Perambulating libraries: Demonstrating how a Victorian idea can help OLPC users share books

Abstract

In this extended abstract we detail how the open source digital library toolkit Greenstone [5] can help users of the XOlaptop— produced by the One Laptop Per Child Foundation— manage and share electronic documents. The idea draws upon mobile libraries (bookmobiles) for its inspiration, which first appeared in Victorian times. The implemented technique works by building on the Mesh network that is instrumental to the XO-laptop approach. To use the technique, on each portable XO-laptop a version of Greenstone is installed, allowing the owner to develop and manage their own set of books. The version of Greenstone has been adapted to support a form of interoperability we have called Digital Library Talkback. On the Mesh, when two XO-laptops “see” each other, the two users can search and browse the other user’s digital library; when they see a book they like, they can have it transferred to their library with a single click using the Digital Library Talkback mechanism.