Research paper by Pilar Gonzalo presented on 2006

1. NO LIST AVAILABLE
RESCUING LIBYAN MUSEUMS FROM AFRICOM’S
OBLIVIOUS:
THE JAMAHIRIYA MUSEUM OF TRIPOLI
Pilar Gonzalo
http://libyanmuseums.wikispaces.com
Museum Technologies. Fall 2006
M.A. in Museum Professions

2. 2
Index
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................3
1.1. Purpose of the research.............................................................................................3
1.2. Methodology.............................................................................................................4
1.3. Main Contextual Issues.............................................................................................6
1.3.1. Africa, AFRICOM and Libya .......................................................................6
1.3.2. Internet in Libya and Libya in Internet .........................................................8
1.3.3. Web2.0 as an Alternative ..............................................................................10
1.3.4. Impact on Museum Professions ....................................................................10
2. IDENTIFICATION: Detection and listing of Museums in Libya.....................................11
3. MAPPING: Geographical Identification of Museums in Libya........................................15
4. STANDARDIZATION: Organization of the Online Information about the Jamahiriya
Museum of Tripoli.............................................................................................................16
4.1. General Information..................................................................................................20
4.2. The Building.............................................................................................................20
4.3. History ......................................................................................................................20
4.4. Archive .....................................................................................................................19
4.5. The Collection ..........................................................................................................21
4.6. Images.......................................................................................................................21
4.7. Virtual Tour ..............................................................................................................21
4.8. Jamahiriya‟s Blog .....................................................................................................21
4.9. Research....................................................................................................................21
4.10. About Libya..............................................................................................................21
4.11. Conclusions and Recommendations.........................................................................22
5. PUBLICATION: Online Posting of the Research.............................................................23
6. References..........................................................................................................................24

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1. Introduction
1.1. PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
This research will address two starting facts, the first is the lack of information about
museums in Libya available in the website of the International Council of African Museums
(AFRICOM,) and the second is the apparent lack of museum websites in Libya. As a
consequence of this, the objective of this study is overcoming both realities through,
 Complementing AFRICOM´s website by compiling, structuring, and improving the
information available online about museums in Libya
 Gathering, locating and mapping in a reference document the museums in Libya
 Overcoming the gaps of Web1.0 by using a methodology based on Web2.0 tools as a
flexible, interactive and participative alternative option
 Raising awareness about the online situation of Libyan Museums in comparison with
other areas of the world by showing how uneven and disperse is the information about
them
 Underlining the importance and role of the Jamahiriya Museum at Tripoli and
improving its online visibility for an international and local audience
 Proving Web2.0 academic usefulness as a valid and effective research tool
 Encouraging museum professionals about the use of Web2.0 tools as an inexpensive
ways of overcoming lack of IT personnel or electronic technology
 Creating a methodology model for small museums and museums from developing
countries which can afford for several reasons design and keep a website
 Finally, creating a reference document which will be subsequently published online
under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share Alike License

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Accordingly to these objectives, the final goal of this research is achieving an
academic reference document on Libyan Museums, focused on the specific example of
Jamahiriya Museum at Tripoli, which intends to be a reference on the field of Libyan
Museums as well as a model for other museums located or involved in realities in which
having a website is a very difficult task. I will make a difference by accomplishing a primary
investigation and elaborating a reference study that will be made available online for
researchers, professionals and people interested in museums and Libyan culture. After this
research, the sentence “No List Available” will become an outdated portrayal of the museums
of Libya.
1.2. METHODOLOGY
This study is structured in four main steps (Identification, Mapping, Standardization,
and Publication.) The following steps,
 Identifying what and where are the Museums in Libya: search online and offline
 Listing them, specifying their location, and checking in a more specific way (by using
their names) their presence online in case some of them had their own website
 Placing the museums on the map of Libya
 Elaborating a reference document about the Jamahiriya Museum by using a basic
template resembling a standard museum website, and providing in this way
systematized contents available online
 Making conclusions and best practices recommendations
As stated before, the approach to this challenging topic will be done by using Web2.0
tools as a flexible, interactive and participative alternative option to other traditional research
methods and information sources, that in the specific case of Libyan Museums an according
to their apparent lack of websites, seemed to be not enough effective. The idea is overcoming

