Contribution of SAARC Nations towards World Digital Library (WDL)
* Mudasir Khazer
Research Scholar, Department of Library & Information Science
University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar-190006
Email: mudasir1234@gmail.com
**Uzma Qadri
Assistant Librarian, Allama Iqbal Library
University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar-190006
Email: uzmaqadri10@gmail.com
***Huma Shafiq
Student, Department of Library & Information Science
University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar-190006
Email: huma.msgr14@gmail.com
Abstract
Digital library development, since its inception in the 1990s, has made significant progress so far. Although there is still a long way to go before
reaching their full potential, digital libraries are maturing. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in digital library (DL) research.
World Digital Library (WDL) is an internet-based, freely available resource to discover and study cultural collection from around the world.
The collection includes manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings,
among others. The resources can be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item as well as contributing institution. The paper is an attempt to
explore and analyze the contribution of SAARC Nations to the World Digital Library.
Keywords
Digital Library, Digital Preservation, World Digital Library, SAARC Nations, Manuscripts, Rare Books.
Introduction
Libraries have traditionally preserved resources for many centuries with little change in their role. Technological developments have an intense
impact on library resources and challenging the role of librarians in preserving digital materials. Libraries are currently in a transition period
from print to digital collections. Traditional libraries are changing to digital libraries, and some libraries are already transformed into digital
libraries (Moghaddam, 2010). Smith (as cited in Alhaji, n.a) defined a digital library as an organized and focused collection of digital objects,
including text, images, video and audio, with the methods of access and retrieval and for the selection, creation, organization, maintenance and
sharing of collection. The digital preservation of valued information resources opens up new avenues of access, use, and research and is an
important aspect in the development of digital libraries. According to Sharma (as cited in Gbaje and Mohmmed, n.a), the term “digital
preservation” refers to both preservation of materials that are created originally in digital form and have never existed in print or analogue form
and the use of imaging and recording technologies to create digital surrogates of analogue materials for access and preservation purposes.
Oehlerts and Liu (2013) defined the “digital preservation” as the conscious effort to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the master digital
object and its accompanying files by creating a preservation plan and periodically reviewing the digital files to identify and correct any
degradation. Thus, digital preservation permits the users to read rare or unique documents without damaging the original work, make the
documents more accessible e.g. let the users to search the full text of the documents or serve more users from remote locations. Digital libraries
have fascinated almost all the developed and developing countries by contributing many digital preservation projects and the World Digital
Library has been in the forefront of digital preservation of number of important and rare documents from all over the world. World Digital
Library (WDL) is a resource in order to search for primary sources from countries and cultures around the world. It includes examples of
“manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings”. The Library of Congress
worked with several countries in forming this database by setting up digitization centers in Brazil, Egypt, Iraq, and Russia (Knight, 2010). All
resources on the World Digital Library may be searched by a variety of methods. An interactive map permits the end user to simply click on a
geographical area (North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Africa, Central and South Asia,
East Asia, Southeast Asia, or Oceania and the Pacific) to easily access any relevant resources (Millard, 2013). The present study is an attempt to
assess the contribution of SAARC Nations to World Digital Library.
Problem
With the rapid popularisation of electronic documents, electronic publications, web resources, and network communication, more and more
libraries, archives and information centres have begun to collect, preserve digital resources and access it from one’s desktop or mobile
computing device at just one click. There are many digital libraries that have fascinated almost all the developed and developing countries due to
their dynamic role in digital preservation of number of resources and the World Digital Library is not any exception to it. World Digital Library
(WDL) is an internet based resource presenting, in a multilingual format, significant primary documents from countries and cultures around the
world, regardless of time period. Thus, the study is an attempt to assess the contribution of SAARC Nations to World Digital Library.
