Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Kathmandu, Nepal, 23‐25 July, 2010
Jointly organized by:
HealthNet Nepal,
Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science,
eifl.net, &
The University of Waikato, New Zealand
Maldives Country Report
Aminath Riyaz
Chief Librarian,
Maldives College of Higher Education
r.aminath.01@mche.edu.mv
Fathmath Shiham
Chief Librarian,
National Library of Maldives
fathmath.shiham@nlm.gov.mv
July 2010
Maldivian Greenstone support Network
Initiated by the National Library of Maldives in partnership with MCHE, NCIT & NCLHR
Maldives Country Report for the Regional Workshop of Coordinators of GSDL National Nodes in South Asia, 23‐25 July, 2010
COUNTRY BACKGROUND
The Maldives is a small independent island state in the Indian Ocean with tourism and fishing
as its main income‐generating activities. While Dhivehi is the national language, and legal
and official correspondences are conducted in Dhivehi, English is used as the primary
medium for teaching throughout the educational system. The country has a literacy rate of
98% for both males and females (MPND, 2005).
The country faces considerable challenges in the provision of equitable services and
opportunities to its population of about 300,000, due to the dispersed nature of its
geographical layout. Of the total population, 34.7% live on Malé, the capital island. Most
public services, such as schools and medical facilities, are centred on and around Malé
(MPND, 2002). The situation with information provision & access is also similar, with libraries
and information resources relatively more accessible by urban population while the rural
population has limited or no access at all (Riyaz, 2009).
The advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) has been a promising
development for countries like the Maldives as geographic isolation can be reduced with the
use of ICTs. However, the costly infrastructure required to reap its benefits hinders the
maximum use of ICTs.
STATUS OF LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT IN THE MALDIVES
The National Library of Maldives, located in Malé, is the largest and oldest library in the
country with a history of 65 years. Contrary to its name, the Library has a dual role as a public
library.
The other major library in Maldives is the MCHE Library made up of a number of branch
libraries. Other noteworthy library collections include the Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital
library, Marine Research Library, & Record Library. There are also 75 private libraries located
in other regions of the country, registered at the National Library (National Library, 2007).
There are 16 school libraries located on Malé and 63 school libraries on the islands (Habeeb,
2006).
Many of these libraries have a very slow growth rate with a high dependency on donations
for their collection development. Most of the operations in the existing libraries are manual
with only a recent introduction of integrated library software (Liberty3) in the MCHE libraries
in 2006. The National Library of Maldives has been using Liberty3 cataloguing module since
2007 and other modules are to be adopted shortly. No data exists as to whether any other
library software is being used by any other library.
At present, there is no coordinated effort in establishing a union catalogue online or
otherwise, though a conceptual model has existed for quite some time (National Library,
1995). Creation of digital libraries was conceptualized in 2006 by the MCHE Library but has
not been realized so far given the lack of necessary funds and the know‐how of technical
aspects of such an endeavor. Inadequate finance, the shortage of qualified library staff, and
the poor professional status of library staff, are the major constraints on the growth,
development, proper management and functioning of libraries in the Maldives (Gross &
Riyaz, 2003).
MGN Committee, July 2010 2
Maldives Country Report for the Regional Workshop of Coordinators of GSDL National Nodes in South Asia, 23‐25 July, 2010
LOCAL LITERATURE
Very limited local literature has been produced in the Maldives until recently. The advances
of the Internet and free content management software supporting local font, in the recent
years, coupled with the newly achieved freedom of publishing newspapers locally, has
drastically increased the amount local literature being published (printed or online). There
has also been a revival in scholarly writing promoted by the National Centre for Linguistic
and Historical Research.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MALDIVIAN GREENSTONE SUPPORT
N E T W O R K (MGN) & I T S S T E E R I N G C O M M I T T E E
The storage of national literature in an easily accessible and transferable medium is seen as
an important endeavor in the efforts of the libraries in disseminating information to those
who need it. Additionally, the collection and organization of digital content is of essence in
today’s digital environment, firstly to provide access to the information, and secondly for
preservation for future generation. For users in developing countries digital libraries provide
a chance of accessing materials which were previously not easily accessible due to the high
cost of acquisition and the logistic of getting the items to the rural communities.
