Katherine Kott
Aquifer Director
Digital Library Federation
Aquifer emerged as the re-awakened strategic direction of the Distributed Open Digital Library initiative of the Digital Library Federation in May 2003. According to the original 1995 Digital Library Federation mission statement, the DLF was established to “bring together — from across the nation and beyond — digitized materials that will be made accessible to students, scholars, and citizens everywhere, and that document the building and dynamics of America’s heritage and cultures.” DLF has progressed towards this strategic goal since its inception through support, coordination and participation in the development of prototypes, proofs of concept and test-beds that will form the foundation of the Aquifer Digital Library initiative. This project briefing will review the status of the DLF initiatives upon which Aquifer is being built and outline the project plan for the coming year. The update will focus on organizing for collaboration, leveraging existing collections and technical developments and defining the Aquifer Digital Library problem space.