Objectives
1. To assess the contribution of SAARC Nations to the collection of World Digital Library (WDL).
2. To identify various parameters on the basis of which the digitized resources are categorized in WDL.
3. To identify the statistical analysis of various resources on the basis of the identified parameters.
Methodology
An online survey was adopted to accomplish the objectives. Homepage of World Digital Library was accessed to explore and analyze the
categorization of digital resources in the Library. To carry out the statistical analysis of the resources, each country was browsed separately.
Scope
World Digital Library has a digital collection of thousands of resources from almost all the countries of the world. Keeping the time constraints
in consideration, the contribution from SAARC Nations to the Library is explored and analyzed.
Review of Literature
The domain of digital libraries is at the intersection of many disciplines and fields, including data management, information retrieval, library
sciences, document management, information systems, the web, image processing, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, archiving
and digital curation. Libraries prefer digital collections for copious reasons, including the following: digital journals can be linked from and to
indexing and abstracting databases; access almost universally and all the time, the library can get usage statistics that are not available for print
collections; and very less space needed and easy to maintain. When whole processing and space costs are taken into account, electronic
collections may also result in some overall reductions in library costs (Montgomery & King, 2002). Jeng (2005) reveals in his paper that digital
library development, since its inception in the 1990s, has made significant progress so far. Although there is still a long way to go before
reaching their full potential, digital libraries are maturing. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in digital library (DL) research
since the early 1990s. Much of this research has addressed how DL’s can aid education, but there has been no parallel investment in supporting
teaching and learning about DL’s. Such research investment is of ongoing importance in the United States and other nations (e.g., Australia,
China, India, Japan, and many European nations) where significant DL development is being undertaken.
Gbaje and Mohmmed (n.a) states that digital preservation is the process of active management of digital objects to ensure their accessibility in
the future. Preserving digital materials is achieved by finding ways to represent what was originally presented to users through a combination of
computer software and hardware. While as Oehlerts and Liu (2013) is of the opinion that digital preservation is the conscious effort to maintain
the integrity and authenticity of the master digital object and its accompanying files by creating a preservation plan and periodically reviewing
the digital files to identify and correct any degradation. Digital preservation includes, but is not limited to, mitigating any degradation by
providing multiple copies of the original; monitoring format and technology changes that may require the migration of the digital masters to
another format; and including all stakeholders in the preservation decision-making processes. Kalusopa and Zulu (2009) divulges that
preservation is an umbrella term under which most librarians and archivists cluster all the policies and options for action, including conservation
treatments of different formats of information materials. Digital material preservation, therefore, is a way of preserving information materials
which refers to digital surrogates created as a result of converting analog materials to digital form (digitisation).
Sen, Dutta and Das (2007) in their research discuss the development of digital library initiatives in South Asia, particularly in India. He
comments that large volumes of cultural heritage resources (documentary) are on the verge of extinction due to lack of preservation, nonavailability, rarity and natural decay. Bansode (2008) highlights the importance of manuscripts available in India and making them accessible,
by creating a digital library. Mentioning the manuscripts available at Shivaji University which has very rich collection of rare materials and
manuscripts donated by different personalities. It has nearly 8,000 rare manuscripts preserved in the archival cell of the library.
The National Library of China started and completed its digital library system, aimed at demonstrating the life cycle of its digital resource
collection. The system provided reference implementation for digital resource retrieval, metadata collection, resource distribution and selection,
user interface design, and indexing and searching across different library systems (Zhen, 2010). Cole (as cited in Burrows, 1999) found that the
University of Sydney Library under a project named Scholarly Electronic Text and Image Service (SETIS) provides a range of commercial and
locally-produced texts including more than 100 Australian literary works from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It also provides
facilities for creating and manipulating electronic literary texts.