Digital collections in this respect may include, and are not limited to:
Library catalogues and full‐text or abstracted digital libraries based on them
Specialized document collections
Multimedia collections
Cultural heritage collections & Indigenous knowledge
Archives of different types
Institutional repositories
Greenstone digital library software suite, development and distribution coordinated by the
University of Waikato in New Zealand, provides a unique resource to promote the
development of digital libraries in the Maldives. As we have seen so far, Greenstone is a user‐
friendly, multi‐lingual, multi‐platform package for assembling electronic documents into
digital collections and for publishing these collections on the Web or on CD‐ROM. It accepts
documents in a wide range of proprietary and standard formats, supports numerous
standards for document and metadata exchange, including compliance with OAI‐PMH (Open
Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting), and readily converts bibliographic
databases into publishable digital libraries, including the full texts of the referenced
documents if available (National Library, 2010).
An invitation from Greenstone Support for South Asia, by MG Sreekumar, followed by
communications from John Rose, a member of the Greenstone Digital Library Software
development team, to form a National GSDL network for the Maldives with financial
contribution towards the establishment of such a network laid the foundation for our being
part of this South Asia GSDL network today.
MGN Committee, July 2010 3
Maldives Country Report for the Regional Workshop of Coordinators of GSDL National Nodes in South Asia, 23‐25 July, 2010
The Maldivian Greenstone Network is coordinated by the National Library of the Maldives
with support from the MCHE Library. Discussions on this endeavor were initiated in January
2010 culminating in the formal establishment of the national network in July 2010.
The participating member organizations of the network are:
National Library of Maldives (NLM)
Maldives College of Higher Education (MCHE)
National Centre for Linguistic & Historical Research (NCLHR)1 now Department of
Heritage
National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT)
Supporting Agencies
University of Waikato, New Zealand,
HealthNet Nepal &
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kerala
The Maldivian Greenstone support Network is steered by a Committee made up of at least 3
members from the participating organizations outlined above.
The current Committee is comprised of:
Ms. Fathmath Shiham, Chief Librarian, NLM
Ms. Aminath Riyaz, Chief Librarian, MCHE
Ms. Aishath Shabana, Librarian, MCHE
Ms. Kulsum Ali Rasheed, Administrative Officer, Department of Heritage
Mr. Hussain Mohamed, Assistant Computer Engineer, NCIT
OBJECTIVES OF THE MALDIVIAN GREENSTONE SUPPORT NETWORK
The objectives of the Maldivian Greenstone support Network (MGN) are:
1. Work in consultation with the network launch team and the collective coordination of
the South Asian Greenstone Support Network to coordinate, promote and facilitate
Greenstone activities in the Maldives;
2. Focus on further strengthening the usage and popularity of the Greenstone software by
organizing workshops and training programs on Greenstone;
3. Facilitate and support the development of Digital Library collections related to Maldives;
4. Support the development of the Greenstone language interface for the local language,
Dhivehi;
5. Organize a self‐supporting cooperative governance mechanism for the Maldivian
Greenstone support Network.
1
This Centre has been dissolved by the Government and its work incorporated to Ministry of Tourism
Arts and Culture (as the Department of Heritage) and MCHE (as Centre for Linguistic & History).
MGN Committee, July 2010 4
Maldives Country Report for the Regional Workshop of Coordinators of GSDL National Nodes in South Asia, 23‐25 July, 2010
TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Computers are used in all Government as well as private organizations with most of the
computers on a networked infrastructure with leased line or wireless Internet access. There
are IT staffs in almost all the organizations.
The participating organizations have the minimum infrastructure required for the execution
of the project, other than a dedicated central Server and A3 scanner to scan local
newspapers. Servers at the NCIT will be used temporarily for data storage until the National
Library can purchase a server through their regular budget.
The existing equipment is not dedicated for the project but used on a shared basis with the
existing work of service provision at the stated organizations. The specifications for these are
as below:
At the MCHE Central Library, where the digital library work is to be carried out, there are 4
full time qualified staff who will be directly involved with the digitization of “Faithoora”
project. This includes two university graduates and two staff with Diploma qualification in
library related field. Additionally, there is one staff at the MCHE Library with the necessary
information systems background who has also undergone training in using Greenstone at
IIMK.
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Maldives Country Report for the Regional Workshop of Coordinators of GSDL National Nodes in South Asia, 23‐25 July, 2010
The Department of Heritage contributes their knowledge in kind and through support of this
endeavor. At present the Department has four staff who have done short term courses in
records management and archiving.
The NCIT is the information technology backbone of the committee and plays an advisory
role. One technical staff is involved in this project.
