Video generously donated by Ryan Romkema

Our customized pocket libraries:

• deliver the right information
• to the right hands
• at the right time.      

The eGranary Pocket Library is a collection of customized educational web-based resources developed by experienced digital librarians and computer programmers at The WiderNet Project. The collections are curated onto portable chips and intended for use with devices in areas where Internet access is impossible or impractical.

"In places like Sierre Leone, 1.7% of the population has Internet, so this is the best way for most people to get access to information."
-- Mashable

"Everything looks and acts like the internet, but all offline."
-- Christian Science Monitor

"The eGranary Pocket Library hopes to help close the digital divide - those communities with access to digital technology, and those without."
-- Versus

Beyond the Reaches of The Internet

In much of the developing world, there is no access to educational opportunities: no Internet, sparsely stocked libraries, out of date books and journals, and no connection to the world of information most of us access with the click of a mouse.

Billions of people are starving for information; literally dying for a lack of knowledge. If someone cannot access information on how to properly dig a well, for example, they run the risk of spreading disease.

Our pocket libraries provide critical information to those most in need of these educational resources.

Information for All, Customized to Individual Needs

The WiderNet Project is dedicated to providing educational resources for everyone. However, for inexperienced populations, using the Internet for the first time can be overwhelming - a bit like drinking from a fire hose.

We've learned that offering smaller, customized, verified, and organized sets of information allows people to more efficiently find what they are seeking.

With the eGranary Pocket Library, we make it easier for librarians, educators, and volunteers around the world to organize information into small portable chip-size collections that can be simply copied to the patron’s flash memory or internal drive in a laptop, tablet, or smart phone.

DONATE NOW!

Your donation will provide a student or village health worker a wealth of information at their fingertips!

We need your help to build the "Next Generation" eGranary: Pocket Libraries.

We will use your contribution to support the development of multiple collections with partners worldwide, developing new crowd source technology and interfaces so experts from the local communities can work with colleagues around the world to build the most appropriate collections for the communities they serve.

This three-year project will have students and volunteers at the WiderNet Project working with colleagues in underserved areas in the U.S. and the developing world to develop dozens of chip-sized collections that focus on topics like language and literacy, life skills, vocational education, IT skills, health sciences, math, science, and more.

Experienced librarians and programmers will be recruited for each collection, along with volunteers and representatives of the target populations. We are not simply creating a software that distributes random information, aka "shovelware," but instead thoughtfully curated, catalogued and searchable libraries containing practical and essential resources.

SPONSOR A POCKET LIBRARY!

"Chip In" to build a library!

 Up to 100,000 educational resources that fit onto a single chip.

• $500 to be highlighted in the collection as a champion.
• $10,000 to sponsor a collection.
• $15,000 to sponsor a collection on the topic of your choice

TED Talks Featured on the eGranary!

TED talks, big ideas in short Internet videos, are about to spread even further thanks to a collaboration with the eGranary Digital Library!

All 1,900 TED talks will be included in the next release of the off-line “Internet in a Box” that is used in over 1,000 locations that lack adequate Internet access in places like Africa and India.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Map showing distribution of IP addresses worldwide. (Image courtesy of John Matherly of Shodan)  

Though internet coverage has increased exponentially in developed countries, it has lagged far behind in the developing world with wide disparities in global connectivity.

In 2011, the United Nations reported that while more than half of the wealthy world is online, a mere 15 percent of people in developing countries are connected. The WiderNet Project is “building a bridge across the digital divide” in order to attack information poverty and encourage education, research and collaboration.

Our Goals

Technical Specifications

The Story of The eGranary Digital Library

We have been distributing our off-line libraries to underserved populations for 14 years. We call our library the “eGranary” because it stores the seeds of knowledge much like a granary stores seeds. With almost 1,000 installations, we have reached millions of users to date.

The eGranary houses 32 million documents including the entire Wikipedia website, materials from the Khan Academy, and much, much more. Our eGranary is invaluable to hospitals, schools, and libraries in developing nations from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and in rural areas and prisons here in America. And WiderNet has plans to expand locally by installing eGranaries in low income housing communities.

In 2000, poor Internet access in Africa inspired Cliff Missen, a Professor of Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill, to begin the WiderNet project, with the goal of bringing computing capability and substantial information resources to the five billion people who lack sufficient Internet access.

Focusing on low-cost information technology alternatives for the world’s poor, The WiderNet Project provides both hardware and specialized training. The innovative cornerstone of the project is the eGranary Digital Library, or “Internet in a Box:” A single eGranary can serve thousands of users and have profound benefits.

With our pocket libraries, the eGranary will no longer be confined to a central server location, but will be able to be shared via smartphones, tablets, laptops and flash drives.

With every eGranary we include easy-to-use tools that allow local users to create and upload their own content.

Our Content Includes Resources From

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