Iraqi virtual library operating

Some 800 students and scientists at seven Iraqi universities now have access to more than 17 000 science, engineering, and computer science journals, thanks to the recent startup of the Iraqi Virtual Science Library. The library, an idea first put forward 16 months ago by several scientists working as federal government fellows for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is intended to reconnect Iraq’s scientific and university communities to the rest of the world after decades of neglect, said physicist Barrett Ripin, a senior science diplomacy officer at the US Department of State (see Physics Today, November 2005, page 24 ). “Iraq began with nothing,” Ripin said in a press conference announcing that the library had gone online. “Not only were there decades of very limited access to journals [under Saddam Hussein], but what the scientists did have was destroyed in the war, so they are starting from scratch.”

Several publishers, including the American Institute of Physics, are providing access to their scientific journals at highly discounted rates or for free. Sun Microsystems has donated several servers and technical help to get the library connected and operational. The initial costs of the project are being paid with $460 000 in funding from the US Department of Defense. In addition to journal articles, the library includes training classes, links to many US government research agencies, and e-mail links to scientists outside Iraq.