Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

Sudan: Open-Access Digital Library Launched

2 June 2006

Nairobi — The United Nations children's agency UNICEF and the Rift Valley Institute have launched the Sudan Open Archive (http://www.sudanarchive.net), an expanding open-access digital library for Sudan.

The first phase of the Archive involved the digitization of around five hundred documents drawn from the records of Operation Lifeline Sudan, stored by UNICEF in Nairobi and Lokichogio.

High-specification scanners were used to convert these paper documents - some in a fragile state - into digital files.

Two more collections - one for material on environmental issues (funded by the UN Environment Programme), the other for records of local peace processes in North and South Sudan - will be incorporated this month.

Future additions will include grammars and dictionaries of Sudanese languages, maps and cultural and historical material, and documents in Arabic.

The archive is a project of the Rift Valley Institute, a Kenya and UK-based organization, with support from UNICEF and other agencies.

Tagged: Arts, Books, Business, Children, East Africa, Education, ICT, Sudan

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