Abstract

This paper highlights the importance of sustainability in digital library design processes and frames these arguments within current digital library forums and literature. Sustainability of digital libraries is analysed through an empirical study of 10 best practice digital library projects across three African countries (Uganda, South Africa, Kenya). Through a retrospective review of the projects design processes the paper focuses on the role of technologies / platforms (bespoke, open source, proprietary, web 2 and mobile) in sustainability of these systems. In-depth interviews from 38 stakeholders were triangulated against a documentary analysis and observational data and the findings integrated through a grounded theory analysis. The results identify the importance of flexibility in technologies that enable customization of educational digital resources to meet specific institutional and subject discipline needs. Comparative Evidence is presented that highlights poor sustainability when inflexible systems do not consider scalability or maintenance issues.KeywordsSustainabilitydesign processesflexibilityAfrican HEcase studies

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