The University of California at Berkeley has been in the forefront of digital library innovation for many years and has completed many projects
included the creation of specifications for encoding electronic finding aids that are used to access special collections and has also become a
significant resource for digital library researchers and developers worldwide. It also accomplished project named as SunSITE (Sun Software,
Information, and Technology Exchange) that has provided catalogs and indices to electronic content, links to significant digital collections,
digital library information resources, links to significant digital library research and development, information on tools used to build digital
libraries (Sun Microsystems, 2002). Poll (2010) reveals that under a project of the European Commission, NUMERIC that started out to define
measures and methods for assessing the current state of digitisation in Europe's cultural institutions (archives, libraries and museums) found that
only about 19 percent of the analogue collections in cultural institutions have as yet been digitised and at least 50 percent of the analogue
collections in cultural institutions are still waiting digitisation while remaining 30 percent of the institutions do not plan digitisation yet.
Kalusopa and Zulu (2009) reveals in their findings that weak policy formulation on digitization both at the institutional and national levels;
weak legislative framework for digital preservation; ill-defined national digitization co-ordination for digitization activities at institutional,
national and regional levels; lack of awareness about the potential of digital preservation by national heritage institutions; a dearth of human
resources for digitization; and lack of common standards on digital heritage materials preservation in Botswana. According to Krtalic and
Hasenay (2012), different issues necessary for successful preservation management are brought together within these components, such as
policies and strategies, financial issues, legal regulations, knowledge and competences, preservation methods and techniques, user needs, and
lastly, the cultural and social impact of preservation.
Knight (2010) highlights that UNESCO's World Digital Library (WDL) is a resource for those interested in searching for primary sources from
around the world. As indicated by the site, there are examples of “manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints,
photographs, and architectural drawings”. Part of the impetus for this project was found in the inability of developing countries to adequately
digitize and preserve their cultural history. The Library of Congress worked with several countries in forming this database by setting up
digitization centers in Brazil, Egypt, Iraq, and Russia. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library of Brazil, the National Library and
Archives of Egypt, the National Library of Russia, and the Russian State Library partnered with UNESCO and the Library of Congress to
provide content. Millard (2013) reveals that World Digital Library (WDL) is truly an internet-based, freely available resource that makes it
possible for any researcher to discover, study or simply enjoy cultural treasures from around the world. These treasures include manuscripts,
maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings, among others. As of January 2013, there
were 6,627 items in total to consult but now it has risen to 8397 items (July 2013). There are other ways to search the collection. From a bar on
the top of the page, the researcher can browse the results by place (large geographical area only), time (e.g. 8000 BCE-499 CE, 500 CE-1499
CE, 1500 CE-1599 CE, for example), topic (e.g. arts and recreation, history and geography, religion, social sciences, etc.), type of item (books,
journals, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, newspapers, prints and photographs, and sound recordings) as well as contributing institution.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library promoting intercultural understanding and expanding the volume and variety of
cultural content on Internet, providing access to a total collection of 8397 items currently. The present study is an attempt to assess the total
contribution of SAARC Nations towards WDL through various parameters namely; (i) Time, (ii) Topic, (iii) Type of Item, (iv) Language, and
(v) Institutions.
Table 1: TIME
Country
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
8000BCE500CE
2
0
0
1
500CE1499CE
8
0
0
13
1500CE1699CE
12
0
0
14
1700CE1799CE
1
3
0
12
1800CE1849CE
8
0
1
29
1850CE1899CE
26
0
2
22
1900CE1949CE
3
2
2
18
1950CE2010CE
2
0
0
2
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Total
0
1
3
0
7
(0.08)
0
1
2
1
25
(0.30)
0
1
3
1
31
(0.37)
1
1
2
3
23
(0.27)
0
3
8
3
52
(0.62)
0
4
21
0
75
(0.89)
0
4
7
2
38
(0.45)
0
0
1
0
5
(0.06)
*The numbers in parenthesis denote the percentage calculated on the total collection of WDL i.e.; 8397 items.
*BCE – Before Christian Era, CE - Christian Era.
