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{
    "id": 1483093,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1483093/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 257,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wajir North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ibrahim Saney",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. The National Library Service Bill, 2023 is quite straightforward. We appreciate that the library service is a devolved function and most of the libraries have been devolved to the counties. This Bill attempts to bring a different tier that is concerned with policy development, regulations, making sure that standards are maintained and that there is an inspectorate service to oversee the library services in the country. Library services are an important thing all over the world. Libraries enhance literacy and education. They are, indeed, the repository of education. All that we go through in school is sourced mainly from books and so, libraries are the repository of education. Libraries also help in access to information. Access to information is a right. For sure, most of information is acquired from books that are written. Although there are challenges of going virtual, books and libraries in their entirety serve as an important source of access to information. Libraries do the role of cultural and historical preservation of our society. However, there are challenges that are facing the libraries today. Physical libraries are no longer enticing. They are not friendly. Library services have gone digital and virtual. There is a challenge in making sure that we have virtual libraries and database management of technologies that are involved to make our libraries up to date. Automation of what is in books and making sure that they are virtual in the internet is also a big challenge. As a member of a nomadic community, how pastoralist communities will take advantage of the library services is a big concern. We from northern Kenya in the arid and semi-arid (ASAL) areas know that there is a higher degree of illiteracy there. Given that internet services are limited and the old physical structures that were libraries are inadequate and were not in the northern frontier districts, how will library services reach the nomadic communities? How can they go in tandem with the livelihood of the pastoralists? Pastoralists are Kenyans. They are entitled to every right that is available to the residents of Kenya. So, there is no excuse in telling us that there are challenges because we are nomads and they cannot access library services. The Government must conceive friendly noble ways of making sure that information and library services are available to the pastoralists child however complicated their livelihood is or whether they are on the move 24/7 since access to education has nothing to do with livelihood. It is a right and it shall remain a right. One other big challenge to the library services is under-staffing. It has limited staff. It is time for the library sector to make sure that they get human capital and human resource that is trained in information sciences. They should not be so averse to the fact that there are new challenges to the frontier of library services in terms of technology and digital concerns. Those are the skills that are required to make sure that there is the right manpower to manage library services at the county level, or the one that is envisaged to be developed at the urban centres at the national level. Another big challenge is the quality of information and materials in the libraries. What you find in libraries today is as old as the books of Shakespeare. They are old books. Education has been transforming daily, monthly and annually. Things have been changing. The world is changing rapidly and yet, what we have in our libraries is old outdated information. Scientific concepts that have been overtaken by time are still there. There is need to make sure that we, at least, showcase that there is a trajectory from that point to a new development as much as those old books are still required for reference purposes. However, we still need new books. We need to equip our libraries with new books that will make sure that new facts and advances are brought to the fore for our children to take advantage of. Authenticity is a big concern in our library services. The social media has complicated issues. Anything can go viral and people will take it as information. Wikipedia has become a kind of ... In universities, there is a mistake of quoting Wikipedia as an authority. That is a big challenge. Anybody under three years can go to Google and input information in the internet. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}