- Introduction to the Digital Library of the Caribbean

- Possibilities for partnership in the Dutch Caribbean

Presenters:Brooke Wooldridge, dLOC CoordinatorLaurie Taylor, Digital Projects Librarian

Seminar for Libraries of the Dutch CaribbeanCuraçao, September 25 & 26, 2008

National Library of Jamaica, Portrait: Sam Sharpe

Free, Open Access Digital Library

Trilingual

with Advanced Search Functions

Partner Collections

Partner Collections

Wordmark Attribution

Page Image

Aware Zoom Technology

Citation

Citation

Full-Text Search Capability

<Content><pre> I. OUTWARD BOUNDON a very cold day in December I stood on the deck of the steamerMadiana as she slowly pushed her waythrough the ice toward the Narrowsbelow New York. After leaving the luxurious Waldorfto face the biting cold winds and ac- commodate one's self to the surround- ings which the steamer affords, I mustsay I did not wonder at my friendsasking how I could choose to take suchan out-of-the-way sort of trip. Notthat the Madiana is an uncomfortableboat, for that would be doing it an in-justice, but I anticipated a second Ma-jestic or Teutonic, and in this I wasdisappointed. </pre></Content>

From: Morris, Ira Nelson. With the trade-winds; a jaunt in Venezuela and the West Indies. G. P. Putnam, New York 1897. Contributed by the University of Central Florida

Map-It Function

Map-It Function Satellite View

3-D Flash Viewer

180 images of the object are linked together in a Flash Viewer to provide a 360° rotating image

And coming soon – Thematic Collections

Current proposed themes:-Caribbean Maps-Caribbean Newspapers-Economic Development -Education-Environment-Health / Disease-Law-Literature, Arts, and Culture-Migration-Race/Class/Gender-Religion-Politics, Government-Slavery and Resistance

What is dLOC?

Our beginnings…

2002 – US Virgin Islands History and Culture Collection

Collaboration with the University of Virgin Islands, University of Florida, Florida International University, and others

2004 – dLOC is born

Leaders present dLOC at ACURIL, organize planning meeting and submit funding proposal to U.S. Dept. of Education

2005 – dLOC receives Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access Award to fund project for four years

MISSION: “dLOC’s diverse partners will serve an international community of scholars, students and citizens by working together to electronically preserve and provide enhanced electronic access to cultural, historical, and research materials in a common web space with a multilingual interface.”

dLOC Bylaws, October 2006

dLOC MissionServe as gateway to existing digital resources from and about the Caribbean

Ensure digital preservation of resources

Generate new digital content for scholars and students

Increase access to rare or at-risk Caribbean materials

Build capacity for digitization in the Caribbean

Implement technical infrastructure and a support network to assist digitization projects

Form partnerships with Caribbean institutions and digital library initiatives

National Archives of Haiti, Citadelle

HENRI Christophe

Original Partners

Founding Caribbean Partners Archives Nationales d’HaitiFundación Global Desarrollo y Democracia

(FUNGLODE), Dominican RepublicUniv. del Oriente, VenezuelaCARICOM, GuyanaNational Library of Jamaica

U.S. institutional collaborationUniversity of FloridaFlorida International UniversityUniversity of the Virgin IslandsUniversity of Central FloridaUniversity of South Florida

University of Florida, West Indies Islands

New partnersBelize National Library, BelizeBibliothèque Haïtenne des Pères du St-Esprit, HaitiCollege of Law, Florida International University, USAThe College of The Bahamas, BahamasNational Library of Aruba, ArubaPontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra,

Dominican RepublicWIDECAST, Duke University, USA

And growing…

National Archives of Haiti

CARICOM

The College of The Bahamas

Governing Structure

Executive CommitteeRepresentatives from each partner institution vote to elect a nine- member Executive Committee consisting of representatives from the partner institutions. The Executive Committee votes on key decisions affecting the future of dLOC, and convenes once a year in proximity of the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) conference.

Chair: Judith Rogers, University of Virgin IslandsCo-Chair: Jean Wilfred Bertrand, National Archives of Haiti

Scholarly Advisory BoardConsists of academics and professionals in the fields of Caribbean Studies and Digital Libraries provide guidance on collection development, collection accessibility, and technical issues.

Member BenefitsDigitization Tools

Training, Toolkit, Digital Collection Infrastructure (with Optical Character Recognition, Aware Zoom, maintained by two programmers)

Digital Library HostingPartner Page within dLOC webpage, Customized Interfaces for Partners Website

Digital PreservationFlorida Digital Archive

Member CommitmentWillingness to contribute digital content to dLOC'scentralized repository via the dLOC Toolkit and to make these freely available.

Availability of appropriate collections with Caribbean content.

Willingness to comply with common standards for digitization and copyright clearance.

Willingness to designate a representative to manage local participation.

Recent successes2005/6 Technical Infrastructure Developed at UF, Training

Program Developed for Project Partners, Executive and Advisory Boards EstablishedBasic Equipment Purchased for 4 project partners, On-site Training conducted in Guyana, Haiti and Dominican Republic.

2006/7 Over 200,000 pages available in dLOC, Metadata Submission Tool Streamlined, Equipment purchased for Universidad del Oriente, Training in Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica

2007/8 Almost 500,000 pages available in dLOC, Six new members joined the project, Equipment purchased for National Library of Aruba, Significant Revisions to project website, On-Site Training in Venezuela, Guyana, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Possibilities for Partnership

Become a dLOC member – submit applicationAssess your institution’s capacity (technical and human capital)Assess your collectionsConsider creative sources of funding Leverage your partnership with dLOC

Consider joining the Caribbean Newspaper Digitization Project

dLOC is currently preparing a funding proposalPreservation, Access, Innovation in Research

Translate the website

A Peek into the Process

1) Select Materials 2) Digitize 3) Submit via Toolkit

Possibilities for Partnership -- Ideas from the Group

What digital projects do you all have in process?

How do you envision future collaboration between the Dutch Caribbean Libraries and dLOC?