Archive of the Republic of Niger at Boston University: Albishirinku!

[John Hutchison]

Dear Members of the Board of CONUSA and also of the Board of the Friends of Niger as well as Alums of the Boston University Study Abroad Program in Niger: (Please forward this to your colleagues and friends)

I am contacting you at this time to encourage you to join the Archive of the Republic of Niger at Boston University. In the document below, you will find instructions on how you can participate.

At this point in time, we are extremely pleased to welcome the new and recently-appointed Ambassador from the Republic of Niger to the United States, Professor Dr. Hassana Alidou. Not very long ago Ambassador Hassana Alidou was involved in the initial establishment of the Conseil des Nigeriens aux USA (CONUSA) and served as the first president of that organization for several terms.

We are please now to make a push to encourage more Nigeriens and members of CONUSA, more students and more former Peace Corps Volunteers to participate in this important effort to establish an important reference archive for the Republic of Niger on this side of the Atlantic. 

We hope that you will be able to participate and to contribute. Please follow the directions below in order to make your contributions.

Sincerely,

John Hutchison

FON Board

BEGIN

The Archive of the Republic of Niger
at Boston University
African Studies Library of Boston University’s Mugar Memorial Library

By John Hutchison and Frances (Beth) Restrick

The African Studies Library at Boston University’s Mugar Memorial Library is now preparing  to begin contacting stakeholders interested in contributing to the Archive of the Republic of Niger (AREN), which was proposed by Professor John Hutchison to Frances (Beth) Restrick, African Studies Librarian and to S.E. M. Maman Sidikou, Ambassador from the Republic of Niger to the USA. (The new Ambassador who was recently appointed is Professor Hassana ALIDOU) AREN has now been approved. The partners anticipate holding an opening ceremony some time early in 2014 in the presence of Ambassador Sidikou.

Thus far, there are about 30 items in hand to start the archive, these are donations from John Hutchison and Jamie Thompson. Thus far, all donations are printed works, as well as 4 maps of Niger, and an older National Geographic issue (Nov. '65) with an article on Niger. 

1. Digital Archives:

One of the limitations to creating a digital archive is copyright. Most of what has been donated so far was formally published, and thus it will be necessary to review all of them to see what would be possible to digitize and what wouldn't. Even if they couldn't be digitized, we could still have a bibliography with a detailed listing all of those titles.

However, if people contribute their own notes, photographs, etc. and agree to sign Boston University’s Deed of Gift, they are essentially giving us permission to put them up on the digital archive. The library has an Institutional Repository: OpenBU which is where everything would be stored and it is open access, searchable via Google. In Open BU there would be a large, archival quality file saved as well as a more standard JPG, much smaller that would be hopefully more accessible to someone on a computer in Africa. They are still working to try to get streaming of audio, video, etc. in order to save people from having to download things.

2. Correspondence:

People may want to donate their correspondence relating to Niger to other archives, for example former Peace Corps volunteers may decide to donate materials to the Peace Corps Digital Library. That said, correspondence would nevertheless be welcomed for digitization and inclusion in AREN’s digital archive. Also welcome are field and research notes, illustrations, maps, photos, etc.

3. Artifacts: A photo library of artifacts would make the most sense at the moment. The librarian Beth Restrick will set something up so that people can submit photographs online (or through the mail for scanning). Restrick notes that “once we know the types of artifacts people have, we could possibly make a decision about whether to pursue things further.”

4. The next step: 

An outline of this proposal for the structure of AREN was presented to the Meeting of the Board of the Friends of Niger on the 3^rd of November 2013, and it was approved by a unanimous majority of the Board.

Hutchison and Restrick have developed a contributor’s form for AREN that will be used to get people's contact information, find out about their willingness to participate and what materials they have to contribute. This form is available in a pdf format that can be printed and mailed in via the post, as well as an online format.

Here is how to access the online form through the Mugar Library of Boston University where AREN has its own url: 

Submission Form (including a link to Boston University’s Deed of Gift form and other information): 

http://tinyurl.com/NigerArchiveSubmission 

END

Thank you,

John Hutchison   

--

John P. Hutchison, Professor Emeritus
Boston U. African Studies Center
232 Bay State Road
Boston MA 02215

Alliance Dalaba-West Newbury
511 Main Street
West Newbury MA 01985
phone: 978-476-3078

--

John P. Hutchison, Professor Emeritus
Boston U. African Studies Center
232 Bay State Road
Boston MA 02215

Alliance Dalaba-West Newbury
511 Main Street
West Newbury MA 01985
phone: 978-476-3078

[Mustapha Hashim Kurfi]

Agaisheka Malam Tijjani!

Muna Alfahari tareda godiya gareka saboda gudummawarda kake ba Harshen Hausa da kuma Al'umar Jamhuriyar Niger.

Muna yi maka Kyakkyawan fatan Alheri!
Mustapha Kurfi
Jami'ar Boston

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BUNAN" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bunan+un...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.