Since the number of people heading to public libraries has been dwindling in the era of e-books and audio books, Karnataka has decided to take its libraries to people the digital way.

Karnataka has a vast network of public libraries, all of which will now go digital. A total of 272 public libraries will now be armed with technology and digital facilities, each provided with two desktops, four tablets and wifi-connectivity.

Over one lakh publications have been hosted on a cloud-based software and can be accessed both online as well as through the ‘e-Sarvajanika Granthalaya’ app.

According to the Department of Education, “This is a first of its kind project in the country where a state-level initiative has been taken to digitise and provide access for learning on such a large scale”.

Aimed at turning these spaces into digital learning hubs, the libraries also provide study materials for competitive exams as well as e-books of school curriculum of different boards.