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the weakness of Web1.0 –as the apparent lack of museum websites in Libya reveals in
addition to the lack of information available in the website of the AFRICOM – and being able
to access other online information resources about museums in Libya. I will accomplish this
goal by using the alternative options that Web2.0 main tools provide. The ones used in this
research are,
 Flickr: Photosharing engine
 Wikipedia: Collaborative encyclopedia based on wiki technology
 YouTube: Videosharing engine
 Google Video Beta: Videosharing engine (in transition to be joined to YouTube as a
unique source)
 Technorati: Informational syndication engine about post on blogs
 del.icio.us: Sharing engine of bookmarked online references
The highlights of these selected services are, in general terms,
 Being sharing and collaborative information services, which potentially provides
more personal visions and information than regular Web1.0 services
 Syndication options for updating information, which avoids cumbersome and time-
consuming searches in the wide and increasingly growing world wide web
 Tools for specific searches, which also can be syndicated
 Their popularity among internet users, which assures a big scope on the searches in
addition to diverse and big sized potential information range
In addition to this Web2.0 tools, this research will also use another online resources:
search engines such as Google and Google Scholar as well as online data bases (Art Index,
art full Text, Lexis Nexis, and Groove Art Online.)

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Finally, other offline sources (regular academic ones such as, books, articles and
publications) will be used to polish and complete the information gathered.
1.3. MAIN CONTEXTUAL ISSUES
1.3.1. Africa, AFRICOM, and Libya
Regarding to museums activities and even a general international interest and focus, I
could be said that Africa is the forgotten continent. Despite its enormous size, Africa‟s
international presence is remarkable low. This fact affects to all aspects of daily life in those
areas in which hunger, wars or illnesses are letting Africans develop their lives. In this
context, speaking about internet and digital technologies could seem unnecessary and even
shallow. However, it is my belief that improving the professional environment of African
museums could be a way of improving life in Africa.
Regarding internet, in Africa there is a significant lack of developed technical
infrastructure, which increases even more the lower levels of Africa‟s international presence.
According to Ken Feingold1
, the main problems to access the web in most parts of the web
are,
 Local phone service is metered and most internet providers charge for time or data
transferred (not only expense of time but also money)
 Bandwidth severe limited
 Need of specially configured browsers and hardware
1
Feingold, Ken. “ERROR 404: File not Found.” Leonardo Special Issue. Fifth Annual New York Digital Salon.
17 Nov. – 13 Dec. 1997, School of Visual Arts, New York. pp. 449-490.

7. 7
This will have a major impact not only on the topic itself but also on the research
process, as it is fundamentally based on online published information and on the use of
internet to gather the information needed and as a publishing goal itself.
Internet access could be considered a luxury in Africa, not to mention museums
owning websites with updated information. As a consequence of this, and even regardless to
budgets, museums in Africa seem not having enough tools to develop their presence online.
In addition to this, museums‟ potential online audiences share the same access and
online presence problem. The optimistic assumption that the Web is “Universally accessible”
turns into a very different reality in Africa. In addition to this, the motivation to do a major
effort in launching websites is lesser because creating online audiences for Art Museums in
Africa is a more than hard challenge.
However, all these technical difficulties that surely will come up during my research
process will also underline my commitment to do it. It is my belief that internet is one of the
best tools to implant in Africa as it permits to overcome expensive physical infrastructures
and the information can be speeded on real time all over the world. That is why I want to
contribute on that.
AFRICOM, the International Council of African Museums, was established in the
year 2000 as a result of the evolving of the program for Africa of the same name supported
by the International Council of Museums (ICOM.)2
It main mission is contributing to
improve and develop the museums‟ world in Africa. In accordance with Chapter IV, Article
19.1 of the AFRICOM Statues, the regions of Africa are defined as follows:
 North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt
2
Abungu, Lorna. “From the Director…” Africom News, Issue #5, 2006.

