How to Build a Library

In 1931, when the McMillan Memorial Library was built in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, the stately building was reserved for white Europeans only. It wasn’t until 1958, not long before the British colony gained independence, that the library was finally opened to Kenyans—though its collection remained exclusively white.

In 2017, writer Shiro Koinange and publisher Angela Wachuka were given the mandate to restore the dilapidated library and two satellite branches, and to adapt them to the contemporary needs of a more diverse audience. They enthusiastically set about raising funds, overseeing renovations, and recruiting young talent to help catalog the collection.

But it soon became clear that the project came with complex challenges, such as making the right political connections, bridging the intergenerational divide between staff members, and deciding how much of the library’s fraught colonial history should remain in the collection. For a five-year period, we follow these inspiringly energetic women and their tireless efforts to transform the library into a creative hub for the whole of Kenyan society.