Embracing Openness in African Libraries: How Librarians and Open Knowledge Advocates Are Shaping the Future of Open Knowledge in Africa with the support of the Creative Commons Open Culture Platform Activity Fund

In 2025, a simple idea grew into something much bigger than expected. What started as a plan to train just 45 librarians on open licensing and digitization quickly transformed into a continent-wide movement. By the end of the project, more than 180 librarians across Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana had come together to preserve, digitize, and openly license Africa’s cultural heritage.

Through the project “Embracing Openness in African Libraries through open licensing digitisation in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana” , librarians were introduced to copyright basics, Creative Commons licenses, digitization workflows, and practical ways to share public-domain materials on Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource. Supported by the Creative Commons Open Culture Platform Activity Fund and delivered in collaboration with the Learnovation Foundation Network and library institutions across the three countries, the project helped bridge long-standing knowledge gaps and sparked a renewed commitment to open cultural heritage work in Africa.The team behind this effort included: Bukola O. James (Nigeria), Esther Nganga (Kenya), Oby Ezeilo (Nigeria), and Alhassan Mohammed Awal (Ghana).

Building Capacity Across Borders

Between May and November 2025, the team hosted a series of structured online training sessions for GLAM professionals. The curriculum covered four core areas:

• National copyright laws and their limitations
  
• Creative Commons licensing and public-domain principles
  
• Practical use of Wikisource and Wikimedia Commons
  
• A case study on the digitization journey of the Kenya National Library
  

These sessions weren’t just theoretical. Participants formed a working group to apply what they learned, eventually uploading:

• Over 79 media files to Wikimedia Commons
  
• 41 public-domain books, digitized and shared openly
  
• 33 works documented or improved on Wikisource
  
• These contributions fed directly into the global Open Heritage Statement (formally, TAROCH) initiative, thereby, strengthening Africa’s presence in the open knowledge ecosystem.

To recognize their efforts, participants who contributed significantly to the uploading, digitizing, or improving public-domain materials received certificates, which helps to build a stronger community of open-access champions across the continent.

Key Outcomes at a Glance

1. Training Beyond Expectations

Instead of 45 participants, more than 180 librarians joined the sessions, which was made possible through a webinar platform upgrade and 10 well-structured online training sessions.

2. Creation of Open, Reusable Resources

The team developed a suite of openly licensed training materials covering copyright, Creative Commons, digitization processes, and Wikimedia documentation. These guides and slides are now available on Meta for global reuse.

3. Real-World Digitization Impact

Participants put their skills to use immediately:

• Over 79 uploads to Wikimedia Commons
  
• 41 openly licensed, digitized books
  
• 33 works on Wikisource

This clearly shows a growing commitment to preserving and sharing local knowledge openly

4. Stronger Documentation and Transparency

A detailed project roadmap, dedicated meta page, clear timelines, weekly check-ins, and global presentations at Wikimania Nairobi and the GLAM Wiki Conference in Lisbon helped ensure visibility, accountability, and long-term sustainability.

Lessons Learned

• There is a strong appetite for open knowledge skills. Many GLAM professionals are eager to learn but often lack structured support.
  
• Creative Commons licensing remains new to many librarians. With guided training, participants quickly became confident advocates.
  
• Good documentation supports sustainability. Roadmaps, recorded sessions, and meta pages helped keep everyone aligned and ensured resources remained accessible.
  

Hands-on practice is transformative. The most impactful learning happened when librarians digitized materials, created metadata, and uploaded works themselves.

Surprises Along the Way

• Interest was far greater than expected, which then required the team to adapt quickly.
  
• Cross-country collaboration happened organically and participants formed WhatsApp peer-support group to troubleshoot uploads and share tips.
  
• Some institutions rediscovered dormant digitization projects with much appreciation for this training.

Challenges We Navigated

• Infrastructure gaps: Limited internet access and insufficient scanners required flexible approaches, equipment rentals, and offline guides.
  
• Different copyright laws: Working across three countries meant providing country-specific support which wasn’t an easy task for the team.
  
• Busy schedules: Many librarians needed recordings to catch up due to full-time workloads.
  
• Metadata inconsistencies: Participants had varying levels of comfort with metadata standards for Wikimedia platforms, requiring additional support during upload processes.

Recommendations for Future Work

• Invest in local scanning equipment to increase digitization output.
  
• Translate training materials into local languages to deepen understanding.
  
• Offer ongoing mentorship, not just one-off training events.
  
• Strengthen collaborations with national libraries and institutional digitization units.
  
• Develop a shared pan-African open knowledge toolkit for consistent cross-country training.

A Call to Action: Let’s Localize Openness

This project showed that openness flourishes when communities unite around shared goals. Now we are inviting the wider Wikimedia and open-culture communities to help make these resources truly global.

We call on:

• Wikimedia affiliates
  
• Creative Commons chapters
  
• Librarians, archivists, and GLAM professionals
  
• Language communities and open culture activists
  
• Anyone passionate about preserving heritage
  

Join us by translating and localizing our open training guides, slide decks, and digitization resources. Let’s ensure these materials reach, and empower, the communities whose cultural heritage they document.

Many of the books indexed through this project still need transcription, proofreading, and validation on Wikisource. You can adopt this work as your next community project and help expand the public domain with materials from your own institutions.

Together, we can ensure that Africa’s cultural heritage, and the global public domain materials, remain accessible, open, and alive for generations to come.