance with OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting), and readily converts bibliographic databases created under UNESCO's CDS/ISIS package into publishable digital libraries, including the full texts of the referenced documents if available.

In 2007-2008 an eIFL.net Greenstone pilot project funded by the Koha Foundation trained librarians and archivists from 10 countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and started a regional support network (SA Greenstone for short) consisting of five national centres at university libraries or affiliated organisations in Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
In its turn the SA Greenstone support network facilitated UNESCO coordinated Greenstone training in 2008 in the Seychelles (Madagascar, Mauritius) and Kenya. The net result has been a rising awareness of the new opportunities digitised collections offer by way of digital libraries, some initial signs of Greenstone applications benefiting end-users, and positive experiences of national centres providing follow-up support.  

Extending the network, enhancing support, and expanding the number of operational Greenstone collections

During 2009-2010 eIFL-FOSS is facilitating the Southern African Greenstone Support Network project, generously supported by the Koha Foundation, which will:

• strengthen the existing national centres and networks in southern Africa through centre specific investments and activities
  
• start longer term support of other African countries' use of Greenstone through the expertise located in existing national centres through an array of means ranging from remote assistance to on-site visits as well as facilitating locally organised training
• extend the network by facilitating candidate national centres in organising start-up training for their country along with neighbouring ones and setting up support
• actively seek the network's expertise and support to grow the numbers of operational Greenstone digital collections, benefiting both creation and access of African local content 
• work towards a self-reliant and self-sufficient network of national centres in a broad landscape of libraries, archives and museums by 2010
  

Project organisation

The project is regionally coordinated by Amos Kujenga of NUST Library (Zimbabwe), working in conjunction with Repke de Vries, the eIFL.net Southern African Greenstone Coordinator. A Steering Committee with national centre representatives among others will guide project execution and foster a healthy Support Network benefiting digital library services for all.