University of Maryland scientist D.J. Patil and a small group of colleagues have built a new, scientific library for strife-torn Iraq that is making some 17,422 journal titles available to Iraqi scientists and engineers who are decades behind in non-military science and technology.

Though many Iraqi libraries are hopelessly out of date or have been looted, the new online training library is safe from such problems because it is virtual, with digital documents accessed via the Web.

"If Iraqi scientists and engineers are going to be able help rebuild and stabilize their country as a peaceful democracy, they have be able to access current knowledge in their fields," said Patil, a mathematician and scientist. "Physically building such a library in Iraq would be prohibitively expensive, take a long time, and even if you could build it, scientists would not be able to access it easily or safely. We realized that building a digital library would avoid these difficulties, and we recognized that such a digital library could also serve as a model for other developing countries,"

The Iraqi Virtual Science Library (IVSL) provides Iraqi engineers, medical personnel, scientists and students with access to full-text technical, online training and educational material, and funding opportunities.  The library has been made available to 7 Iraqi universities, one research institution and the Ministries of Higher Education and Science & Technology . Some 80 percent of Iraq's scientists and students have access to full text technical articles, training, and online courses through the library.  These resources are very similar to those available at a university in the United States. Patil explained that the goal is to transfer the project to the Iraqis as soon as it is feasible to do so.

Seed funding for the IVSL of about $360,000 comes from the Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, to secure journal licenses, build the infrastructure and provide training to the Iraqis.  "And through the generous contributions of the publishers, we have been able to provide access to more than 17,000 journal titles, a value of $11 million in full price subscription fees," Patil said.

Patil will represent AAAS fellows when the library gets its "official" rollout on Wednesday, May 3 from 1 to 2 p.m. at the National Academies building, 2100 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Other speakers include Under Secretary of Defense Ken Krieg, Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences and the Iraqi Ambassador to the United States.