DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

1
DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• Current status of libraries in India
• education system largely does not encourage use
  of libraries
• almost entirely paper-based
• academic libraries often difficult to access,
  use
• financial limitations
• access to latest papers/articles very difficult
• a digital library could help address some of
  these issues, but it needs to be part of a change
  in the way university education works

2
DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• How would a digital library help?
• theoretically enable anyone with access to a
  computer to get to latest international
  research/publications
• could be part of larger program to document and
  digitize local knowledge, research, publications,
  and make them more accessible to wider national
  international community
• could be part of Schoolnet-type project for
  rural areas
• but

3
DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• Potential hurdles/problems
• costs access plus infrastructure (computers
  plus high-speed connections)
• what about all current material (e.g., books)
  that is currently not digitally available
• would this be yet another elitist facility, open
  only to English-educated upper-class people? Can
  it be any different, and if so how?

4
DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• What are the issues in designing a digital
  library?
• - How might an Indian library differ from, say,
  the UC digital library?
• - Cultural differences in the material included
  (customary knowledge, religious issues,
  politics)
• - Practical resources not easily put in text
  form, but that could be digitalized (images,
  video, spoken records)
• - Adaptation to locally variable needs
  (different parts of India may have different
  needs)
• - Multiple languages (not a single dominant
  language)

5
DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• What are the practical issues in designing a
  library?
• - Where would the library be based?
• - How would the library be accessed, in the
  great variety of Indian communities (cities,
  villages), and in the realities of literacy and
  living conditions?
• - How would the library be updated and
  maintained?
• - How would paper materials be digitalized?
• - Who would have input into the design and
  management villagers, schools?

6
DIGITAL LIBRARIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• How to build such a digital library?
• - Need significant funding (50 million? 200
  million?) and control by Indian actors
• - Potentially, foundations such as the Gates
  Foundation or the Packard Foundation
• - Role of Indian governments?