[Eurchap] [Fwd: [GKD] The eGranary Digital Library at WSIS]

[Michel J. Menou]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[GKD] The eGranary Digital Library at WSIS
Date: 	Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:38:06 -0600
From: 	Clifford Missen <missenc at widernet.org>
Reply-To: 	gkd at milhouse.edc.org
To: 	gkd at milhouse.edc.org



Dear Colleagues,

Here's some notes about our eGranary Digital Library -- now installed in
over 60 institutions in the developing world -- which I'll be
demonstrating at WSIS and the AAU conference in Tunis.

I'd like to connect with those who are interested in using this
technology to deliver a wealth of information to scholars with little or
no Internet connectivity.

Best regards!

-- Cliff

- - - - -
Cliff Missen
Director
The WiderNet Project
University of Iowa
319-335-2200
www.widernet.org

*********************************************

The eGranary Digital Library provides over 2.5 million digital resources
to institutions lacking adequate Internet access. Through a process of
copying Web sites and delivering them to intranet Web servers inside
partner institutions in developing countries, this digital library
delivers educational materials for instant access over local area
networks.

For schools that are spending enormous amounts of money for their slow
and unreliable internet connections, the eGranary Digital Library slips
seamlessly into the network and delivers its Web pages up to 5,000 times
faster. At the same time, such schools can save tens of thousands of
dollars in bandwidth costs every year.

For those schools, clinics, and libraries WITHOUT an Internet
connection, the eGranary Digital Library is a phenomenon!

With installations in more than 60 institutions in Africa, Bangladesh
and Haiti, the eGranary Digital Library provides lightning fast access
to a wide variety of educational materials including video, audio,
books, journals, and Web sites, even where no Internet access exists.

The eGranary Digital Library represents the collective contributions of
hundreds of authors, publishers, programmers, librarians, instructors
and students around the globe. Some of the many authors and publishers
who have granted permission to distribute their works via the eGranary
Digital Library include: U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Columbia
University, Cornell University, MIT's OpenCourseware, UNESCO, Wikipedia,
the Virtual Hospital, World Bank and WHO.

Founded in 2001, the eGranary Digital Library was created by the
WiderNet Project, a non-profit organization based at the University of
Iowa. The WiderNet Project seeks more authors and publishers to help
grow its collection to 10 million documents, volunteers to help collect
and categorize new materials, and librarians and teachers to help get
the library installed in thousands of schools, hospital and
universities.

- - - - -

Here's how the eGranary Digital Library works:

1.  Web sites with rich educational content are identified by our
subscribers, staff, and volunteers of the eGranary Digital Library.

2.  The author's or publisher's permission to copy their materials is
solicited by email.  Depending on the content area, 50-90% usually
agree.

3.  The permitted materials are copied to a hard drive.  Sometimes an
entire Web site is copied; sometimes just the portions containing the
most useful information.

4.  Copies of the collection are made and distributed to subscriber
universities using large hard disks.  Many subscribers already have
servers and local area networks in place, so they simply add the
eGranary hard drive to their existing server.

5.  The eGranary Digital Library comes with custom proxy and search
sevices so that the patron's experience is identical to using the
Internet.

6.  The WiderNet Project has developed a way to deliver incremental
updates using any transport mechanism (IP, satellite digital radio,
CD-ROM, etc.) on an ongoing basis.

- - - - -

Endorsements of the eGranary Digital Library

"The WiderNet Project and the eGranary Digital Library are two of the
best things to happen to Nigeria."
--Digital Library Issues workshop participant, Ahmadu Bello University,
Nigeria


"The eGranary Digital Library has helped our students and lecturers in
accessing academic materials which were not easily accessible due to
limited bandwidth. The concept is very good for those with limited or no
bandwidth and should be supported. It has become part and parcel of our
e-learning platform."
--Nyaga Gacheru, Network Administrator, Jomo Kenyatta University of
Agriculture and Technology, Kenya


"...we have been having difficulties due to the dearth of reference
materials in many subject areas.  Since the installation of the
[eGranary], our lecturers and students have been exposed to a variety of
reference sources. Recently our institution played host to a team of
resource inspectors from the national board of Technical Education,
NBTE, who came to accredit our programmes. the materials that were
accessed from the [eGranary] formed a major plank in the accreditation
requirements, which made us achieve the 98% success level at that
accreditation exercise."
--Report on the eGranary Digital Library at the Federal Polytechnic
Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria


"The eGranary Digital Library concept is the solution for creation and
distributing online content challenges currently facing most African
countries."
--Mr. Jacod Mtui, Research and Development, University of Dar Es Salaam


"The idea is simply GREAT! We are trying to promote it in Bangladesh,
especially educational institutions providing higher studies in remote
areas."
--Mr. Mizanur Munna, Positive Bangladesh Initiatives


"eGranary Digital Library has been a great bridge in the digital divide
for us in the University of Jos in Nigeria. It has served the purpose
of bringing the Internet to our doorsteps. We've had problems with
bandwidth cost, paying about $6,000 monthly for a bandwidth of 128/64
(that's about the speed of two phone modems being shared by dozens or
hundreds of people). We've had to put other expenses on hold in order
to pay for bandwidth that is not very reliable. It is still costly
(based on our GDP and general income) for staff and students to pay for
Internet access. So, the eGranary, with about 2 million documents
downloaded from the Internet, has been a great asset for us. We have it
up and running on our intranet with no bandwidth cost and it's
accessible at the speed of lightening! What better motivation for
academics! The eGranary holds great promise for developing economies
where bandwidth and the cost of Internet access is high."
--Dr. Stephen Akintunde, Deputy University Librarian, University of Jos,
Nigeria



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-- 
=================================================================
Dr. Michel J. Menou
Consultant in ICT policies and Knowledge & Information Management
Adviser of Somos at Telecentros board http://www.tele-centros.org
Member of the founding steering committee of 
Telecenters of the Americas Partnership http://www.tele-centers.net/
B.P. 15
49350 Les Rosiers sur Loire, France
Email: Michel.Menou at wanadoo.fr
Phone: +33 (0)2 41511043
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ciber/peoplemenou.php
==================================================================



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