Design Process of a Multilingual Virtual Library

The AVICENNA VIRTUAL CAMPUS project, championed by UNESCO, has the aim to accelerate the adoption and use of ICT-assisted Open Distance Learning (ODL) in the Euro-Med region. As a backbone of this project, the UNED is in charge of creating a knowledge database, called Avicenna Virtual Library which will contain educational and methodological materials suitable for developing educational modules. A multicultural and internationalizable e-learning or blended learning can not just rely on its Learning Content repository. The goal of developing content which might be used by students of different countries and in different languages can only be accomplished through the use of an adequately designed course metadata repository. Besides, a consistent course catalog repository must be built so that students can easily find which options they have in each country. The tool for this Virtual Library will give web access to both course catalogue and content repository. The design process of the metadata structure for these inter-related databases is outlined in this paper. First, an introduction to the Virtual Campus is depicted. Secondly, the design architecture of the Virtual Library is shown, detailing the two repositories with responsibilities from UNED: the Catalogue and the Learning Object databases.