Green Group discussion

The World Digital Library initiative will digitize unique and rare materials from libraries and other cultural institutions around the world and make them available free of charge on the Internet. These materials include manuscripts, maps, books, musical scores, sound recordings, films, prints and photographs.

The prototype was developed by the Library of Congress and UNESCO with five other partner institutions: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library of Egypt, the National Library of Brazil, the National Library of Russia, and the Russian State Library.

The World Digital Library initiative has been designed to promote international and inter-cultural understanding, increase the quality and diversity of cultural content on the internet, and contribute to education and scholarship. Individuals and institutions in more than 40 countries and the IFLA have participated in working groups and expert meetings to plan the World Digital Library.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Library of Congress and UNESCO will cooperate in convening working groups of experts and other stakeholders to develop guidelines and technical specifications for the project, enlisting new partners, and securing support from private and public sources.

A key aspect of the project is to build digital library capabilities in developing countries, so that all countries and all regions can participate and be represented in the World Digital Library. The interface is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

The project pursues work already undertaken by UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme which seeks to preserve documentary heritage. This heritage reflects the diversity of languages, peoples and cultures and is the mirror of the world and its memory. But this memory is fragile; every day, irreplaceable parts disappear forever. UNESCO launched the Memory of the World Programme to guard against collective amnesia by contributing to the preservation of archive holdings and library collections all over the world and ensuring their wide dissemination. The World Digital Library was launched on April 21, 2009 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

http://www.wdl.org/en/