UNESCO Launches World Digital Library

The site - located at www.wdl.org - provides unrestricted public access, free of charge, to manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, prints and photographs.

 

The library is the world's third-biggest digital one after Google Book search and the European Union's Europeana.

 

The WDL is the brainchild of U.S. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, who first proposed the creation of the library to UNESCO in 2005, saying the project could "have the salutary effect of bringing people together by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking".

UNESCO Director-General Ko?chiro Matsuura, speaking at the library's launch at UNESCO Headquarters, welcomed the proposal as a "great initiative that will help to bridge the knowledge divide, promote mutual understanding, and foster cultural and linguistic diversity".

 

In addition to promoting international understanding, the project aims to expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars and general audiences, and narrow the digital divide within and between countries by building capacity in partner countries.

The WDL functions in seven languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish - and includes content in more than forty languages. Browse and search features facilitate cross-cultural and cross-temporal exploration on the site. Descriptions of each item and videos, with expert curators speaking about selected items, provide context for users, and are intended to spark curiosity and encourage both students and the general public to learn more about the cultural heritage of all countries.

The WDL was developed by a team at the Library of Congress. Technical assistance was provided by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of Alexandria, Egypt. Institutions contributing to the WDL include national libraries, and cultural and educational institutions in Brazil, Egypt, China, France, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States.
 

Source: Múlt-kor / UNESCO