The ASK-DL project is a pioneering initiative in the identification, recovery, integration, consolidation, and dissemination of information contained in rare handwritten and out-of-print African language documents of non-latinate scripts.

ASK-DL is an endeavor to digitize, catalog and index collected documents in an accessible online library enriched with transliterations, translations, annotations and audiovisual content.

Africa is home to more than 2,000 languages and a great wealth of information documented in diverse scripts.

ASK-DL focuses on written documents from eight languages: three West African languages - Berber, Mandinka, Wolof; and five East African languages - Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali, and Swahili.

The ASK-DL document collection comprises diverse scripts including Ge'ez (Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromo), N'Ko (Mandinka), Osmanya (Somali), Tifinagh (Berber) and other non-latinate and non- ajami scripts (e.g. Swahili documents written in Hindi script).

These scripts are found in unpublished booklets, poetry, essays, treatises, travelogues, private letters, and other documents.

The African Language Program (ALP) in the Department of African and African American Studies offers African language courses and resources at Harvard University.

In the ASK-DL project ALP develops a digital library that makes accessible rare African language documents of literary and historical importance.

Users enrich the library in various ways including contributing documents and participating in discussions on documents and their translations. Join ASK-DL to submit documents and post comments.