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.
