Kabiru Chafe is a man with a vision to enable global access to his country's history.

As director of Nigeria's Arewa House, Chafe intends to preserve and digitize six centuries of historical manuscripts and, in his words, to "make them accessible as cultural assets for future generations."

Cornell Library is playing a role in Chafe's mission. The library's Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS) is consulting on Arewa House's sweeping digitization and preservation project to assist with planning, creating, organizing and archiving materials.

Chafe visited the library for three days and spoke about his work at Arewa House at the Africana Studies and Research Center May 16. Located at Ahmadu Bello University in Kaduna, Nigeria, Arewa House serves as West Africa's regional center for historical documentation and research as well as studies on policy, peace and leadership.

Chafe singled out ancient Arabic manuscripts -- which include treatises on history, poetry, Islamic law, mathematics, astronomy and other sciences -- as the center's most important documents. Some date to the 14th century; the center hopes to digitize at least 1,000 of them.

"These manuscripts demystify very pervasive misconceptions about Arabic culture, especially the idea that Africans have an oral but not a written history," he said. "There's a mistaken belief that Africans did not contribute to world civilization before colonial sources ... but through these manuscripts, you can clearly discern the contributions of Africans to world civilization."

The center houses about 20,000 archival documents and volumes, including historical materials, government records from the pre- and post-colonial eras and government publications. Digitizing these materials presents substantial challenges; many of them are held in private homes or are deteriorating in storage.

"This project not only helps the people of Nigeria preserve their history and make it more accessible, it also has a significant value for researchers here at Cornell and around the world," said Associate University Librarian Oya Rieger. "Cornell has a long and proud history of partnerships all around the world, and DCAPS facilitates digital scholarship initiatives locally and abroad."

The relationship between Arewa House and Cornell Library began at a conference in Ethiopia, where Chafe met Ira Revels, a project manager for the library's Digital Scholarship Services.

"The goals that Dr. Chafe outlined are ambitious, yet researchers can look forward someday soon to the availability of electronic Arabic historical manuscripts among many other unique collections that represent northern Nigeria's rich cultural past. Dr. Chafe's enthusiasm and leadership at Arewa House is inspiring," Revels said.

Working with DCAPS, Chafe plans to establish a foundation for the project in the next six months, implement it by the end of 2011 and continue work for about 18 months. After the project's completion, he envisions a digital repository that will help schoolchildren in Nigeria, researchers and policy formulators around the world.

"Without these documents, you cannot reconstruct humanity," he said. "We live in an interconnected world, and participation of every part of the globe is critical. We are helping to create a comprehensive understanding of human civilization."

Gwen Glazer is the staff writer and editor for Library Communications.