World libraries: The largest digital library of Haiti

The State University of Haiti (UEH) suffered considerable damage. Numerous buildings were severely damaged or completely destroyed by the earthquake. 11 of the 12 libraries of the University are on the ground. To support the resumption of classes at the beginning of January 2011 Libraries Without Borders (Bibliothèques Sans Frontières BSF) provides a quick solution for access to scientific and technical information for students, researchers and teachers in Haiti.

The Digital Library of UEH will allow the access to electronic resources, online courses, journals and periodicals on line. More than 20 international publishers have agreed to open their database free of charge to 15,000 students in Port-au-Prince who will have access to the digital library. This will be installed in a building environmentally responsible and sustainable built in modular containers recycled. 80 computer stations will be available to the public for millions of articles and books available in over 10 academic disciplines. This digital library has the technical and human support of the University Antilles Guyane, will be the first by its size ever mounted in Haiti.

In pursuing this project, BSF began the creation of a large, central university library in Port-au-Prince with several hundreds of thousands of books and the latest technology for documentation. The creation of this library is done in stages. Over 70 academic librarians Haitian followed from October 18, 2010 a one-month training in major fields of library management, processing books and greeting the public. This training will help to recruit 19 interns who will go to France for a period of 3 months and will work on the collections of the future central library in the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, one of the largest social science library in Europe. This process should lead to the transfer of hundreds of thousands of books chosen by Haitians librarians in coming years for the creation of the Central University Library in Port-au-Prince.