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 East Africa: Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda,
Burundi
 West Africa: Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra
Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria
 Central Africa: Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial
Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Gabon, Sao Tomé
 Southern Africa: Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana,
Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Africa
 Indian Ocean Islands: Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion,
Mayotte
Consequently, Libya is one of the six countries of North Africa Region and it is under
the scope of AFRICOM‟s activities.
All the countries of the North Africa Region share with Libya certain characteristics,
their location on the Mediterranean coast which means the African connection with Europe
and Asia and an Arabic cultural background.
Libya is 90% Sahara Desert and hosts a population of no more than 6,000,000
habitants. The country is led by Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi under a dictatorial regime
since 1969 and its currency is stronger than the Euro. I can guess that the specific political
situation under a long dictatorship had part of responsibility in the current situation about its
museums and its websites. However, in case it is the reason for the internal situation,
AFRICOM should contribute to overcome it as it is part of their mission and, as this paper
will demonstrate, need of a bit of commitment and imagination.
1.3.2. Internet in Libya and Libya in Internet
As in the rest of Africa, internet in Libya is an important issue. Regarding to this, the
article, “Libya, The Internet in a Conflict Zone” is a good portrait of the internet status in

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Lybia despite have been published in 2004. This article was published in the issue, “The
Internet in the Arab World. A New Space of Repression?” of the magazine of The Arabic
Network for Human Rights Information, and it underlines the close connection between
internet development in Libya and the political situation of the country under Mohammad
Muammar Al-Qadafi‟s dictatorship.
According to the text it seems that the situation is less repressive than in other
countries such as Saudi Arabia, although censorship in addition to banning and blocking
websites in opposition to the regime is a common practice,
It is difficult for the Libyan government to roll back the privileges it granted
its information society and to do what other Arab governments have done:
grant a single company a monopoly over Internet service provision so as to
limit the availability of oppositional websites and their impact on Libyan
citizens3
.
Despite this presumed censorship climate, I personally do not find any reason to ban
Libyan Museums from the internet when, indeed, some of them are tributes to the
Mohammad Muammar Al-Qadafi‟s figure.
Possible reasons to ban Libyan Museums‟ online presence could be the nudity of
some of the Greek and Roman sculptures or just lack of interest on the topic. Another
explanation to this lack of websites and online presence of Libyan Museum could have no
connection with political issues and being just because of lack of technical infrastructure.
With the aim of avoiding speculations I contacted Ms. Lorna Abungu, Executive
Director of AFRICOM to get accurate information about the impact of the internet in Libya
on the Libyan Museums‟ online presence, as well as to know the specific reasons why these
museums are not listed by AFRICOM. Unfortunately, I did not receive any answer to my
question. However, in other occasions I have got quick and kind responses from AFRICOM‟s
3
“Libya, the Internet in a Conflict Zone.” The Internet in the Arab World. A New Space of Repression? Arabic
Network for Human Rights Information (http://www.hrinfo.net/en/reports/net2004/libya.shtml)

