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Digital library one step closer
Inuvialuit in communities will have access to decades of history and culture

Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 26, 2016

INUVIK
A project years in the making is one step closer to being ready for consumption.

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Ali Shiri, left, Cathy Cockney and Dinesh Rathi say the digital library of Inuvialuit cultural and language resources is well on its way to being ready for the public. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo

"The Cultural Heritage Digital Library has something for everyone," said Ali Shiri, one of the principal investigators on the project. "The idea is to provide equal access to language resources, oral history and a range of cultural heritage materials."

With one year left in the ongoing venture between the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre and the University of Alberta, proponents say they have now started evaluating the useability of the archives, as well as showing it to select groups while seeking feedback.

"At the same time, we're adding more content to the collection," Shiri said. "Making it more comprehensive will be an ongoing, continuous process."

Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre manager Cathy Cockney said she expects to be doing community presentations on the digital library this time next year, if all goes well.

"We wanted people to have better access to the resources here," she said, gesturing to the stacks upon stacks of materials on the centre's shelves. "Especially in the remote communities, (now) people have to come here to see it."

Shiri said the isolation of communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region was part of the draw for the team from the university. He said he hopes people will use it on their phones, tablets, and computers in their own homes, as well as in formal settings like schools.

For Cockney, one of the most important aspects of the project is the language material.

"It's all online," she said. "You can listen to lessons, you can hear elders telling our stories."

Cockney also remarked on how useful the interface has been and how much more accessible it has made all the information, even to her. Even after many of the documents at the centre were digitized, they were still essentially unorganized.

The library will make all the resources searchable and far more useable.

"The partnership has been really good," she said. "They're really asking people what they want. That's really important. Not coming in and saying, 'This is what I made for you,' instead, asking what it is that people want."

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