Planning Tool for Developing a Digital Library of Monitoring and Evaluation Resources

This planning tool provides a checklist of tasks to be conducted and issues to be addressed prior to and during the development of an electronic or digital library of HIV monitoring and evaluation (M&E) resources. It was developed under the auspices of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (MERG) in an effort to provide: (i) guidance for current owners and future developers of a M&E digital library on the range of issues to be addressed in usability and user-friendliness of the library; and (ii) a list of questions to help organisations brainstorm if they can and should invest their resources in developing a digital library.

The priority audience is organisations that are considering development of a digital library of M&E resources that they intend to make publicly available (in any format, such as CD, DVD, memory drives, online). A secondary intended audience is organisations that are collating and disseminating M&E related resources on the web either in view and/or download format. Even if these are not intended as a "library" as such, issues considered in this planning tool may help to identify, select, and organise these resources better. Although it is not designed for those who want to compile and organise M&E resources for internal use, the tool may still be helpful.

The document is organised as a checklist of tasks to be conducted and issues to be addressed prior to and during the development of an M&E digital library. Each section starts by defining some of the key terminology used in that section. Note that the terms 'resources', 'content', and 'holdings' are used interchangeably in this document, which includes:

• Section 1: Target Audiences: Profile and Information Needs - examines the importance of and the process for defining the priority audience(s) for the library.
• Section 2: Collaboration - includes these topics: the needs for and mechanisms of collaboration for acquiring the holdings; obtaining permission for including specific holdings; and developing and applying the criteria for content inclusion.
• Section 3: Quality/ Usability of the Digital Library - covers issues related to the usability of the library including different components of usability, functionality issues, interface, issue to consider in the user experience, and some standard policies that govern the use of a digital library.
• Section 4: Quality of the Holdings in the Digital Library - explores quality related to the materials contained in the digital library and the specific inclusion criteria for library holdings.
• Section 5: Maintenance of the Digital Library - looks at issues related to long-term upkeep of the digital library.
• Section 6: Rights to Distribution and Modifications - discusses permissions, copyrights, and other legal implications of providing materials in the library.
• Section 7: Access and Security - examines issues to be addressed when determining who will access the library, how they will access it, and what security needs to be considered to safeguard the library.
Section 8: Cost Implications - covers the key factors affecting the cost of developing and maintaining a digital library.

The appendix addresses some key questions to help organisations brainstorm if they can and should invest their resources in developing a digital library.