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Executive Director, so I can infer that there is some issue between Libya and the
administration of AFRICOM and that is why Ms. Abungu did not answer my information
request email.
In addition to this absence in AFRICOM, Libya is not listed in the following
remarkable websites and institutions for African Culture,
 Africalia: http://www.africalia.be
 ICOM National Committees: http://icom.museum/nationals.html
 Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa: http://ocpa.irmo.hr/index-en.html
 Africa Union: http://www.africa-union.org
1.3.3. Web2.0 as an Alternative
Researching about a country such as Libya, deeply marked by its dictatorship and its
African-Arab condition and location, is researching about a very little trendy topic.
Accordingly, the academic sources are limited. On the other hand, and as noted in the article,
“Libya, The Internet in a Conflict Zone,”4
internet is a wonderful vehicle to avoid
establishment ways of information. That is why lots of websites opposed to the political
situation in Libya raised their voices from the outside.
Under the „web 2.0′ umbrella: blogs, wikis, Flickr, del.icio.us, and all kinds of
networking software are increasingly used in current life. Web2.0 tools -such as Flickr- are
based on the idea of exchange and collaboration and that is why these tools are becoming a
useful source for academic research on current or less popular topics.
In the case of Libyan Museums, not even listed by AFRICOM, an organization
specifically committed to the development of museums in Africa, the standardized
information available online is really limited. That is a strong reason to turn to Web2.0 as the
expression of individuals instead of established organizations.
4
“Libya, the Internet in a Conflict Zone.” Ibid.

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1.3.4. Impact on Museum Professions
This research is important to museum professionals because it will constitute a
reference document in the field. There is lack of organized and updated online information
about of museums in Libya. A document like this will facilitate access to basic information of
Libyan Museums to professionals from other parts of the world. In addition to this, it will
increase the sense of more cohesive museum environment among museums professionals at
Libya.
In addition to this, providing museums, museum professionals, researchers, and art
dealers with a reference tool about Libyan Museums will surely contribute to deter the illegal
trade in artworks from this area of the world. In fact, Kamal Shtewi, main responsible of the
Jamahiriya Museum has denounced the lack of security in the museum as well as the looting
risk and he demands more security cameras inside the building. According to Rana Jawad in
the article “Libia teme por su patrimonio robado,” this risk is not specific of the Jamahiriya
Museum: because of this the Sabratha Museum had to send its most valuable works to other
museums in Egypt5
.
2. IDENTIFICATION: Detection and Listing of Museums in Libya
Libya is one of the six countries with not list of museums available in AFRICOM‟s
website, in addition to: Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome & Principe, and Somalia. The
reason for specifically choosing Libya among all them is because Libya shares more
similarities than any of the rest with my cultural background as a Spaniard. Regarding the
scope and time limitations of this paper, I thought it was the most feasible one.
5
Jawad, Rana. “Libia teme por su patrimonio robado.”BBC Tripoli Mundo, Cultura.“
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/misc/newsid_4957000/4957662.stm)

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Regarding the searching process, the idea of this study is not describing the
exploration practice, but the results. In other words, this paper only describes and analyzes
the results, as far as the searching process basically consisted on typing in search engines‟
boxes increasingly specific words as I was finding more specific information about the topic.
However, I can add a few notes about it.
The main portrayal about the searching process is that it has being really time-
consuming, as there was not any reference place from where starting the research. In addition
to this, the different languages used in Libya, as well as in the web, made this searching job
even more time-consuming and cumbersome.
Far to be easy, this work has been complicated and bulky, because of the lack of
information and reference sources of all kind. Although Web2.0 tools have been crucial to
find information about some of them, social tagging made my search process a compendium
of different languages, possibilities and imagination. In this sense, I have to finally mention
the idea of social tagging and folksonomy as one of the main features of Web2.0 tools.
Folkosonomy, as stated by Wikipedia English is,
A folksonomy is an Internet-based information retrieval methodology
consisting of collaboratively generated, open-ended labels that categorize
content such as Web pages, online photographs, and Web links. A folksonomy
is most notably contrasted from a taxonomy in that the authors of the labeling
system are often the main users (and sometimes originators) of the content to
which the labels are applied. The labels are commonly known as tags and the
labeling process is called tagging6
.
Regarding my experience, although folkosonomy is useful and praiseworthy to offer
different perspectives and ways of understanding a unique reality, it has being revealed as a
fair inaccurate searching method. However, it is true that thanks to the social tagging7
I was
able to find information which would probably have been hidden to me. In this sense, the
6
“Folkosonomy.” Wikipedia, English. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy)
7
“Social Tagging.” Wikipedia, English. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_tagging)

