In one of his speeches, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized that “Every child in every nook and corner of the country should have access to digital resources required for learning and growth.” At the heart of this vision lies the fundamental principle that education must be inclusive, equitable, and powered by technology. Among the most powerful enablers in this journey is a Digital Library. This is an initiative that can revolutionize access to knowledge and learning across India.
The Power of Access to Books
Books have long been the foundation of learning. They support everyone from children developing basic literacy skills to youth preparing for competitive exams and adults looking to reskill. Access to the right books at the right time, especially in local languages, empowers people to grow and contribute productively to the nation’s economy. A Digital Library, accessible to learners across age groups, can bridge knowledge gaps, enhance learning outcomes, and foster a culture of continuous education and skill development.
The Post-COVID Digital Surge in India
India has undergone a remarkable digital transformation in the last few years. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst, accelerating smartphone penetration and internet usage, particularly in Tier 2, Tier 3 towns, and rural areas. According to the IAMAI 2023 report, over 750 million people in India are now using the internet—a significant proportion of them from non-metro regions.
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 validates this trend. It highlights that more than 70% of rural households now have access to smartphones. Children are increasingly using these devices for learning.
Devices in Schools Also Highlights Growing Infrastructure
Parallel to this household trend, government schools across India are also witnessing increased digital infrastructure. Through initiatives such as ICT Labs, tablets, laptops, Chromebooks, and Smart TVs are being distributed to schools, making technology a regular part of the classroom experience. However, hardware alone cannot deliver learning impact. What is needed is an ecosystem of high-quality, accessible content—ideally through a hub.
This shows an opportunity to maximise impact by providing access to a rich digital library resources in local languages on individual/shared devices. This can be enabled through a local network hosted through a Digital Libraries at State Data Centres. The Digital Library model can help ensure equity, scale, and sustainability.
What Do Digital Libraries at State Data Centres Mean and How Can They Boost Education and e-Governance?
With increasing access to internet-enabled devices at homes and schools, the time is now ripe for each state to establish a centralized Digital Libraries at State Data Centres. This central repository can host a wide range of digital library resources including curriculum-aligned books, reference materials, vocational training content, stories, life skills and value education, ebooks, climate action course, Ramayana, STEM Coding, Yoga, Social Emotional Learning and more in local languages, Hindi and English.
This central Digital Library can then remotely feed the devices in schools and even in homes through cloud connectivity. Students and teachers across urban and rural geographies can have anytime, anywhere access to essential educational resources on digital library platform – iPrep. This is designed, developed and being set up to break down the traditional barriers of time, location, and resource availability.
Why Should You Prefer This Hybrid Cloud-Local Server Ecosystem?
It is a robust digital library infrastructure that involves linking the Digital Library at the state data centre (cloud server) to local servers deployed in schools. These local servers can:
- Download and store content from the central repository
- Provide offline access to digital books and videos on school devices
- Be updated regularly with new content without needing continuous internet access
The cloud server offers unlimited storage capacity, allowing the state to continuously add new learning resources.
So, when we talk about Digital Libraries at State Data Centres, this is what it really means:
Smart, scalable setup that connects a central cloud server with local school-based servers. With this hybrid model, you can ensure that every student/teacher, even in the most remote or low-connectivity areas, can access high-quality digital library resources anytime, anywhere. That’s exactly why this model holds so much promise for enhancing education—making it more inclusive, accessible, and aligned with NEP’s Goals of enabling 21st century learning experience.
How Does This Hybrid Cloud-Local Server Ecosystem of Setting Up Digital Libraries at State Data Centres Provide Real-Time Insights for Better Governance?
The benefits of digital library infrastructure go beyond education alone. It enables a new level of data-driven e-Governance. When students or teachers access the Digital Library resources, using their unique credentials. All of them interact with the content such as reading books, watching videos, or taking assessments. This includes data such as which resources they use, how much time they spend, which category of content they spent most time with and more. All this information is captured anonymously and then aggregated to show overall usage patterns. This real-time data can then be used by state officials to:
- Identify regions or schools where learning levels are lagging
- Track the adoption of content and usage patterns
- Plan timely teacher interventions or support initiatives
- Improve budgeting and resource allocation based on data insights
So, if you’re wondering how Digital Libraries at State Data Centres support e-Governance—this is it.
They become enablers of real-time feedback loops from schools to policymakers, making governance smarter, faster, and more responsive to actual needs. Bring the best digital library experience to your ICT Lab with iDream Education, recognized as a leading digital library provider in India.
Looking to Set Up a Digital Library at a State Data Centre, School or in a Local Community?
If you’re exploring how to set up a digital library – whether at the state level or within a school or scholar community—we’re here to help. With over 9 years of experience in the education ecosystem, we’ve worked across diverse digital learning solutions that support both education and e-Governance goals. And from this experience, we’ve built something that truly delivers.
Introducing the iPrep Digital Library – a scalable, sustainable, and affordable solution designed to work both offline and online.
iPrep digital library platform hosts a rich collection of multimodal digital content for Grades K–12, covering all subjects in Hindi, English, and various local language mediums. But it doesn’t stop there. Our digital library also includes:
- 18,000+ digital library resources
- Content for life skills, value education, health & safety, and more
- Access for both students and teachers, regardless of school infrastructure or connectivity
Here are some key features of the iPrep Digital Library Platform that you may want to consider while planning your own digital library project:
- A user-friendly interface tailored for children and teachers alike
- Curriculum-aligned animated videos, books, assessments, and practice exercises
- Multilingual content delivery for greater inclusivity
- Compatibility with all devices—tablets, laptops, Desktops, Android-based laptops, and Smart TVs
- A local server version that syncs with cloud content and gives full offline access
- Real-time usage reporting to support impact monitoring
Through iPrep Digital Library Platform, you can provide books and content for students and users across all age groups:
- For early learners there are picture stories, rhymes, puzzles
- For students in middle grades, there are academic books, stories, poems, inspirational biographies
- And for senior school students, they get academic books and reference books to prepare for competitive exams such as JEE, NEET, CTET, etc.
- For users who are pursuing graduation and adults, we provide books across multiple genres such as fiction, non fiction, spirituality, arts, healthy and history
- If you are someone who loves learning by listening, there are audio books available
- iPrep also offers Adaptive Learning for Grades 1 to 12 and non adaptive for K-12 – across all academic subjects
Whether implemented in a school through a storage and charging rack equipped with tablets/chromebooks, smart TV, IFP panels or made available at home via smartphones, the iPrep Digital Library aligns perfectly with the goal of universal access to digital learning.
Way Forward to Transform Learning for the Last Mile
In a country as vast and diverse as India, ensuring quality education for every child is a complex challenge. But Digital Libraries at state data centres, connected with school infrastructure and backed by real-time data, can be the transformative solution we need. The road to inclusive, digitally empowered education begins with access—and a state-led Digital Library system can be the foundation of that access.
