#title How to create a new digital library on ALN
#teaser We provide hosting and support
#lang en
#uid howto

There are several way to create a library and share data with ALN. Here are some!

Depending on your tech skills, you may want to take a look also at this general manual.

** Amusewiki: the best compatibility for full editable and printable text

*** The advantages

Amusewiki is the natural twin of ALN. The best accuracy is achieved because the two softwares are thought and developed together.

*** How to

We can provide hosting and support for new anarchist libraries using Amusewiki under the =anarchistlibraries.net= domain.

To start one, please send a mail to: =hosting [at] anarchistlibraries [dot] network=.

 1. Provide a logo, 300x80 pixels, to be used in the header, and a square image 300x300, to be embeeded in the PDFs.

 1. Uploading texts is different than uploading PDFs. The interface provides you a way to copy/paste the texts from HTML, txt and Word documents and adapt it using the markup language muse, which is very easy to learn. Contextual help and an [[https://amusewiki.org/library/manual][extensive manual]] is provided.

 1. If you don't have it yet, buy a domain. It's very cheap (around 10-15 EUR yearly) and guarantees that you decide what to do with your site, without asking anyone. In the meanwhile, you can have a subdomain of anarchistlibraries.net.

Once the library is setup, you are going to be pinged only occasionally and if needed.

Depending on your tech skills, you may want to take a look at [[https://amusewiki.org][amusewiki.org]].

Notably:

 - [[https://amusewiki.org/library/manual][The markup manual]], required 
 - [[https://amusewiki.org/library/offline-tools][Offline tools]] if you prefer to work offline 
 - [[https://amusewiki.org/library/mirroring][Mirroring and backing up]]

*** If you need a new language for your library

You first need to translate the software that the library runs.

 1. Install [[https://poedit.net/][Poedit]].

 1. Go to [[https://github.com/melmothx/amusewiki/tags]] and download the <strong>latest</strong>. Unpack the archive and find the .po file with your language code in the lib/AmuseWikiFarm/I18N directory.

 1. Open the .po file with Poedit. Add the translations. Please preserve the %1, %2, in the message. They are placeholders for dynamic content. Save (of course). Send the .po file to hosting [at] anarchistlibraries [dot] network

**Please note: you don't have to translate everything. If something doesn't make any sense to you, leave it alone. Some things are admin-only. Be sure to translate the most obvious ones, though.**

** Large PDF archives

Amusewiki is not taylored for managing this kind of file, so it's better use a different aproach. You can also use both, Amusewiki for the editable texts and an other system for PDF or bibliographical references only.

*** How to

Feel free to reach out to us at: =hosting [at] anarchistlibraries [dot] network= to find the best solution for your case, maybe through a third party software.

** Collections of bibliographical references

Amusewiki is not taylored for managing this kind of informations, so it's better use a different aproach.

*** How to

The easyest (but not the only) way is to use a CSV. Feel free to reach out to us at: =hosting [at] anarchistlibraries [dot] network= to find the best solution for your case and helping you finding the best optimization of your existing CSV or your third party software.