Digital Library of the Caribbean

Digital Library of the Caribbean

URL	www.dloc.com
Commercial?	No
Type of site	International education
Available language(s)	Multilingual
Owner	Caribbean
Created by	Caribbean
Launched	March 17, 2006 (2006-03-17)
Current status	Online

The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is an international digital library operated collaboratively by the contributing partners.^[1]

Partners

Current partners include the Archives Nationales d'Haïti (National Archives of Haiti), Biblioteca Nacional Aruba (National Library of Aruba, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, Caribbean Studies Association, The College of The Bahamas, the Fundación Global Desarollo y Democracia (FUNGLODE), the National Library of Jamaica, Belize National Library Service and Information System (BNLSIS), Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), the Universidad de Oriente in Venezuela, Florida International University, the University of the Virgin Islands, the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, and WIDECAST (the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network).^[2] The Digital Library of the Caribbean received a US Department of Education Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA) grant in 2004, which is administered by Florida International University, the University of Florida Libraries, and the University of the Virgin Islands. The technical infrastructure is provided by the University of Florida Digital Collections.

Collections

Collections include books, photographs, archives of Caribbean leaders and governments, legal documents, official historical documents, literature (novels, poetry, journals, and more), art, audio-visual materials, and historic and contemporary maps. Collections also include Caribbean studies journals and scholarly publications including the New West Indian Guide, MaComère, the Jamaica Journal, and many others.

The Digital Library of the Caribbean provides open access to all materials, and all materials are full text searchable with JPG2000 images that load quickly but can be zoomed for detail, and the multiple formats support the digital preservation of materials in the Digital Library of the Caribbean. As of August 2010, the Digital Library of the Caribbean held 63,794 items comprising 1,209,153 pages built from the ongoing digitization of new materials from partner institutions.

History and concept

As a digital library, the Digital Library of the Caribbean was established by a committee of librarians, scholars, and archivists at a meeting held in San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 17, 2004. The goal of dLOC is to build a cooperative digital library among partners within the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean, thus providing scholars, students, and citizens around the world with open online access to Caribbean cultural, historical and scientific materials, while also ensuring long term preservation of these materials. The Digital Library of the Caribbean draws on the many connections among the partner institutions and the University of Florida's role in collecting, enabling access to, and preserving materials published in the Caribbean under and prior to the Farmington Plan.^[3]

Technologies

The Digital Library of the Caribbean is powered by the SobekCM software engine and suite of associated tools.^{[citation needed]}

Footnotes

1. ^ dLOC homepage and "About" page.
2. ^ dLOC "Partners" page and Florida International University news story.
3. ^ See the full grant proposal in the University of Florida Digital Collections and available in dLOC for more information.

External links

• Official website
• University of Florida Libraries, technical partner for dLOC, with information on the technology
• Florida International University, administrative partner for dLOC, with information on the administration
• SobekCM, the technology of dLOC and the University of Florida Digital Collections
• Green Foundation information on supporting dLOC