| dc.description.abstract | Public libraries are a part of the ideological apparatus of the
state. The history of public libraries in Kenya is seen as essentially
determined by political developments and as dependent on the growth
and control of the state apparatus. They were only established when
needed to support the activities of the state.
In Chapter 1, the form that a public library might take and the
definition of the term public library is discussed. The commonly-held
assumptions about its role and how these concepts changed and evolved
during the 19th and 20th centuries is examined. As a colony, Kenya
was greatly influenced by ideas from outside.
Public library development in Kenya is seen as falling into
three distinct eras - the period up to World War 1, the inter-war
period, 1914-1939, and the post-war period leading to the establishment
of a national library service in 1965. Within each period, political
developments and the growth of the state are analysed in detail and are
shown to explain the parallel developments in the setting up of
libraries of a public nature.
The early period was one of pacification and settlement. The
apparatus of the state was far from crystallized. Libraries were
founded in clubs or through philanthropy; they were on a small scale.
Between the wars, racial divisions between the main communities - the
Europeans, the Indians and the Africans - became entrenched, with the
Europeans remaining in the ascendant. The apparatus of the state was
strengthened both at the central and local level, and there was state
intervention in areas like finance and education. Libraries developed,
like other social services, on a communal basis and were given financial
ii
support by both central and local government. An examination of some
European libraries shows that Europeans in Kenya received a library
service of excellent quality. After the Second World War, Africans
in Kenya began pressure for control of the state. To begin with, the
government tried a policy of allowing limited advances under European
control. The African Library Service was part of this policy. Once
Britain accepted in 1960 the idea of independence under an African
majority, it offered support for the setting up of a national library
service, as part and parcel of its strategy of decolonization. The
establishment of Kenya National Library Service was thus determined by
British support. It failed to replace or integrate the existing
public libraries, whose services then began to deteriorate. | en |
