APDP Collections Hub: A nexus of collections, manuscripts, documents and other artifacts and sources that relate to African Poetry and Poetics. 
 

The Collections Hub will identify and locate hidden African Poetry manuscripts, materials, artifacts and collections, and hopefully result in the virtual reunification of dispersed collections.  

• Hidden Collections- collections that have not been adequately described, only accessible through a collection title. Under processed. 
• Virtual Reunification- a consolidated, digitized representation of scattered manuscripts, artifacts, documents and poetic works. A strategy for reassembling physically dispersed collections. 

Without this attention, research in this area is hindered and becomes staff dependent; lack of documentation makes these resources fragile – if lost, they cannot be recovered easily. If misplaced, they cannot be found.  

The Hub will be an all-digital library that aggregates metadata from libraries, museums and institutions around the world.  The purpose is to provide an easy-to-use search interface so scholars can search the records at once. The hub will link to a wide variety of different materials some of which are in the public domain, while others are under rights restrictions but nonetheless publicly viewable. Each contributing institution will be responsible for contributing their rights statement and making decisions on the copyright status of their items.