Project Web Site Not Up Yet
Latin American and Caribbean Center
Florida International University
DM 353, University Park
Miami, FL 33199
(305) 348-2894
Principal Investigator:
Eduardo Gamarra,
gamarrae@fiu.edu
Co-Principal Investigator:
Carmen Diana Deere,
deere@latam.ufl.edu
Project Co-Director:
Catherine Marsicek,
marsicek@fiu.edu
Project Co-Director:
Judith Rogers,
jrogers@uvi.edu
Technical Director:
Erich Kesse,
kesse@ufl.edu
Dollar Allocation Year 1: $115,000
Project Overview:
In order to preserve and increase access to valuable resources for the study of the Caribbean and the advancement of Caribbean Studies, Florida International University, in consortium with three U.S. institutions and five Caribbean partners, will develop a multifaceted and collaborative international digital library. The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) intends to cross borders and build collaboration among diverse institutions to share resources in a common space, thus expanding the range of Caribbean materials available to scholars, students and citizens through enhanced electronic access in multilingual interfaces.
Project Significance and Need:
The Caribbean comprises a diverse mix of cultures, histories and peoples that share a common space. This region illustrates trends in migration and nation-state building that are currently taking place on a world scale, and is thus a significant focus of study for scholars and students alike. Pan-Caribbean research will provide scholars, leaders, and citizens with the resources necessary to build an understanding of issues central to our lives today and to construct effective current policies and sound strategies for the future.
This digital library will comprise collections that examine the similarities and differences in histories, cultures, languages and governmental systems. The dLOC will be an umbrella for digital projects and collections from and about the Caribbean that might exist in isolation at a single institution, thus providing a critical mass of resources in a single space.
Project Design and Activities:
Building upon the success of a cooperative pilot project and the progress made at the first
dLOC Planning Meeting in July 2004 at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, this project will use Federal funds to meet the following goals:
- Increase access to Caribbean research resources by digitizing and making available through centralized searching collections of note, in English, French, and Spanish, including from the Archives Nationales d'Haiti, Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Fundación Global Desarrollo y Democracia (Dominican Republic), National Library of Jamaica, and Universidad de Oriente (Venezuela);
- Build capacity by developing a multi- layered and comprehensive digitization training program for international partners;
- Advance Caribbean Studies by building an aggressive and engaging outreach program that delivers these collections to scholars, to the classroom, and to the general public;
- Cultivate the development of new research initiatives among Caribbean scholars by providing a supportive framework to disseminate this work;
- Ensure sustainability of the dLOC by consolidating the organizational framework, both in governance and technical infrastructure.