Nairobi — In a small market stall in Nairobi, university student Mildred Wairimu hovers over a photocopy machine.

She is copying a textbook borrowed from a friend. At Sh2 per page, the 100-page volume costs 200 shillings. She would have spent hundreds more had she decided to buy the book.

The way Mildred sees it, such behaviour is not a big deal. But to publishing houses, it is nothing short of a nightmare.

Students interviewed by the Nation say scenes like Mildred's unfold everyday across Kenya.

"During my first semester, we had to buy a Kiswahili book. Only three people bought it... the rest of us photocopied," says a second-year student at the University of Nairobi.

Smaller volume

"The smaller the volume, the more you can save... This is because bigger books cost more to copy," said an accounting student at Job Mark, a private college. "But sometimes, we do not do it because certain books are scarce."

He estimates that 50 to 60 per cent of his friends duplicate books in their entirety. Others, meanwhile, perceive the number as much higher.

"I think almost all of us did it," recalls a recent graduate of Kenyatta University.

The unchecked reproduction of books deeply concerns Kenya's publishing industry. At the 11th Annual Nairobi International Book Fair last week, publishers cited piracy as one of the biggest obstacles facing the book trade.

Efforts to enforce the rules have been met with hostility from schools and businesses.

And as people begin to access and read books online, observers think the problem will only get worse. Novel solutions, it seems, are needed to protect books.

In many ways, these concerns were swept under the carpet of singing and dancing as assistant Education minister Ayiecho Olweny opened the fair.

Schoolchildren crowded the hall, visiting booths, reading comic books and eating snacks. Publishing houses displayed their newest titles and offered special discounts.

But in interviews, exhibitors expressed worries about the health of book trade. Mr Mark Gakono from Longhorn Publishers described the lengths some people go to illegally reproduce books.

"Some of them use real printing presses," he explained, calling piracy a "nuisance" that needs to be contained.

"I have seen piracy with my own eyes, and it's not pretty," said Mr Gabriel Karuri, whose company, Njigua Books, imports books and distributes them in Kenya.

"Because they are so expensive, students photocopy entire books from the first page to the last," he added.

Similar sentiments were voiced by Mr Eric Elouga of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, which promotes the work of African scholars.

"When there is a choice between buying a book and eating," Mr Elouga asked, "what is the priority?"

Rising book prices have been defended by Nancy Karimi, the chair of the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA), which organises the annual book fair.

"The costs of producing books have risen... unfortunately, we must pass these on to consumers," she said at the opening of the fair.

Ms Karimi also defended publishers against suggestions that students must resort to photocopying because books are poorly distributed and often unavailable.

"Our books are available," she insisted during a later interview.

She estimated that piracy costs her industry Sh10 million annually, but noted that ever since the Government implemented free primary and secondary education, textbook sales had skyrocketed.

KPA is one of seven members of Kopiken, a "collecting society" established under the Copyright Act of 2001.

Recognising that piracy is often unavoidable, Kopiken is supposed to collect fees from schools, universities, copy shops and any other place where printed materials are photocopied on a large scale.

It is like a pre-emptive tax to ensure that writers and publishers are compensated when their products are later reproduced.

"It is better to get small payments up front than to lose totally," Ms Sharon Chahale, the general manager of Kopiken says.

But so far, the proposals have failed to make progress. "We are yet to get anywhere," Ms Chahale said.

In particular, she adds, "some universities do not want to pay us anything... this is because they say that if a student goes to photocopy something, it is the student's fault and not theirs."

Kopiken keeps 30 per cent of its revenue and then divides the rest evenly between its members. After the last cycle, each member got just Sh62,000.

The problems facing the publishing industry will likely get worse as Kenyans start to access and read books using the Internet.

According to Ms Chahale, Kopiken is not equipped to deal with online piracy. "We have enough to handle as it is," she says, noting that they lacked funding to pursue online pirates.

Ms Karimi of KPA recognises that books will go online. "The future of education in this country is digital," she said.