Working with first nations: on-demand book service

Abstract

The "On-Demand Book Service (ODBS)" is a collaboration between First Nations communities in Northern Ontario and academic researchers from the University of Toronto. The aim of the ODBS is to bridge the gap between physical and digital libraries. This position paper will provide some history as to how the project began, its use within graduate level courses since 2009, and a follow up workshop held in March 2010, which culminated in funding being allocated to sending technological and human resources, which created more opportunities for the stakeholders to find out solutions together. Using the ODBS as a case study, we will share our experiences and relating them to three themes at this conference: sensitivity to social context, designing across cultural boundaries, and the integration of content and service.