Newsletters – Book Bunk

The Book Bunk

We build libraries.

My name is Lavin Adhiambo Atieno and I am studying to be an accountant. I have been a user of the McMillan Library for the longest time and even borrowed books from this library. Here at Book Bunk, I am a research intern and I have been taking photos for this digitisation project. I had never done photography before but I have come to really enjoy it. Working on this project has given me a deep appreciation and understanding of our country’s history and the steps we have taken as Kenya. For example, while looking through these archives, I was surprised that we had a Governor who was not Kenyan - which does not make sense. I hope that this work continues and more Kenyans get the chance to learn about our country’s history.

📸 by Quaint Photography
📍McMillan Memorial Library, Banda Street

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Since November 2020, we have been digitising archives at the McMillan Memorial Library. We have worked with 14 interns so far to digitise and protect some crucial archives identified as part of our cataloguing process throughout 2019, which created the libraries’ first-ever digital catalogue consisting of 137,705 items. This digitisation project is supported by British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, and is delivered in partnership with Africa Digital Heritage and BESIC Group Ltd. We celebrate all the great people who are making this work possible - our everyday #NRBLibraries heroes!

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The Book Bunk

Hey, I’m Namanda Dennis and I studied Informational Studies and Library Science. I joined Book Bunk as an inventory intern and have been part of digitising these important archives. I enjoy organising events and have a clothing brand - Naltanfashion. I was really surprised by how interesting the digitisation process has been and also finding really old materials and archives in this library. For example, I found an intact copy of the Kenya gazette of 1932, which is really cool! What comes to mind when I think about this moment years later is how it all began and how no one had an idea what we were trying to do. I will also look back and hope that people will know what this library was like before Book Bunk came in. One pro-tip I’ve learnt through this process is; if you want to run something don’t add hierarchies but instead choose to work as a team.

📸 Naltan_empire by Quaint Photography
📍McMillan Memorial Library, Banda Street

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Since November 2020, we have been digitising archives at the McMillan Memorial Library. We have worked with 14 interns so far to digitise and protect some crucial archives identified as part of our cataloguing process throughout 2019, which created the libraries’ first-ever digital catalogue consisting of 137,705 items. This digitisation project is supported by British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, and is delivered in partnership with Africa Digital Heritage and BESIC Group Ltd. We celebrate all the great people who are making this work possible - our everyday #NRBLibraries heroes!

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The Book Bunk

My name is Effie Wanjir and I am a research intern at Book Bunk. I initially joined as an Events intern, which was my first gig since graduating from university. I’d never heard of the other McMillan branches in Makadara and Kaloleni and I’d like more people to know about these libraries. For this digitisation project, I’ve been involved in putting in metadata - which is information about each digitised item in the library. I’ve found this work challenging because we are sifting through lot of sensitive data. But, I like the challenge because we are building Kenya’s history.
To be honest, I am not an avid reader, but some of the books that have caught my eye in the library are books on art and art history, I hope one day we can have these books also accessible to people online. I think looking back at this moment, I’ll always remember the team and the different personalities - a lot of good vibes and people made this work so much fun!

📸 Effie Wanjir by Quaint Photography
📍McMillan Memorial Library, Banda Street

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Since November 2020, we have been digitising archives at the McMillan Memorial Library. We have worked with 14 interns so far to digitise and protect some crucial archives identified as part of our cataloguing process throughout 2019, which created the libraries’ first-ever digital catalogue consisting of 137,705 items. This digitisation project is supported by British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, and is delivered in partnership with Africa Digital Heritage and BESIC Group Ltd. We celebrate all the great people who are making this work possible - our everyday #NRBLibraries heroes!