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promises of the pursued Semantic Web or Web3.0 to transform contents in to knowledge are
currently a chimera,
The Semantic Web is about two things. It is about common formats for
interchange of data, where on the original Web we only had interchange of
documents. Also it is about language for recording how the data relates to real
world objects. That allows a person, or a machine, to start off in one database,
and then move through an unending set of databases which are connected not
by wires but by being about the same thing.8
Despite the limitations of social tagging, which can be defined as an extensive source
instead and intensive one, it is my belief that imagination is probably one of the main tools
for researchers, especially when the specific study is a primary research like in this case.
Although cumbersome, I have to conclude that the searching process of museums has been a
real adventure. Whenever I found a museum totally “hidden” in Google or in academic
papers, the idea of being making a difference for museums and museum professionals, was
taking shape.
That is why I am really pleased about the results obtained, because they are a first step
in the Libyan Museums environment, complementary information for AFRICOM, and a
model for non wealthy institutions. This humble but significant step forward is the very value
of primary field investigations such as this.
After an intense and meticulous search on the cited Web2.0 tools, I have found
indications of the existence of the following museums in Libya,
 Apollonia Museum, Apollonia
 Cyrene Museum, Cyrene
 Germa Museum, Germa
 Ghadames Museum, Ghadames
 Jamahiriya Museum, Tripoli
8
“Semantic Web.” World Wide Web Consortium. (http://www.w3.org/2001/sw)

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 Leptis Magna Museum, Leptis Magna
 Museum of Islamic Art, Benghazi
 Museum of Islamic Art, Tripoli
 Qasr Libya Museum, Qasr Libya
 Sabratha Museum, Sabratha
 Slonta Museum, Slonta
 Tocra Museum, Tocra
 Tolmeita Museum, Al Marj
After this achievement, I consider that AFRICOM‟s website is not treating Libyan
Museums in equal terms as museums from other African countries. The absence of these
museums referenced in its website is something that should be changed on behalf of the
AFRICOM‟s main mission and the international museum environment.

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3. MAPPING: Geographical Identification of Museums in Libya
After realizing that there are numerous and significant museums in Libya, moreover,
which are internationally competitive in terms of the quality of their collections, it is my
belief that one of the Libyan Museums‟ most urgent needs is projecting a professional group
image. In this sense, one of the first steps is achieving a group image by placing them on
Libya‟s map and providing accurate directions. According to this, I have created an
interactive map which not only locate the different Libyan Museum settlements, but also
provides basic information about each one available in Web2.0 tools.

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4. STANDARDIZING: Organization of Online Information about the
Jamahiriya Museum of Tripoli
One of the main highlights regarding the research process on the Jamahiriya Museum
of Tripoli is the different names used to denominate it. These are the different denominations
found,
 Tarabulus Museum
 Museum of Tripoli
 National Museum of Tripoli
 Jamahiriya Museum
 Red Castle
 Al-Saray Museum
Wonderful night image obtained from the website
http://www.q8castle.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8006&page=2 (This image only can be found if the search is
made in Arabic)

