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FACT SHEET eGranary Digital Library The 201 Communication Center Director, Tel. (319) 335-2200 Fax (319) 335-5374 The eGranary Digital Library provides millions of
Internet 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 (LANs). Few schools in the developing world have adequate
connections to the Internet and those that do are spending enormous amounts
of money for their connectivity. For
those without an Internet connection, this library is a phenomenon. Those who already have an Internet
connection experience the resources opening 5,000 faster from the eGranary
Digital Library and save tens of thousands of dollars in bandwidth costs ever
year. With installations in more than 50 educational
institutions in Africa, Bangladesh and Haiti, the eGranary Digital Library
provides lightening fast access to educational materials including video,
audio, books, journals, and Web sites, even where no Internet access exists. The eGranary Digital Library represents the collective
efforts 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 include: U.S. Centers for Disease
Control, Columbia University, Cornell University, MIT Press, National
Geographic, UNESCO, World Bank and WHO. Developed in 2001, the eGranary Digital Library is expanding
its installations to schools, hospitals and universities. The eGranary needs 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. How It Works Here’s
how the eGranary Digital Library works: 1. Web sites with
rich educational content are identified.
Since the beginning of the World Wide Web, millions of individuals and
organizations have digitized their information to share with the general
public over the Internet. Capitalizing
on this phenomenon, the eGranary Digital Library looks for Web sites with
pertinent digitized academic information (often guided by requests of its
African partners) to add to its ‘wish list.’ 2. Securing the
author’s or publisher’s permission to copy their materials is done by
email. The request is to replicate
materials for educational institutions in developing countries with
inadequate Internet connectivity.
Depending on the content area, 50-90% usually agree.
3. The permitted
materials are copied to a hard drive. Website “scraping” software is used to
make a duplicate of the permitted materials on the eGranary Digital Library
server. 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, copies of the
eGranary Digital Library are delivered to subscriber universities, most of
which already have servers and local area networks in place, so they simply
add the eGranary hard drive to their existing server. 5. The WiderNet
Project is currently developing a way to use various technologies, like
satellite digital radio, to update the collection on an ongoing basis. Endorsements of the eGranary Digital Library “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 “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, “The
idea is simply GREAT! We are trying to
promote it in --Mr.
Mizanur Munna Positive “eGranary Digital Library has been a great bridge in the
digital divide for us in the --Dr.
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