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The Book Bunk

I am Orpah Agunda, a Kaloleni girl, or should I say a Kaloleni mother? I am a mother of five, born and raised in Kaloleni, a teacher by profession and I am part of the inventory team at Book Bunk. I have a strong attachment to the Kaloleni because I used the library as a child and my children currently use it too. In this digitisation work, I have been taking photos and I like it. It is a new experience and I have gained a skill that I will be using outside of work especially in taking birthday photos for my kids. my twins just turned 4 this month! I think libraries have a lot of knowledge that anyone from any group or age can access and it is very important we make this knowledge easy for people to access. As a resident of Kaloleni, I am proud of the work we do and the change we have caused. Book Bunk has changed the library and the perception of people about the library. These days, you can find people passing the library taking selfies because it looks nice on the outside. I like that when I walk through Kaloleni, people look at me as part of that change. I feel as if I have done my part in society. It’s a big thing for me. Thank you Shiro and Wachuka. You are my heroes.

📸 @Orpah Agunda by Quaint Photography
📍McMillan Memorial Library, Banda Street

Ps: Orpah tells us stories from Kaloleni on episode 2 of A Palace for The People, our brand new podcast. Tune in here: https://www.bookbunk.org/podcast/episode-2-little-palaces-2/!

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Since November 2020, we have been digitising archives at the McMillan Memorial Library. We have worked with 14 interns so far to digitise and protect some crucial archives identified as part of our cataloguing process throughout 2019, which created the libraries’ first-ever digital catalogue consisting of 137,705 items. This digitisation project is supported by British Council's Cultural Protection Fund, and is delivered in partnership with @Africa Digital Heritage and the Built Environment Surveyors & Infrastructure Consultancy (BESIC) Group. We celebrate all the great people who are making this work possible - our everyday #NRBLibraries heroes!

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The Book Bunk

My name is Evelyne Wangechi. I am a research intern involved in the digitisation process and very proud to be part of it. I was born and raised in the coastal region and had never heard of the McMillan Library or been inside - which is sad because this is an iconic building. I watch a lot of movies and so it was interesting finding out that some of the movies I’ve watched are books too and are in this library. My background is in International Relations, so before Book Bunk, I interned at the Ministry of East African Community. Going through the pages we are digitising, I think, as a country, we know so little about our colonial history. For example, I found a record of all government staff in the 1950s and I couldn’t find the name of a single African. It is so profound learning about the levels we were colonized and how we had no voice. I hope through this work, we will give Kenyans access not just to the library but also access to books that represent us. We need more people to know about these libraries, about Book Bunk and what we are doing. It’s important work.

Handle: Evelyne Wangechi
📸 Credit: Quaint Photography
Location: McMillan Memorial Library, Banda Street

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Since November 2020, we have been digitising archives at the McMillan Memorial Library. We have worked with 14 interns so far to digitise and protect some of this crucial archives in our beloved public library. This project is supported by British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, and is delivered in partnership with @africandheritage and the Built Environment Surveyors & Infrastructure Consultancy (BESIC) Group.🙏🏾. We celebrate all the great people who are making this work possible - our everyday #NRBLibraries heroes!

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The Book Bunk

My name is Matathia Trevas Nyambura, research and tours intern at Book Bunk. As an anthropologist, I am excited to be a part of this digitisation process because it is a full circle moment of learning a process in school and practicing it in real life. In our work we have made some interesting finds like finding an out of print book called “The Southern Kikuyu before 1903” which was personal. This is because it was a book my aunt and I had been searching for years and to imagine it was sitting in the library stuck in sacks is wild! I am also really old school, so, I have always been in the school of thought that each generation has its own responsibility to do. If you look at The McMillan generation, however controversial, did their part and built this library. The heroes who fought for our country’s independence and gave up their lives, did their part as well. So, I have to keep asking myself, what mark will I leave, and being a part of this digitisation process is my service to my generation. I want to look back at this moment and say I was a part of preserving all this important information. This is what I’ll tell my grandkids.

Handle: Trevas Matathia
Credit: Quaint Photography
Location: McMillan Memorial Library, Banda Street

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Since November 2020, we have been digitising archives at the McMillan Memorial Library. We have worked with 14 interns so far to digitise and protect some of this crucial archives in our beloved public library. This project is supported by British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, and is delivered in partnership with African Digital Heritage and the BESIC Group Ltd. We celebrate all the great people who are making this work possible - our everyday #NRBLibraries heroes!

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