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In fact, all these different names mean the same in some cases although in different
languages or refer to different uses and physical characteristics of the museum and/or the
building.
This lack of consensus in the way of calling this museum happens because of the
specific history of the building regarding its different uses and because of the multilingual
landscape of the city. In addition to this, Web2.0 tools use to offer a diverse approach to
topics as users are different and with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
The Jamahiriya Museum at Tripoli is an outstanding museum which unfortunately
does not have its own website. In addition to this, as stated before there is a shameful lack of
information about it by significant organizations focused on African culture and museums.
There are numerous proves about the importance of this museum. UNESCO, mentor
of this museum, has available online some of the documents about the creation of this
museum. The fist one is a preparatory study made in 1977 titled “National Republic Museum
of Libya” elaborated by: Jan Jelikek, Ivan Ruller and Peter Sewell as a commission for
UNESCO9
. Another document available online regarding UNESCO‟s commitment with the
Jamahiriya Museum is, “Agricultural Galleries Planned for the Libyan National Museum: an
interview with Dr. Jan Jelinek.10
,” which depicts the specific plans for these galleries and
their significance. In addition to this, UNESCO is publishing online the address given by Mr
9
Jelinek, Jan; Ruller Ivan and Peter Sewell. “National Republic Museum of Libya.” UNESCO, 1977.
(http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0002/000248/024894eb.pdf)
10
Jelinek, Jan. “Agricultural Galleries Planned for the Libyan National Museum: an interview with Dr. Jan
Jelinek.” Museum, #143, vol. XXXVI, nº 3, 1984. UNESCO.
(http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001273/127342eo.pdf#60790)

18. 18
Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Director-General of Unesco, on the occasion of the inauguration
of the National Museum of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in Tripoli, 10 September 198811
.
There are also some articles underlining Jamrihiya‟s significant role and collection, as
the titled, “The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Museum: A first in the Arab World” written by
Mounir Bouchenaki at the magazine Museum published by UNESCO12
.
These are some examples of how standard academic sources can prove the importance
of this museum in addition to the fact that its absence on the AFRICOM‟s website is
something not fair according to its quality.
But not only academic sources are giving proves about the relevance of Jamahiriya‟s
collection. According to Wikipedia, “The Jamahiriya Museum, built in consultation with
UNESCO, may be the country's most famous museum. It houses one of the finest collections
of classical art in the Mediterranean”13
In addition to this, sources from tourist companies use to depict Jamahiriya‟s quality.
The following information is an extract from the Lonely Planet Online Guide “Libyan
Eclipse 2006”14
,
11
Mayor Zaragoza, Federico. “Inauguration of the National Museum of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Keynote
Address.” UNESCO. Tripoli, 10 September, 1988.
(http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000805/080502eo.pdf)
12
Bouchenaki, Mounir. “The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Museum: A first in the Arab World.” Museum, #143, vol.
XXXVI, nº 3, 1984. UNESCO. (http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000857/085703eo.pdf#85688)
13
“Libya.” Wikipedia. English. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya#_note-56)
14
“Libyan Eclipse 2006.” Tripoli and the Northwest. Lonely Planet.
(http://www.lonelyplanet.com/journeys/feature/pdf/libyan_eclipse.pdf)

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One of the finest collections of classical art in the Mediterranean is housed in
Tripoli‟s Jamahiriya Museum (Phone: 3330292; Martyrs Sq; adult/child
3/1LD, camera/video 5/10LD; h9am-1pm Tue-Sun). Built in consultation with
Unesco, it‟s extremely well designed and provides a comprehensive overview
of all periods of Libyan history. If time is limited, you may want to restrict
yourself to those galleries that provide context to the places you‟re most likely
to visit. Most of the galleries are located on the ground floor, which covers,
among other subjects: Saharan rock art (Gallery 4); the Garamantian empire of
Wadi al-Hayat (Gallery 5); artefacts from Cyrene and Greek Libya (Galleries
7 and 8); and the exceptional displays covering Roman Leptis Magna and
Sabratha (Gallery 9). On the 2nd floor, the sections on Islamic architecture
(Galleries 15 to 19) and the Libyan ethnographic exhibits (Gallery 20), with
some fine sections on Ghadames, are also excellent. The museum once formed
part of the 13,000-sq-metre Al-Saraya al-Hamra (Tripoli Castle or Red Castle;
Phone: 3330292; Martyrs Sq; adult/child 3/1LD, camera/video 5/10LD; h.
9am-1pm Tue-Sun), which represented the seat of power in Tripolitania from
the 7th until the 20th centuries. Tripoli Castle has a separate entrance.
If tourist guides are able to report about this museum, there is no apparently logical
explanation to AFRICOM‟s lack of information about this museum. To solve this issue, I
have compiled all the significant information available online about this museum and I have
imitated the structure of a standard museum website. With this document I try to prove that
not only there is information about this museum, but also that common people‟s initiatives
are in this case more insightful and helpful than some of the organizations supposed to be in
charge of Libyan Museums.
The following is the map with all the relevant information I was aware of as it looks
in the interactive presentation. Below, there are listed the contents and their links.

