White Paper submitted for the Digital Library for the Maghreb Workshop Held in Washington, DC, January 24-25, 2011 Online version available through www.FulbrightAcademy.org Page 1 of 3 Digital Libraries for Developing Countries LIAUW Toong Tjiek (Aditya Nugraha) Petra Christian University anugraha@petra.ac.id This white paper will try to share my experience in developing Desa Informasi (Information Village) – a digital institutional repository – for Petra Christian University. I will also share some developments in Indonesia relating to digital libraries/repositories. Some recommendations will be given when appropriate. It is my hope that the shared- experience, information, and recommendations will be of valuable contributions to the discussions that will take place in the workshop Technically speaking, digital libraries/repositories are databases of digital resources. However there are much more needed to build digital libraries (DLs) than just technicalities. Building the database and applications are actually the easiest parts. Populating DLs and make them used are, in reality, the hardest parts. In my opinion, successfully building DLs require commitments, leaderships, and communications (CLC). Funding is also an essential component. However it will usually follow when we have good advocates with great CLC. In a country where institution(s) with strong CLC exist(s) – such as the National Library, National Archives, or professional associations – then ideally these institutions should lead the development of that country’s DLs. In this case, I think subject digital libraries/repositories are appropriate as the development policy for that country. The subject DLs can range from local heritage, art, and culture to science, technology, and medicine/health. These DLs can be of significant contributions to the development of that country’s knowledge, economy, art, and culture. However it is often the case that such institutions don’t exist. I believe this is the case with most developing countries in Asia as well as in Africa. In this situation, I would recommend to approach the issue of DLs developments by encouraging the developments of digital institutional repositories (DIRs). Higher education institution libraries (HEILs), I believe, should take the leadership roles since they are the most likely institutions to succeed in undertaking these endeavors. It is in the HEILs’ interest to develop DIRs since DIRs will be beneficial in: 1. capturing the institutions’ intellectual outputs as “meaningful indicators of [their] quality” (Crow, 2002); 2. providing local content learning resources for the campus communities; 3. introducing “organization and structure” into campus departments in universities, allowing them “to easily share … information” (Davenport, 2006), which will also enable them to reuse the resources as learning resources as well as publications, promotional materials, etc.; 4. “increasing the institutions’ visibility, status, and public value” (Crow, 2002); and