Moi University received book donation from Textbooks for Change (T4C), Canada at the Margret Thatcher Library through the collaboration with Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, Canada and the 39 Country Initiative.
The donation was officially received on February 6, 2018 and flagged off to the branch libraries by Deputy Vice Chancellor Student Affairs, Prof. Nathan Ogechi and Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, Research and Extension, Prof. Isaac Kimengi, who represented the Vice Chancellor.
Others present were Dr. Charles Lagat, Director International Programmes, Linkages and Alumni (IPLA) Mr. S. Mutai, Deputy University Librarian, Prof. Joshua Kwonyike, Deputy Principal Bomet University College, Prof. Saul Sitati Namango, Director, Eldoret West Campus, Prof. Lucy Rono, Ag. Dean School of Business and Economics and librarians from Annex Campus, Kitale Campus and College of Health Sciences.
The first shipment of a 40 feet container carrying 28, 000 books worth Sh50 million from T4C was donated to Moi University on October 16, 2015. Dr. Lagat thanked T4C for the second shipment to Moi University this month.
Dr. Lagat said T4C had made four shipments to universities in Africa including Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (Ghana), Riara University (Kenya) and Moi University (Kenya). Acting on the feedback from the Library regarding the quality and usefulness of the first donation, the Directorate of IPLA wrote to T4C in 2017 soliciting for a second book donation to provide additional reading materials.
T4C accepted to send a shipment of about 25,000 books to Moi University worth Sh75 million. T4C covered all the expenses of collecting the books and processing the container for shipment from London, Ontario, Canada to Mombasa Port.
Moi University was responsible for shipping costs, clearing the shipment from Mombasa Port and covering local transport cost to the University. The container arrived at Moi University on December 8, 2017.
The shipment contained books in various fields of study including Business and Finance, Science and Agriculture, Mathematics and Engineering, Social Sciences, Languages and Health Sciences.
Prof. Ogechi thanked T4C for the donation and the Directorate of IPLA for sourcing the books. He emphasized the need for the books to be fitted with security codes to minimize theft and loss from the Library. Prof. Ogechi further urged the alumni to contribute to the growth of the Library through book donations.
Prof Kimengi in his remarks thanked the team for sacrificing for the sake of the well-being of staff and students and that the donation had made it possible for the University to meet the Council for University Education (CUE) requirement of availing sufficient books for research to learners. Prof Kimengi reiterated the importance of the Library, noting that it is the University’s heart.
T4C is a B corporation that collects donated textbooks from drop boxes on post-secondary campuses and from student club collection drives. Close to half of the donated textbooks are sent to African universities in dire need of the quality educational materials.
The corporation was founded in 2012 by the CEO Chris Janssen who is a recent graduate from the Richard Ivey School of Business after receiving certificates in both entrepreneurship and sustainability.
The co-founder Tom Hartford (CFO) is also a graduate of Western University with a degree in Finance. Janssen paid a visit to Moi University in July 2017.