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General Information
• Location: http://www.world66.com/lib/map/handle?loc=africa|libya|tripoli
• Hours and Admission:
http://www.world66.com/africa/libya/tripoli/museums/castlemuseum
• The African Alhambra:
http://www.ciao.es/Castillo_rojo_de_Tripoli_Assai_al_Hamra_Tripoli__Opinion_107
9073
The Building
• Image of the Old Building:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Africa/Libya/West/Tarabulus/Tripoli/photo378556.
htm
• Images of the New Building:
http://archnet.org/library/images/thumbnails.tcl?location_id=2400
• Architect: http://archnet.org/library/parties/one-party.tcl?party_id=586
• Documents: http://archnet.org/library/pubdownloader/pdf/4708/doc/dpt0652.pdf
History
• A First in the Arab World:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000857/085703eo.pdf#85688

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Archive
• Preparatory Study by UNESCO (1977):
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0002/000248/024894eb.pdf
• Agricultural Galleries Planned for the Libyan National Museum: an interview
with Dr. Jan Jelinek:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001273/127342eo.pdf#60790
• Address by Mr Federico Mayor, Director-General of Unesco, on the occasion of
the inauguration of the National Museum of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
(Tripoli, 10 September 1988):
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000805/080502eo.pdf
The Collection
• Contents and Distribution:
http://www.araldodeluca.com/root/campagne/scheda.asp?lingua=ING&id=62
• The National Museum at the Guardian Unlimited:
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2006/mar/09/libya
Images
• Set at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/h4ppy/sets/72057594134911178/
• Mosaic Atlas:
http://www.mosaicatlas.com/atlassite.aspx?RegionID=74&LocationID=240
• Jorge Tutor Set 1: http://www.jorgetutor.com/libia/tripolimuseo1/tripolimuseo.htm
Set 2: http://www.jorgetutor.com/libia/tripolimuseo2/tripolimuseo.htm
• Galen Frysinger: http://www.galenfrysinger.com/tripoli_libya_museum.htm
• Ioannis Logiotatidis: http://www.pbase.com/logios/museum
• Wild Focus Images: http://www.wildfocusimages.com/gallery/829593
• Trek Earth:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Africa/Libya/West/Tarabulus/Tripoli/photo497749.
htm
Virtual Tour
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b79LjYI0BY
Jamahiriya’s Blog
• Tripoli and the Outstanding Jamahiriya Museum:
http://www.h4ppy.com/blog/2006/04/tripoli-and-outstanding-jamahiriya.html
Research
• The Society for Libyan Studies: http://www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/libya/index.html
• Archaeological and Cultural Trips: http://www.farhorizon.com/Africa/libya-
archaeology-culture.htm
• Les Richesses Archeologiques de la Lybie:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-
7571032763416162868&q=valpard&pl=true
• Jamahiriya Fighting Looting in Libyan Museums:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/misc/newsid_4957000/4957662.stm
• UNESCO: Museums in the Arab States: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=26399&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