It is observed that out of the total contribution of SAARC Nations towards WDL, most of the resources preserved, belong to the time of
1850CE-1899CE i.e. 75 forming 0.89% of the total collection of the WDL. This is followed by 52 resources (0.62% of the total collection of
WDL) from 1800CE-1849CE. 38 resources forming 0.45% of the total collection of WDL belong to 1900CE-1949CE. 31 resources (0.37%)
belong to 1500CE-1699CE followed by 25 resources (0.30%) from 500CE-1499CE. 23 resources have been preserved belonging to the time of
1700CE-1799CE which forms 0.27% of the total collection of WDL. Only 7 resources (0.08%) have been contributed from the time of
8000BCE-500CE while a least number of 5 resources (0.06%) belong to 1950CE-2010CE.
Table 2: TOPIC
Country
History
Arts
Literature Religion Science Social Technology Language Philosophy Computer Additional
&
&
Sciences
&
Science,
Subjects
Geography Recreation
Psychology Information
&
General
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Total
29
0
0
44
1
9
29
6
118
(1.41)
24
0
0
20
0
1
2
1
48
(0.57)
10
0
0
9
0
0
3
0
22
(0.26)
5
0
0
12
0
1
0
0
18
(0.21)
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
3
(0.04)
1
0
1
6
0
0
1
1
10
(0.12)
1
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
4
(0.05)
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
4
(0.05)
Works
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
(0.01)
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
2
(0.02)
218
7
6
234
4
30
84
16
599
(7.13)
*The numbers in parenthesis denote the percentage calculated on the total collection of WDL i.e.; 8397 items.
WDL categorizes whole of the collection of SAARC Countries in ten different topics in general other than the additional subjects which are
different for each country. It is evident from above table that a total of 599 resources (7.13% of total collection of WDL) belong to ‘Additional
Subject’ category. Among the ten topics, 118 resources (1.41%) belong to ‘History & Geography’, followed by 48 items (0.57%) from ‘Arts &
Recreation’. 22 resources which form 0.26% of the total collection of WDL belong to ‘Literature’ which is followed by 18 resources (0.21%)
from ‘Religion’, 10 items (0.12%) from ‘Social Sciences’. 4 resources (0.05%) belong to ‘Technology’ and ‘Language’ each followed by 3 items
(0.04%) in ‘Science’. 2 resources (0.02%) belong to ‘Philosophy & Psychology’ while only 1 item (0.01%) belongs to ‘Computer Science,
Information & General Works’.
Table 3: TYPE OF ITEM
Country
Maps
Manuscripts
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
26
1
1
16
0
0
Prints,
Photographs
13
0
0
Books
3
3
3
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Total
19
0
3
27
1
78
(0.93)
14
0
0
0
0
30
(0.36)
25
0
1
2
1
42
(0.50)
24
1
6
6
5
51
(0.61)
*The numbers in parenthesis denote the percentage calculated on the total collection of WDL i.e.; 8397 items.
The above table shows that among the four types of resources contributed by SAARC Countries in WDL, most of the items belong to maps (78)
which form 0.93% of the total collection of WDL. This is followed by the books (51) forming 0.61% of the total collection available in WDL. 42
resources (0.50%) are of prints, photographs type and lastly 30 manuscripts have been added to the collection forming 0.36% of the total
collection of WDL.
Table 4: LANGUAGE
Country
E
n
g
l
i
s
h
P
e
r
s
i
a
n
A
r
a
b
i
c
G
e
r
m
a
n
F
r
e
n
c
h
L
a
t
i
n
C
h
a
g
a
t
a
i
U
r
d
u
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
32
0
11
0
6
0
4
0
2
0
2
0
1
0
0
0
P
o
r
t
u
g
u
e
s
e
0
0
H
i
n
d
i
C
h
i
n
e
s
e
M
a
r
a
t
h
i
S
a
n
s
k
r
i
t
T
a
m
i
l
P
u
n
j
a
b
i
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Bhutan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Total
3
36
0
8
24
6
109
(1.30)
0
14
0
0
0
0
25
(0.30)
0
8
0
0
0
0
14
(0.17)
0
5
0
0
4
0
13
(0.15)
1
3
1
2
2
1
11
(0.13)
0
1
0
0
2
0
5
(0.06)
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
(0.01)
0
9
0
0
4
0
13
(0.15)
0
3
0
0
0
0
3
(0.04)
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
(0.02)
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
(0.02)
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
(0.01)
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
(0.02)
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
(0.01)
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
(0.01)
*The numbers in parenthesis denote the percentage calculated on the total collection of WDL i.e.; 8397 items.
