Managing an Open Access, Multi-Institutional, International Digital Library: The Digital Library of the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

Developing an Open Access, multi-institutional, multilingual, international digital library requires robust technological and institutional infrastructures that support both the needs of individual institutions alongside the needs of the growing partnership and ensure continuous communication and development of the shared vision for the digital library as a whole. This article explains the methods and factors that have led to the Digital Library of the Caribbean's success in building the necessary infrastructure, following the initial planning to the current stage of development, along with how challenges were met and the challenges that remain.

KEYWORDS:

• Cooperative digitization projects
• collaborative partnerships
• worldwide digital libraries
• cultural heritage projects
• preservation
• archiving
• digital
• collaboration
• cooperation
• library
• university
• college
• archive
• museum
• information technology

Notes

1. http://webpac.uvi.edu/imls/project2002/2000.shtml

2. www.ed.gov/print/policy/higered/leg/hea98/sec601.html

3. The nine founding institutions for dLOC: CARICOM Community Secretariat, Florida International University, Fundacion Global de Desarollo y Democracia, National Library of Jamaica, University of Central Florida, Universidad de Oriente (Venezuela), University of Florida, University of the Virgin Islands, National Archives in Haiti.

4. National Library of Aruba, Caribbean Studies Association, The College of The Bahamas, Belize National Library Service, Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, University of South Florida, Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network. All members that have contributed content are listed on the dLOC Partner page: http://www.dloc.com/?m=hbbpart.

5. The governance information is available online at http://www.dloc.com/?c=dloc&m=hitbylaw.

6. Ochoa, Marilyn and Mark Sullivan. “Digital Library of the Caribbean: a user-centric model for technology development in collaborative digitization projects.” Invited paper to a Special Issue, OCLC Systems & Services: International Digital Library Perspectives: in press.

7. Partner pages include customized pages that show all materials contributed by the holding institution and the customized interfaces show those materials within an interface which has been customized to match the partner's website. For instance, see The College of The Bahamas holding page: http://dloc.com/?h=cobn and the holding page with the customized interface: http://dloc.com/?h=cobn&n=cobn.

8. For more on the Florida Digital Archive, see: http://www.fcla.edu/digitalArchive/.