The National Information Technology Authority of Uganda (NITA-U), has launched and handed over a Management Information System (MIS) to the National Library of Uganda today, May 18, 2023, in a bid to fulfill their mandate to automate systems and processes to improve service delivery by the government.

Caroline A. Mugisha, Director of Regulations and Legal Services at NITA-U, said that this system will enable the publishers to acquire online standard book numbers (ISBN) recognized internationally. This has the potential to improve the preservation and ease of retrieval of materials published in Uganda, by Ugandans, and about Uganda.

The National Library of Uganda (NLU) is responsible for collecting, organizing, preserving, and disseminating Uganda’s documented heritage. The institution is also charged with the responsibility of providing standard serial numbers to publishers in Uganda and storing national and foreign government publications for the preservation of culture and intellectual output.

The automated system solution streamlines the application, issuance, and storage of books in Uganda and will provide an efficient and convenient way to serve publishers, authors, readers, and researchers in Uganda.

The system will also provide for legal deposits and a digital library to bridge the information gap within the institution and improve access to digital library on materials by Ugandan publishers.

According to Caroline A. Mugisha the Director Regulations and Legal Services, the system will also improve reporting as the solution will provide data on ISBN for analytics, increase the consistency of ISBN, and improve the availability of digital libraries.

Adonia Katungisa the Director of the National Library of Uganda, said that the ISBN is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published nationally or internationally. The ISBNs are issued to authors and publishers on request (application). The system has the capability to support walk-in publishers who, for one reason or another, are unable to place online applications on their own.

Under the National Library Act, 2003, every publisher of a book or document in Uganda is required to deposit with the National Library 3 copies of the book or document, 1 copy of the videogram or film, or 10 copies in the case of a government department. The system will also support the upload of these digital copies at NLU.

From the legal deposits, the NLU compiles the National Bibliography of Uganda, which is a record of the collections published in a given year. This helps to raise awareness of the available information materials and promote the sale of these books within and outside Uganda.

The systems will automatically compile data from publishers on the platform and provide some of the most updated information.