We devised a plan for building and populating a digital library using a combination of real and simulated information. We describe the institution that sponsors the digital library, and the domain it covers; like resources for an art school, or a science library; describe the resources in our library; which of the software platforms we’ve studied is a good match for our collection, and explaining why it’s an appropriate choice; who our users are, and what they need, the metadata we plan to use that describes the collection descriptively and structural; and a sketch or representation of screens for our digital library.