Report of a Workshop Jan 15-17 2006 Bibliotheca Alexandrina

1. Building a Digital Library of the Middle East Report of a Workshop Jan 15-17 2006 Bibliotheca Alexandrina

2. Presenters: • Steve Griffin, National Science Foundation • Joan Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information • Joyce Ray, Institute of Museum and Library Services • Don Waters, Mellon Foundation

3. Workshop Sponsors

4. Background 2003 - Interagency meetings on rebuilding the cultural history of Iraq convened by White House & State Dept.

5. Defining the Scope Ancient Near East: Mesopotamia (Iraq and Syria); Persia (Iran); Egypt; the Levant (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian Authority); and Anatolia (Turkey)

6. U.S.-Egypt Joint Science & Technology Fund Grant to The Institute of Museum & Library Services and Bibliotheca Alexandrina June 2005

7. Coordinating Committee Noha Adly - Director of Information and Communication Technology Department and ISIS (International School of Information Science), Bibliotheca Alexandrina Stephen Griffin - Program Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation Kenneth Hamma - Executive Director, Digital Policy and Initiatives, J. Paul Getty Trust Ronald Larsen - Dean, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Joan Lippincott - Associate Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information Magdy Nagi - Head of the Information and Communication Technology Sector, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Joyce Ray - Associate Deputy Director for Library Services, Institute of Museum and Library Services

8. Workshop ObjectivesAugust 2005 Planning Meeting • Agree on a long-term vision • Assess the current information infrastructure in the Middle East and examine the potential for establishing advanced research networks • Identify a model for content aggregation, management, and preservation • Identify content scope and services • Document requirements as a roadmap for future actions

9. Desirable Characteristics of the Digital LibraryAugust 2005 Planning Meeting • A framework that can accommodate resources from many sources and subject areas • Content that has public value, is easily navigable, and is unrestricted for use • Connected to a large network supporting wide-scale access and exchange • Maintained in a trusted repository with appropriate redundancy to ensure long-term preservation and continuity of access

10. Workshop Attendees Arrive in Alexandria January 15, 2006

11. Working Groups • Vision and Mission • Network Infrastructure • Content, Collections and Users • Interoperability and Standards

12. Vision and Mission Working Group Steve Griffin, NSF Ron Larsen, University of Pittsburgh

13. High-level Vision: - A global knowledge infrastructure that supports the free flow of information; captures many forms of human expression; maximizes use of resources; and serves the research, education and information needs of all people

14. Vision for MEDL: - To promote the preservation and understanding of the cultural heritage of the Middle East through the collection, curation and dissemination of a sustainable digital record

15. Scope: - Worldwide resources from and about the cultures and societies of the Middle Eastern and Arab worlds

16. Features: • Multilingual & Multimedia • Distributed, Open & Interoperable • Integrated into the global knowledge infrastructure • Collaborative • Adaptable for Different Audiences • Sustained

17. Anticipated Results: - New relationships among cultural heritage organizations • New scholarly collaborations • New resources for education and study • A fuller, shared understanding of the historic human experience and its bearing on the present

18. Network Infrastructure Working Group Heather Boyles, Internet2

19. Egyptian R&E Community • 124 Research Centers and Institutes covering 32 Ministries • 16 Governmental Universities • Private Universities and Research Centers • Bibliotheca Alexandrina

20. Digital Library Support • Memorandum of Understanding with Internet2 • Increase bandwidth and bandwidth reservation to move materials such as images, audio and video into general use • Support digital library research such as indexing, new services and capabilities

21. Egypt NRENS http://www.frcu.eun.eg/docs-n/index-ee.php http://www.sti.sci.eg/index2.htm

22. Content, Collections and Users Working Group Ken Hamma, Getty Trust Joan Lippincott, CNI

23. “Content View” • Focus on inexpensively acquired content • Build the mass of the library • Attract users who would find this content useful • “User View” • Identify likely user communities • Build content to meet their needs

24. Conclusion: focus on users • Produce scenarios of use • Develop measures based on targeted outcomes in education, training, and technology literacy

25. Content • Determine scope • Cultural heritage or broader, e.g. scientific • Primarily educational? • Give attention to born-digital materials, not just digitized collections • Consider priority for aggregation projects, those that bring together related, dispersed resources

26. Content • Balance of library-style and museum-style (curated, exhibit type) collections • Balance needs of scholars and general public • Develop a preservation strategy

27. Services • Develop nuanced identification of user groups • Assess technology readiness of user groups • Encourage the community to create content and not just access it • Develop a structure that encompasses development of community as well as delivery of content and services

28. Services • Develop a research/evaluation agenda • Needs assessment • Usability studies • Use analysis • Outcomes appraisal

29. Next steps: • Inventory content already available in digital form • Clarify interests of institutional partners • Conduct preliminary needs assessment • Identify issues - connectivity, access, infrastructure - of importance near-term • Small pilot projects

30. Next steps: - Workshop • Potential partners from many countries • Refine a plan for the digital library • Secure commitments from participants to contribute content and/or services

31. Interoperability and Standards Working Group Sam Quigley, Harvard Don Waters, Mellon Foundation

32. Assumptions • MEDL will involve a federation of participating institutions, but these have yet to be identified and readiness and need to implement particular standards will likely vary • Content focus of MEDL also has not been identified, but will likely involve various formats • Experience suggests the value of standard-compliant procedures, but it is not fruitful at this stage to articulate a full suite of applicable standards at all levels

33. A pragmatic approach • Organizers should require the appropriate application of standards for file formats, metadata schemes, vocabulary, language representation, and end-user interfaces as needed • Standards for interoperability at the repository level should receive the most specific attention and should initially focus on OAI-PMH • However, for full functionality OAI-PMH is likely to be insufficient and will need to be supplemented with additional protocols and related infrastructure

34. An organizational framework • Ideally, the standards and protocol would provide the main basis for broad participation in MEDL • However, to jump start development and to promulgate standards-based activity, a partnership of a small-number of lead organizations would be useful • A lead US institution, in partnership with a lead Middle East institution such as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, could establish initial agreements, standards and protocols

35. Key repository operations • OAI-PMH would help support: • Deposit and ingest of materials • Transmission of materials to mirror sites • Digital preservation • Return of value-added information to original data providers (translation, OCR of page images, and other enrichment) as an incentive to keep contributing • Additional protocols and infrastructure would eventually be needed especially to handle more complex digital objects

36. Nature of a partnership • Agreements should provide for: • Mutual organizational and technical support • Content development • Mirror sites and a dissemination plan • A structure for participation by other institutions • The development of standards-based services, including digitization, OCR, cataloging, translating, depositing, and preservation

37. What Next? http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~egyptdlw/index.html