Eleven polar libraries participated in a discussion of DAHLI at the Polar Libraries Colloquy in Rome, May 2006. Pending funding, the group decided at the very least to create a directory of institutions and their IPY historical holdings. Each institution, as it was able, would digitize what they could, and agreed to collaborate informally, linking together what each created individually. UAF and SPRI are already planning to do digitization, funding permitting. The group further decided to creating a list of who was doing what and when (Digitization) so as not to duplicate work. Copyright was discussed as well, with all parties agreeing that we should have a copyright expert on the board.

March 2006

IGY Gold Club

To facilitate coordination and outreach, NSIDC is collaborating with the IGY "Gold" Club program, which is supported by the International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy (IUGG). The IGY "Gold" Club identifies and recognizes the exceptional accomplishments of participants from the first IGY (which was the third IPY). IGY Gold Club members are participants in the first IGY who have contributed an item of historical significance to the initiative (such as a letter, a recollection, an article, a photograph, etc.), which is made publicly available to historians, librarians, and other people interested in investigating and preserving the history of geophysics. The IGY Gold program will aid DAHLI in the identification and collection of IPY historical resources and will contribute to DAHLI outreach efforts. For example, the IGY Gold program is sponsoring a number of special sessions and reunion gatherings at scientific meetings to encourage original IGY participants to identify and contribute materials of potentially historical value. This collaboration provides an excellent opportunity to advertise the resources provided by DAHLI, as well as to identify new sources of IPY historical information while at the same time increasing utilization of DAHLI's services.

December 2005

IPY Full Proposal

As a follow on to the Expression of Intent that was accepted by IPY in January 2005, the National Snow and Ice Data Center submitted a Full Proposal detailing the activities that would be conducted under DAHLI. We proposed to be allied with the IPYDIS and the Publications Database projects. Our full proposal specified that NSIDC/WDC, through the IPYDIS portal, will host a comprehensive, web-accessible, searchable bibliographic database of materials from the three prior IPYs. The comprehensive bibliography will be compiled from bibliographies provided by consortium members as well as other collaborating institutions and groups. The project researchers will eliminate duplications and resolve conflicting entries to provide a comprehensive bibliography. The team will also create records for those materials without a readily available bibliographic source.

In addition, several participating organizations including NSIDC will digitize unique materials held locally, as well as materials provided by collaborating institutions. Links to all digitized materials will be included in the bibliography to allow ready access for anyone with access to the internet. Where available and appropriate, links to not just original materials, but also translations will be provided.

In order to maximize the likelihood that the resulting database, bibliography, and digitized materials survive for the long-term, at least two geographically separated mirror sites will be maintained.

January 2005

IPY Expression of Intent

The National Snow and Ice Data Center submitted an Expression of Intent (EOI) to the International Polar Year Joint Committee to provide on-line access to "gray" literature from the first three International Polar Years. The proposed approach was to create a searchable portal to materials from prior IPYs. Seventeen organizations holding historical IPY literature expressed interest in collaborating on the project. The EOI was approved by the ICSU, WMO Joint Committee for IPY.