TRAINING
Among the organizations involved in the Committee, there are only two staffs with the
know‐how of using Greenstone software at some level, one in 2006 in IIMK, Kozhikode, and
the second at the recent workshop in Nepal during July 2010. Further training is required for
staff who will be directly involved in the immediate Digital Library projects. Furthermore, to
promote the use of Greenstone and creation of Digital Libraries throughout the Maldives,
training needs to be conducted at national level on a regular basis so as to keep pace with
new developments in the Greenstone software.
MGN S H O R T T E R M P L A N 2010
The project proposal presented by the Maldives Greenstone support Network for the Grant
from the University of Waikato is as follows, and this is the MGN’s short‐term plan in
establishing its activities:
1. Creation of the Network, bringing together the relevant organizations and their
expertise, with the objective of creating a support team to promote the creation of
digital libraries using Greenstone.
2. Training of Trainers workshop in the use of Greenstone, followed by local workshops at
major locations in Maldives, to facilitate the creation of digital collections.
3. Develop two Digital Library collections during its first year of operation. Other digital
collection will be decided at a later stage. The two DL collection to be initiated are:
a. Development of a Digital Library of newspaper collection of
Haveeru held at the National Library. This will be executed by
the National Library of Maldives.
Haveeru (ު )ހަވީރhas been published since January 1979 and
has remained the mostly read newspaper throughout the years.
b. Development of a Digital Library of the prominent local serial
literature “Faithoora” magazine. This will be executed by the
MCHE Library.
Faithoora (ަ)ފަތްތޫރ has been published since April 1979. Issues are published
monthly and are in the local language with articles on a variety of topics
mostly related to Dhivehi literature.
4. Develop a website to disseminate the information created.
5. Translate the Greenstone user interface to the local language, Dhivehi.
MGN Committee, July 2010 6
Maldives Country Report for the Regional Workshop of Coordinators of GSDL National Nodes in South Asia, 23‐25 July, 2010
TIMELINES
The following are the activities that have been carried out by the Maldivian Greenstone
support Network so far and are planned for the short‐term.
LONGTERM PLANS
Once the Digital Libraries are established, the collections can be offered to interested
libraries and information agencies on a subscription basis. This will generate funds for the
sustenance of the project and to introduce further enhancements.
The integration of Greenstone Digital Libraries with library management software in use in
the particular libraries would be an important initiative in this endeavor. As such, the
Committee envisages KOHA software as the ideal software to be introduced in all libraries of
the Maldives, with the view to create a union catalogue as well as to provide integration of
Greenstone Digital Libraries.
The Maldivian Greenstone support Network shall also play an active role in the support
network of the South Asia Greenstone Coordinating Committee.
CHALLENGES
Securing the necessary funds to send staff overseas for training is one major constraint in
terms of human resource development. The success of the project will rely greatly on the
commitment of technical staff well versed in the use of Greenstone and its associated
computer platforms.
Maintaining the Digital library system with current hardware will be a constraint due to
budget cuts in government organizations.
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Maldives Country Report for the Regional Workshop of Coordinators of GSDL National Nodes in South Asia, 23‐25 July, 2010
REFERENCES
Gross, J. & Riyaz, A. (2003). An academic library partnership in the Indian Ocean region.
Library Review, 53(4), 220‐227.
Habeeb, H. H. (2006, March 26). Maldives country report. Paper presented at the 14th
meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries of Asia and Oceania, Manila,
Philippines. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from
http://www.nla.gov.au/lap/documents/maldives06.pdf
MPND (Ministry of Planning and National Development). (2002). Analytic Report: Population
and housing census 2000 of the Maldives. Malé, Maldives: MPND.
MPND (Ministry of Planning and National Development). (2005). Millennium Development
Goals Maldives Country Report 2005. Malé, Maldives: MPND.
National Library. (1995). Report of the Seminar on strategies for strengthening the National
Library Maldives, 10‐12 July 1995, Malé , Maldives: National Library.
National Library. (2007). Dhivehi Raajeyge Gaumy Kuthubukhaanaage dhuveli: 1970‐2007 =
Report of Maldives National Library 1970 to 2007. Malé, Maldives: National Library.
National Library. (2010). A Maldivian Greenstone Support Network (MGN): working papers of
the MGN Committee. (Unpublished). Malé , Maldives: National Library
Riyaz, A. (2009). Maldives information culture: an exploratory study of information provision
and access in a small island developing state. MPhil Thesis. Curtin University of
Technology, Australia.
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