1. CERN-UNESCO School on Digital Libraries
Jens Vigen (CERN)
KIST, Kigali, Rwanda
21-25 September 2009

2. Proposal presented to UNESCO

3. CERN: European Organization for Nuclear Research (since 1954)
The world leading HEP laboratory, Geneva (CH)
2500 staff (mostly engineers)
8000 users (mostly physicists)
3 Nobel prizes (Accelerators, Detectors, Discoveries)
Invented the web
Commissioning the 27-km (6000 M€) LHC accelerator
Runs a 1-million objects Digital Library
The CERN Convention (1953) contains what is effectively an early Open Access manifesto:
“… the results of its experimental and theoretical work shall be published or otherwise made generally available”

4. Where it all started: CERN Library circa 1960

5. Communication patterns in HEP
L.Goldschmidt-Clermont, 1965
Luisella Goldschmidt-Clermont, CERN (early ‘60)
(the first ‘preprint librarian’)
HEP scientists cannot wait ~1 year for their articles to reach their peers through journals
Preprint are the main vehicle of information in HEP: final version of articles as sent to journals
Researchers (of affluent institutions) mass-mail preprints to hundreds of (prestigious and therefore affluent) institutions
Ante-litteram (author-pays) Open Access
At CERN preprints get indexed and displayed (and often discarded once published)
The weekly “new preprints” display is a big event

6. The “preprint-culture”...lives on
arXiv.org: a "level playing field"

7. HEP pioneered repositories; still developing Time to share with other disciplines and other geographic regions

8. Knowledge transfer requires only a minimum of resources
Expect the participants to have access to:
a recent PC
University Intranet
possibly Internet (not required)
External financing of:
Travel expenses
Subsistence

9. High potential for success
Readers
Will get access to all the material stored in the repository via the University’s Intranet (possibly Internet)
Authors
Will get their work made visible, and consequently citable, to the entire world
CERN will ensure that the content from those universities without adequate Internet access will be exposed to Google Scholar and similar services and thus become known to the world

10. CERN Digital-Library/Digital-Conference solutions
1-million records
Backbone of future
HEP Info System
Meeting organisation
From O(1) to O(1000):
- participants
- talks/slides
- writeup
- minutes
A system ready to be deployed in Africa; African colleagues show great interest

11. Strong high-level African support:
“… will provide new and exciting opportunities for Rwandan universities …”
Prof. Romain Murenzi
minister of sci.&techn.

12. Course plan Introduction to digital libraries
(Monday 60 min.)
Open Access : what it is all about
(Tuesday 60 min.)
Open Access resources
(Wednesday 60 min.)
Repositories : mechanisms and services
(Thursday 120 min.) 12

13. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
I. Digital libraries
Digital libraries vs
traditional libraries

14. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
Traditional libraries will EVOLVE to digital libraries
CERN Library

15. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
A HYBRID MODEL will exist for many years to come
CERN Library

16. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
Your users will be able to CHOOSE how to read the information
CERN Library

17. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
Several people will be able to access the
SAME RESOURCE at the SAME TIME
CERN Library

18. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
No more physical SPACE CONSTRAINTS
… while disk space is required
BOOKSHELF
Size: 80x28x202 cm
Fits: 46 books
HARD DISK DRIVE
Size: 10.1x14.6x2.5 cm
Fits: Thousands of books
CERN Library

19. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
Offering users FULL TEXT search
CERN Library

20. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
Converting a scanned-1958-type-written text (a reproduction?) into machine readable text is not always obvious
In the first case Bohr became Behr …
The precession of a FULL TEXT search depends on how much is spent on OCR and automatic/manual inspection/correction
CERN Library 20

21. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
Readers can JUMP from one book to another just CLICKING
CERN Library

22. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
Be aware; fancy solutions does not need to be expensive
Open source alternatives exist:
“Go Direct” does basically the same and is free. The application is maintained locally and can easily be extended if needed.
“Submit “the triplet” to DOI and voila!
Open source alternatives exist:
In the CERN Library we do all this within the framework of Invenio.
CERN Library 22

23. Digital libraries vs traditional libraries
DIGITAL Libraries are (still?) a COMPLEMENT to TRADITIONAL Libraries
CERN Library

24. I. Digital Libraries
Requirements

25. Think WIDE! A road is hardly never getting too wide …
Requirements
Think WIDE!
A road is hardly never getting too wide …

26. What is EXCITING for your USERS?
Requirements
What is EXCITING for your USERS?

27. Your users SHOULDN’T NEED ANY TRAINING
Requirements
Your users SHOULDN’T NEED ANY TRAINING

28. Setting up a digital library is CHALLENGING
Requirements
Setting up a digital library is CHALLENGING
In order to make it SIMPLE for the users

29. Be creative

30. … but it is not easy to think in a DIFFERENT WAY
Requirements
… but it is not easy to think in a DIFFERENT WAY
CERN Library
Be tough with yourself and patient with your users