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Digitization in Developing Countries: World Digital Library Initiatives

This article explores the Library of Congress' digitization initiatives and its partnerships with libraries and museums in developing countries to expand access to primary source content. It discusses the objectives of the World Digital Library and its efforts to promote international understanding, provide educational resources, and narrow the digital divide. The timeline and launch statistics of the World Digital Library are also presented, along with future plans for expanding content and collaborations with institutions worldwide.

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Digitization in Developing Countries: World Digital Library Initiatives

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  1. WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY “Digitization in Developing Countries” ALA Pre-conference Chicago, July 10, 2009 John Van Oudenaren Library of Congress

  2. BACKGROUND: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DIGITIZATION INITIATIVES • American Memory • Global Gateway • Meeting of Frontiers • Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier • United States and Brazil: Expanding Frontiers, Comparing Cultures • The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands • France in America • World Digital Library Digitization in Developing Countries

  3. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS-FUNDED DIGITIZATION CENTERS IN OTHER COUNTRIES • Global Gateway • National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg • Russian State Library, Moscow • Open Siberia Foundation, Novosibirsk • National Library of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro • World Digital Library • National Library and Archives of Egypt • Iraqi National Library and Archives • National Library of Uganda* * = in preparation Digitization in Developing Countries

  4. MEETING OF FONTIERS PARTNERS IN SIBERIA AND THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST • Altai State Museum of Regional History and Folklife • Amur Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife • Berdsk Historical Art Museum • Center for Scientific Research and Contemporary Museum Technology • Far Eastern National University • Heritage of Chukotka Museum Center • Institute for the Study of Buddhism, Mongol, and Tibetan Culture of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences • Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences • Irkutsk Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife • Irkutsk State University Research Library • Kemerovo Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife • Krasnoiarsk Krai Museum of Regional History and Folklife • Irkutsk Municipal History Museum • N.M. Martianov Minusinsk Museum of Regional History and Folklife • Museum of Permafrost, Yakutia Digitization in Developing Countries

  5. MEETING OF FONTIERS PARTNERS IN SIBERIA AND THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST (CONT’D) • National Archives of the Republic of Sakha • Nikolaevsk-on-Amur Museum of Municipal History and Folklife • Novosibirsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife • Omsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife • “Phototext” Foundation (FTX) • Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East • State Archives of Altai Krai • State Archives of Krasnoiarsk Krai • State Archives of Novosibirsk Oblast • State Archives of the Republic of Buryatia • State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences • Tomsk State University • Tomsk Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife • V.I. Surikov Art Museum in Krasnoiarsk • Yakutsk State Museum of the History and Culture of Northern Peoples • M.N. Khangalov Museum of the History of Buryatia Digitization in Developing Countries

  6. WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The World Digital Library provides free and universal access to primary source content that documents the histories and cultural achievements of all countries. This content includes rare books, journals, manuscripts, maps, prints and photographs, films, and sound recordings. • The objectives of the WDL are to: • Promote international and intercultural understanding • Expand multilingual and culturally diverse content on the Internet • Provide resources to students, teachers, and scholars • Build knowledge and capacity in the developing world; help narrow the “digital divide” Digitization in Developing Countries

  7. June 2005 December 2005 December 2006 October 2007 April 2009 Library of Congress proposes creation of the WDL Initial private sector funding secured for WDL “planning process” UNESCO-Library of Congress Experts Meeting WDL prototype demonstrated at UNESCO General Conference Public launch of www.wdl.org WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY: TIMELINE Digitization in Developing Countries

  8. LAUNCH STATISTICS • April 21, 2009: • 604,728 visitors • 7,114,275 page views • Visitors from every country in the world • 1,700 press stories tracked by UNESCO press service • April 21-May 31, 2009: • 3,161,521 visitors • 29,539,864 page views • Countries of highest usage: • China, France, the United States, Spain, the Russian Federation, Brazil, Ukraine, Canada, Argentina, Germany Digitization in Developing Countries

  9. NEXT STEPS-FUTURE WORK (as Discussed at April 20 Partner Meeting) • General: • Expand amount of content while maintaining quality • Increase partners to include institutions from all UNESCO member countries ** • Adopt charter and governance structures to ensure technical and financial sustainability • Technical: • Develop new tools to scale up the creation, processing, and ingest of content ** • Develop new features on the site Digitization in Developing Countries

  10. INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY COLLABORATIONS: KEY QUESTIONS • What kinds of international collaborations add value for users (and other stakeholders?) • In the face of resource constraints, how can we avoid projects that add little or no value, or are even “value-subtracting” (i.e., the resources expended to effect the collaboration could be better spent by individual institutions; whole less than sum of parts) Digitization in Developing Countries

  11. INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY COLLABORATIONS: PRELIMINARY ANSWERS • Digital library collaboration adds value if: • It results in the digitization of intellectually and culturally valuable content that otherwise would not be digitized in the foreseeable future (especially if the content is at risk and/or difficult to access) • Content is made available to users in ways that are superior to what they would experience by viewing the same content on individual websites accessed via search engines or through bookmarks and hyperlinks • At least one of these conditions should obtain; preferably both • What is true for any digital collaboration is even more true for international collaboration, where the “overhead” is higher Digitization in Developing Countries

  12. OPERATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THESE ANSWERS • WDL should aim to digitize new content, especially in developing countries, and not just re-purpose or find better ways to search for existing content • WDL site should concentrate on adding value, even if this means sacrificing quantitative targets in the short run • Ambitious approach to multilingualism • Full search and display • “Equivalent user experience” • Consistent metadata to allow search and browse by • Time • Place • Type of Material • Topic • Institution Digitization in Developing Countries

  13. OPERATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THESE ANSWERS (CONT’D) • WDL site should concentrate on adding value, even if this means sacrificing quantitative targets in the short run (cont’d) • Item-level descriptions • Curator videos • Superior viewing technology • Web 2.0 features • Speed and reliability • Quantity is important in the longer term, as in the Web world quantity equates to quality • However: quantity is still important in the long term, as in the Web world quantity equates to quality Digitization in Developing Countries

  14. WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY: LONGER-TERM OBJECTIVES • Establish network of digital conversion centers around the world • National Library of Uganda/Carnegie Corporation of New York • Establish worldwide, Web-based network for cataloging, translation, and ingest • Current work on WDL Cataloging Application • Assist partners in creating their own institutional and national digital libraries • Integrate content selection and creation with curriculum and educational needs • Address issues related to low Internet penetration and low bandwidth • Mobile phones, OLPC, ClassMate, etc. Digitization in Developing Countries

  15. SOME CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS • There is still a large task ahead in many countries • The funding environment is difficult • Political sensitivities persist but seem to be less of a problem than in the recent past • Cooperation among libraries within countries and within a region is very difficult • Dedicated staff are important • Sustaining high levels of production is not easy Digitization in Developing Countries

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