Aluka

Infobox_Website
url = http://www.aluka.org
name = Aluka



caption = Aluka homepage
commercial = [http://www.aluka.org/page/join/fees.jsp not-for-profit]
type = Digital library
owner = Aluka
author = Aluka

Aluka is an online digital library focusing on materials about Africa. Aluka's mission is to connect scholars from around the world by building a common platform that allows online collaboration and knowledge sharing. Aluka's audience is higher education and research communities worldwide.

Aluka has been an initiative of Ithaka, which is a non profit organization that has a mission of incubating promising new projects that support the use of technology for the benefit of higher education. An assumption of the incubation process is that successful projects will eventually become independent or join larger, existing organizations serving the academic community. In June 2008, the Ithaka and JSTOR Trustees approved a recommendation that the Aluka initiative be integrated into JSTOR.

Founded in 2003, Aluka was an initiative of [http://www.ithaka.org Ithaka Harbors, Inc.] , a non-profit organization based in New York City and Princeton, New Jersey. The initial funding was provided by the [http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/incubatedentities/ithaka/aluka Mellon Foundation] , the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation.

The first release of Aluka took place in early February 2007 with preview access to JSTOR subscribers. In Africa, Aluka is free to all academic and other not-for-profit institutions. [http://www.aluka.org/page/about/news/jstor.jsp Aluka and JSTOR Unite] . July 2008. (press release)]

The name 'Aluka' is derived from a Zulu word meaning 'to weave'.

Content

Initial focus of Aluka digital library is in three major areas:
* [http://www.aluka.org/page/content/plants.jsp African Plants] : Collection of African plants specimens and related materials contributed by the African Plants Initiative.
* [http://www.aluka.org/page/content/heritage.jsp Cultural Heritage] : Collection of images, documents and 3D models documenting African heritage sites, including Timbuktu, Djenne, Lalibela, Kilwa Kisiwani, Lamu, and Elmina. This content area also includes a large collection of African Rock Art from many African nations.
* [http://www.aluka.org/page/content/struggles.jsp Struggles for Freedom] : Documents, images and other materials documenting the liberation struggles in Southern Africa, including those from Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Aluka seeks to attract other collections of scholarly interest from institutions and individuals worldwide. By bringing materials together, Aluka creates new opportunities for research and collaboration. Documents and materials that were previously hard or impossible to access are now available for researchers around the world.

ee also

* List of academic databases and search engines
* Digital preservation

References

* [http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/incubatedentities/ithaka/aluka Mellon Foundation]
* [http://www.jstor.org/news/2007.11/aluka.html J-STOR News]
* [http://www.cni.org/tfms/2007a.spring/abstracts/PB-aluka-nygren.html Project briefing] at the meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information
* [http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/afs/alc/alcmin105.html Meeting of] Africana Librarians Council at the Library of Congress
* [http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlbr236ithaka.pdf Introduction to Aluka] from the Association of Research Libraries
* [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v052/52.2limb.html Peter Limb - The Digitization of Africa] in Africa Today v.52 no.2.
* [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/africa_today/v052/52.2isaacman.html Isaacman, A., Lalu, P., Nygren, T. 2005. Digitization, History, and the Making of a Postcolonial Archive of Southern African Liberation Struggles: The Aluka Project.] in Africa Today v.52 no.2.
* [http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i46/46a02701.htm Can Technology Save the Developing World: Supplying Content] in the Chronicle of Higher Education July 21, 2006.
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/science/20timb.html?scp=2&sq=aluka&st=cse Project Digitizes Works from the Golden Age of Timbuktu] in the The New York Times May 20, 2008.
* [http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,569560,00.html The Rush to Save Timbuktu's Crumbling Manuscripts] in the Der Spiegel August 1, 2008.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.aluka.org Aluka Homepage.]
* [http://blog.aluka.org Aluka Blog.]