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About Libya
• Geography: http://www.maplibrary.org/stacks/Africa/Libya/index.asp
• Culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Libya
• Photographic Tour of Libyan Museums:
http://www.montada.com/showthread.php?p=3788760
• Libya in Images: http://www.peterlanger.com/Countries/Africa/Libya/index.htm
• Wold Heritage at Libya: http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/ly
• Libya, the Land of the Colors: http://www.alnawi.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-
3231.html
Conclusions and Recommendations
The main conclusion obtained after my research is that by doing it, I have been able to
establish a starting online reference point for the academic environment and general public
interested in the Libya museum environment and specifically, the Jamahiriya Museum. In
addition to this, these are other specific conclusions,
 The museum reality in Africa and Libya is rich, diverse and multilingual, and it is
directly affected by the need of a better technological infrastructure
 There are numerous and significant museums in Libya, internationally competitive in
terms of the quality of their collections
 The lack of information available online has no relation with the size and the quality
of Libyan museums‟ collections
 Libyan Museums need to project a professional group image. One of the first steps
could be placing them on Libya‟s map and providing accurate directions.
 The Jamahiriya Museum deserves a better placement in the international museum
landscape and a first step to achieve that should be creating a website
 Standardization of the name of the museum: Choosing a clear name of the museum
and branding the museum.
 Web2.0 tools are a proved way of gathering and offering information online when
other reasons are blocking online official information
 Web2.0 tools can make a difference in the museum world. Small museums and/or
with small budgets can overcome the boundaries of expensive technologies by
approaching their presence online thanks to Web2.0 tools. In addition to this, their

23. 23
embrace of such technologies will surely project a more engaging profile to their
audiences, as they will be aware that museums care about their visions and feedback.
 Web2.0 can be a helpful academic source of information. In fact, now I can say that I
was able to transform all the individual initiatives online in a reference paper.
PUBLICATION: Online Posting of the Research
For disseminating the contents of this map and contributing to the goals of this paper,
I have posted online the map and the information about the Jamahiriya Museum of Tripoli.
For that purpose and addressing the main basis of these research based on Web2.0 tools, I
have chosen the wiki technology. That is why I have created a wikispace specifically focused
on the objectives of this paper that I have called Lybian Museum and I have made available
in this internet address,
http://libyanmuseums.wikispaces.com
In addition to this, I have done some postings online including this research as part of
the contents of my blog e-artcasting. Sociable Technologies in Art Museums (http://e-
artcasting.blogspot.com.) This blog is part of a whole research project called „lamusediffuse,‟
a collaborative team exploring the forms, impact, and possibilities of electronic technologies
in contemporary culture. “We are a group of Fulbright Scholars from different parts of the
World directed by Pilar Gonzalo, sharing a common interest in improving lives for
individuals by improving access to culture through digital technologies and their creations.”
Under this identity, I have disseminate this project in some blogs, such as,
 Ly-Hub http://libyans.blogspot.com/2006/12/map-of-museums-in-libya.html
 Museums on the Web http://conference.archimuse.com/blog/286
 KhadijaTeri http://khadijateri.blogspot.com/2006/12/libyan-museums.html#comments

24. 24
References
Websites
Archives and Museum Informatics http://www.archimuse.com
Art Museum Network http://www.amn.org
CIMI Consortium for the Computer Interexchange of Museum Information
http://www.cimi.org
Computers and the History of Art (CHArt) http://www.chart.ac.uk
del.icio.us http://del.icio.us/
Global Museum http://www.globalmuseum.org
Group on Museum Information Centres (CIDOC)
http://www.willpowerinfo.myby.co.uk/cidoc/infocent.htm
ICOM Handbook of Standards. Documenting African Collections
http://icom.museum/afridoc
ICOM Museum Directories List http://icom.museum/museum_directories.html
ICOM Red List Africa http://icom.museum/redlist/afrique/english/intro.html#redlist
International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property
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Museums and Computers Group http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
Museums and the Web http://www.archimuse.com/conferences/mw.html
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) http://www.soas.ac.uk
Southern Africa Development Community Association of Museums & Monuments
(SADCAMM) http://icom.museum/affiliates/sadcamm.html

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Swedish Africa Museum Program (SAMP)
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Blogs
Digital Africa http://digitalafrica.blogspot.com
e-artcasting. Sociable Technologies in Art Museums http://e-artcasting.blogspot.com/
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