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24.01.2011 Technology

E-library Project Outdoored In Accra

24.01.2011 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

An electronic library (e-library) project has been outdoored in Accra to cater for the textbook and literary needs of students.

The project is expected to revolutionalise student research and bring relief to both parents and students, especially polytechnic and university students.

Introducing the e-library concept and how it will aid students in their academic and research work, Mr Atta Boateng, Co-ordinator of the project said over 500,000 academic textbooks covering a wide range of subjects from Medicine, Law, Business & Economics, Engineering, Agriculture, Education and Sports, Science, Mathematics, Humanities, Anthropology, English Literature have been put together for university and polytechnic students in Ghana by ghanalibrary.com.

For the first time, and in tune with the demands of this electronic age, he urged Ghanaian students to consider themselves lucky to have an online library from where they could print, share and copy books anywhere in the country.

Further, books could be downloaded onto personal computers and pen drives, taking the cost out of photocopying.

Tertiary institutions often lack the required textbooks for their course works. And even if they are, they are expensive in the book-stores or are in bad condition.

He said ghanalibrary.com was therefore established to ensure that Ghanaian students have a competitive advantage by having the same quality and current books accessible at the touch of a keyboard as students in top universities around the world.

He added that “ghanalibrary.com is about service. 'If a book a student is looking for is not available in the library upon request, the book will be made available within 24 hours.

'The service is available for GH¢15 per semester and students can start accessing the library from January 20. On registering, a student is provided with a scratch-card which doubles as a library card.

“In addition, we are doing something we ordinarily would not be doing, that is giving the first 200 students to register a handsome discount scratch cards for accessing the library can be obtained from the porters' lodges of all halls of residence, local SRC offices throughout the country,' he said.

Mr Boateng said registration can be done on www.ghanalibrary.com.

The library also offers dictionary services to students from websites when they want a definition of a word, and an encyclopedia if they want the word explained.

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