GDAE Gives Out Free Library Resources

THE SOCIAL SCIENCE LIBRARY:   FRONTIER THINKING

IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN WELL-BEING

What is the Social Science Library?

The Social Science Library (SSL) is a major electronic collection of writings relating to sustainable development and human well-being.  The collection includes a rich bibliography, with abstracts of nearly 10,000 entries, including journal articles, book chapters, research reports, and working papers.  The full texts of about 3,400 of these titles are provided in PDF format.  The disciplines represented are: Anthropology, Economics, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Social Psychology, and Sociology.

The SSL is distributed in the form of both USB drives and CD-ROMs.  It does not require Internet access.  It is carefully organized to facilitate use by students, teachers, and researchers, including an easy-to-use interface with advanced searching and browsing functions.  An online version, with the extensive bibliography and all search/browse functions, but without the full-text articles (due to copyright restrictions), may be seen at: http://asitssgdae.ase.tufts.edu/ssl/cgi-bin/library.exe.

In addition to the SSL materials, the packages that will be sent to recipients also include a CD containing writings on environmental subjects from the WorldWatch Institute, a pair of CDs containing articles from the UN Research Institute for Sustainable Development (UNRISD), and a pair of DVDs on water issues from Horizon International.  The collections can be loaded onto all computers in the institutions that receive them, and can be easily copied by individuals for their own use, so that students, teachers and researchers can have their own “pocket library.”

The SSL was been developed over seven years by the Global Development And Environment Institute at Tufts University, USA, in conjunction with the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development.  Extensive review was supplied by a network of learned social scientists, while the Advisory Board includes three Nobel Laureates – Wangari Maathai, Amartya K. Sen and Joseph Stiglitz – as well as other distinguished individuals such as the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, the Director of the Social Science Research Council in New York, and the Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt.

Who can receive the SSL?

The Social Science Library materials were developed for distribution to libraries – principally university libraries – in 137 countries.  The list of recipient countries may be seen at http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/education_materials/ssl_countries.html.

The goal in each recipient country is to distribute the SSL and accompanying materials widely to all appropriate university libraries, with possible additional outreach to other relevant institutions such as teachers’ colleges or research institutes.  Wide coverage is sought in order to ensure reaching the most remote or rural institutions, which may have limited library collections and poor or no web access.  As examples, SSL packets have been distributed in:

•    Bangladesh, via BRAC University (Dhaka)

•    Ecuador, via el Centro Integral de la Familia (Quito, Ecuador)

•    Guinea, via the Guinean Embassy (Washington, D.C.)

•    Haiti, via University of the Nouvelle Grand'Anse (Jeremie, Haiti)

•    India, via Scholars Without Borders (New Delhi)

•    Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), via the University of Central Asia

•    Lebanon, via The American University of Beirut

•    Madagascar, via Institut de Recherche Pour le Developpement (Université d’Ankatso)

•    Malaysia, via INCEIF: The Global University of Islamic Finance (Kuala Lumpur)

•    Mexico, via El Colegio de México

•    Pakistan, via the Civil Society Resource Centre, a project of the Aga Khan Foundation

•    Philippines, via the International Rice Research Institute

•    South Pacific (10 island nations) via University of the South Pacific (Fiji)

•    Sri Lanka, via American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies

•    Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, via Balkan Investigative

            Reporting Network (Sarajevo and Belgrade)

•    Zimbabwe, via Books for Zim and the University of Zimbabwe

How are the SSL materials distributed?

The Global Development And Environment Institute (GDAE) is seeking Distribution Partners in a number of countries.  Distribution Partners may be universities, foundations, or other non-profit organizations. GDAE works with each Partner to assist them to compile a list of potential recipients in the country, including names and addresses, and to refine a letter addressed to the individual recipient at each address.  The Partner will also need to be able to receive a bulk mailing from GDAE (this includes clearing the carton(s) through customs); and to forward individual packets to the final recipients.

To spell this out in more detail, we look for our Partners to do the following:

1) Review and, where necessary, improve on the list of recipient institutions, including, at minimum, all relevant universities.  Where our Partner desires, GDAE will start this process by putting onto an Excel spread sheet information we find on the Web, including the names, addresses, and other available information for universities in the country.  Our Partners are asked to fill in missing information, and are welcome to add other appropriate organizations (such as research institutes) and colleges (such as teachers’ colleges).

2) We will work with our Partners to write a cover letter to accompany the SSL materials.  We have a template for this, but consult with our Partners to customize the letter for each country.  The letter will acknowledge the role of our Partner, and can include the logo of both our institutions.  While this letter may be translated into local languages, please realize that the SSL materials are available only in English.  Our Partner may decide who should sign the letter; most often it is co-signed by someone representing the Partner institution along with Neva Goodwin, GDAE co-Director and SSL Editor-in-Chief.

When these two steps are complete, we at GDAE will assemble the requisite number of packets (one for each final recipient), based on the list compiled in step 1.  Each packet will contain:

            * the cover letter, printed by us and addressed to the individual recipients

            * a copy of the SSL on USB drive

            * a copy of the SSL on a pair of CD-ROMs

            * two CDs of publications on sustainable development from the UN  Research Institute for Sustainable Development (UNRISD)

            * a CD of publications on environmental topics from Worldwatch Institute

            * a DVD focusing on water issues from Horizon International

            * five descriptive brochures that the librarian may deliver to the heads of departments, or deans, to make them aware of the availability of the SSL

            * a poster that can be displayed in the library, to alert users to these materials

Each of the individual packets is in a small cardboard box whose size is 10 x 10 x 5 cm (5 x 5 x 2.5 inches); each packet weighs about 0.3 kg (12 oz).  We will seal each packet (unless, for customs reasons, it is better to leave it unsealed) and affix the mailing label; thus when our Partner receives the carton(s) in which the packets arrive, all of the packets will be ready to be put into the local mail (or to be hand delivered where that is preferred).

3) Receive the carton(s) that will be sent from GDAE to our Partner.  This is a matter of clearing the carton(s) through customs. The cartons will be marked “zero commercial value: for educational use only, not for sale” (or words to that effect; we will be guided by our Partner if there is a better way to say this).

4) Mail or otherwise deliver the SSL packets to the recipient institutions.  While GDAE will cover the mailing costs of a bulk shipment from the United States to our Partner, we have only a small amount of funding to pay for the cost of shipping the individual packets to the recipient institutions; in special circumstances, however, we can assist with this cost.

To follow up, contact:

Neva Goodwin, GDAE Co-Director

Or Josh Uchitelle-Pierce, Project Manager, at

SSL@tufts.edu

Further information about the SSL may be found at http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/education_materials/ssl.html.