http://www.iaeme.com/IJCET/index.asp 187 editor@iaeme.com International Journal of Computer Engineering & Technology (IJCET) Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June 2016, pp. 187–197, Article ID: IJCET_07_03_018 Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJCET/issues.asp?JType=IJCET&VType=7&IType=3 Journal Impact Factor (2016): 9.3590 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com ISSN Print: 0976-6367 and ISSN Online: 0976–6375 © IAEME Publication APPLICATION OF DIGITAL CLOUD LIBRARIES FOR ETHIOPIAN PUBLIC HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS (EPHLIS) Getaneh Berie Tarekegn PG, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Assosa University, Assosa, Ethiopia Yirga Yayeh Munaye MSC, Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Assosa University, Assosa, Ethiopia ABSTRACT Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become common place entities in all aspects of life. Across the past twenty years the use of ICT has fundamentally changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of endeavor within business and governance. Investment in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Ethiopia is considered to be one of the highest in the world, taking into consideration the prevailing poverty levels. The basic principle of cloud computing entails the reduction of in-house data centers and the delegation of a portion or all of the Information Technology infrastructure capability to a third party. Universities and Colleges are the core of innovation through their advanced research and development. Digital Cloud Libraries may soon be building and managing their own datacenters. This prototype would let libraries maintain more control over the applications and data stores that contain sensitive, private information about patrons. Provisioning and maintenance of infrastructure for Web based Digital Cloud library present several challenges. In this paper we discuss problems faced with digital libraries in Ethiopia and development efforts to overcome that problem. Infrastructure virtualization and cloud computing are particularly attractive choices which is challenged by both growth in the size of the indexed document collection, new features and most prominently usage. With the purpose of applying Cloud Computing to university library, the paper describes the current status of user service models in university libraries. Then it proposed to improve current user service prototype with Cloud Computing.