World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Engaging Partners: Arab Peninsula Regional Group WDL 2012 Partners Meeting World Digital Library Washington, D.C. Wednesday, December 5 th, 2012 Mark Paul, Head, Partnerships Qatar National Library Qatar Foundation Doha, Qatar

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Supporting Qatar: from a carbon economy to a knowledge economy a cradle of innovation, based in the Middle East, but global in scope and impact a creator of knowledge Qatar National Vision 2030 (July 2008): use resources to create knowledge economy development of human capitol as priority for next 20 years gave Qatar Foundation exciting mandate to be the ‘engine’ driving the development of human capital Qatar Foundation Unlocking Human Potential through: Education Science & Research Community Development Benefitting: Qatar Region Partners World

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Supporting Qatar: from a carbon economy to a knowledge economy a cradle of innovation, based in the Middle East, but global in scope and impact a creator of knowledge Qatar National Vision 2030 (July 2008): use resources to create knowledge economy development of human capitol as priority for next 20 years gave Qatar Foundation exciting mandate to be the ‘engine’ driving the development of human capital Qatar Foundation Unlocking Human Potential through: Education Science & Research Community Development Benefitting: Qatar Region Partners World

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Official Announcement of the new Qatar National Library, November 19 th, 2012 Supports Qatar Foundation’s Goals through: Research Education/Instruction Community Activities Serving as: National Library Public Library Academic Library Qatar National Library

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Official Announcement of the new Qatar National Library, November 19 th, 2012 Supports Qatar Foundation’s Goals through: Research Education/Instruction Community Activities Serving as: National Library Public Library Academic Library Qatar National Library

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES First meeting held December 2010 in Doha at QF Born from idea of Carolyn Young, the Head of the WDL Office in the QF Central Library A meeting was convened of WDL members from Arab countries in Washington at the WDL Charter meeting in June 2010 Idea to foster cooperation on WDL among Arab country members Primarily directors and other administrators attended from WDL members and prospective members WDL staff present to deliver key information and training One important focus was on opportunities for capacity building in digital conversion and technical assistance Three new Arab countries joined WDL as a result Arab Peninsula Regional Group

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Arab Peninsula Regional Group First meeting held December 2010 in Doha at QF Born from idea of Carolyn Young, the Head of the WDL Office in the QF Central Library A meeting was convened of WDL members from Arab countries in Washington at the WDL Charter meeting in June 2010 Idea to foster cooperation on WDL among Arab country members Primarily directors and other administrators attended from WDL members and prospective members WDL staff present to deliver key information and training One important focus was on opportunities for capacity building in digital conversion and technical assistance Three new Arab countries joined WDL as a result

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Second meeting held February 2012 in Doha at QF Dissemination of information and training More technicians attended by means of nominations WDL staff present to provide training 20 participants representing 10 institutions kk Third meeting planned for April 2013 in Doha Entire meeting will be a hands-on training workshop Participants will be encouraged to bring an item(s) to work on during the workshop Those unable to bring items will be provided items for use in the workshop Participants will be divided into groups with sessions repeating at cross-posted times so all participants can attend all sessions Arab Peninsula Regional Group

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Second meeting held February 2012 in Doha at QF Dissemination of information and training More technicians attended by means of nominations WDL staff present to provide training 20 participants representing 10 institutions kk Third meeting planned for April 2013 in Doha Entire meeting will be a hands-on training workshop Participants will be encouraged to bring an item(s) to work on during the workshop. Those unable to bring items will be provided items for use in the workshop Participants will be divided into groups with sessions repeating at cross-posted times so all participants can attend all sessions. Arab Peninsula Regional Group

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Members: There are no fees to be a member Participation is voluntary Currently there are 10 institutions represented One institution is in the process of joining WDL and have requested support from the QNL All are welcome, though focus is on the Gulf region for now Group Members

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Efforts to increase capacity within Arab countries Identify location with both high level content and high level need for a digital conversion center Working with the WDL the goal will be to fund one new digital conversion center in the region Continue workshops for Arab Peninsula Regional Group Investigate individualized training needs of regional members Support one personalized on-site WDL training for regional member Increase documentation, training materials, etc., in Arabic Capacity Building

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Arabic Content: 2012 to-date saw WDL content in Arabic increase by 175 items 2012 to-date saw WDL content on Arab or Islamic Science increase by 79 items (59 of which were in Arabic) User Engagement: Publicity/PR/Sharing Value added materials (students, teachers) Content, content, content Content and User Engagement

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Arabic ranks third on the WDL site for items cataloged by language (behind Spanish and English) Use of Arabic interface doubled for 2012 to-date over 2011 with a total of 124,293 visits and 643,983 page views Saudi Arabia was the higher user of the Arabic interface The United States was about in the middle of user counts of the Arabic interface Of the 79 items added in 2012 to-date on Arab or Islamic Science 16 were in Latin, 2 in Persian, and 2 in Ottoman Turkish and the remainder in Arabic Arabic Statistics

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Top Countries by Visitor:

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Next Steps in the Arab Peninsula Encourage regional cultural heritage libraries to join WDL Increase Arab sourced content on WDL Focus on practical ways to build capacity for digital conversion in developing countries in our region Promote WDL usage to Arab users in libraries, schools, universities, etc. Develop a wider community of WDL members in the region to support development of Arab content and interfaces. Increase use of social media

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Next Steps For You? How can you increase overall WDL content? How can you positively impact capacity building in your state, county, district, country, region? Do you work with or liaise with any library, university, cultural center, museum, etc., that has Arabic content? Let them know about the WDL. Let them know about the Arab Peninsula Regional Group. Let them know about the Qatar National Library and share with them my contact information

World Digital Library OSI | WEB SERVICES Thank You! Mark Paul Questions?