The National Documentation Center in Morocco

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to visit the fourth (and final!) OCLC member library in Morocco: The Centre National de Documentation (le CND) in Rabat.

The CND is a sister institution to the library school where I teach. It is the documentation center of the country, meaning that, among other things, it collects and makes accessible all grey literature generated in the diffrernt Moroccan ministries.

A number of additional scanning projects are underway. Some pretty high-tech equipment is being used to scan, throughout the CND, thousands of documents per day.

Like the library school (ESI), the CND is attached to the Haut-Commissariat au Plan. It also has a printing facility. One of the print-shop employees posed with a relic of a printing machine --many newer materials are available in the facilities to meet their printing needs.

They also had a server room filled with machines. Fitting with their "Zéro papier" goal, much is going online, and will be stored in-house.

Mr. Solbi was kind enough to show me around, and I am very grateful to him for the comprehensive visit and the good conversation at lunch. Mr. Solbi is a very thoughtful and intelligent man -- he's done a very impressive job at the CND. Single-handedly, he's changing the information landscape in Morocco, and I'm honored to have made his acquaintance.