It is ascertained from above that 109 resources (1.30% of the total collection of WDL) are available in English language followed by 25
resources (0.30%) in Persian. 14 items (0.17%) are in Arabic language which is followed by German and Urdu languages having 13 resources
each (0.15%). 11 items (0.13%) are available in French language. The collection of SAARC Nations includes 5 resources (0.06%) which are
available in Latin followed by 3 items (0.04%) in Portuguese. 2 resources (0.02%) are available in Hindi, Chinese and Sanskrit each while only 1
item (0.01%) is available in Chagatai, Marathi, Tamil and Punjabi languages each.
Table 5: INSTITUTIONS
Country
Library
Brown
Bibliotheca Government University
Allama
Walters National Qatar
Yale
of
University Alexandrina
College
Library
Iqbal
Art
Library National University
Congress Library
University
in
Library, Museum
of
Library
Library
Lahore
Bratislava University
Brazil
of
Kashmir
Afghanistan
42
12
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
Bangladesh
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Bhutan
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
India
35
19
1
10
1
7
4
3
1
1
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Total
1
9
27
7
129
(1.54)
0
1
2
0
34
(0.40)
0
0
0
0
3
(0.04)
0
0
6
0
11
(0.13)
0
0
0
0
2
(0.02)
0
0
0
0
7
(0.08)
0
0
0
0
4
(0.05)
0
0
0
0
3
(0.04)
0
0
0
0
1
(0.01)
0
0
0
0
1
(0.01)
*The numbers in parenthesis denote the percentage calculated on the total collection of WDL i.e.; 8397
There are 10 different institutions through which SAARC Nations contribute their resources to WDL. Among these 10 institutions, Library of
Congress contributes highest number of resources i.e. 129 from 8 SAARC Nations forming 1.54% of the total collection of WDL. This is
followed by Brown University Library contributing 34 items (0.40%). 11 items (0.13%) are contributed by Government College University
Lahore which is followed by Allama Iqbal Library, University of Kashmir contributing 7 items (0.08%). Walters Art Museum contributes 4
resources forming 0.05% of the total collection available in WDL. Bibliotheca Alexandrina and National Library of Brazil contribute 3 items
each which forms 0.04% of the total collection of WDL. University Library in Bratislava contributes 2 resources (0.02%) while Qatar National
Library and Yale University Library contribute only 1 item each i.e. 0.01% of the total collection of WDL.
Conclusion
The World Digital Library, the cooperative project of the Library of Congress, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), and partner libraries, archives, and educational and cultural institutions from the United States and around the world
brings together in a single website rare and unique documents – books, journals, manuscripts, maps, prints and photographs, films, and sound
recordings – that covers the various aspects of the world’s cultures. At launch, in April 2009, the library had 1,236 items, by November 2012 the
items were raised to 6,506 items and at present (July 2013) it is about 8,397. Amongst the total items in World Digital Library, the contribution
of SAARC Nations is so far only 201 items (i.e. only 2.39% of the total collection of WDL) covering various subjects like History & Geography,
Arts & Recreation, Literature, Religion, Science, etc. from time to time. The contribution of SAARC Nations is not too promising. Only India,
Afghanistan and Pakistan are paying some concern to increase their contribution towards WDL instantly while the rest of the five countries,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka seem least concerned about the preservation of their valuable resources in WDL.
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