WASHINGTON (The International) — The site launched on the 21st of April 2009 was the brainchild of US Librarian of Congress Dr James H. Billington. It is hosted by the US Library of Congress and has been in development since 2006. Billington had hoped the site containing primary manuscripts and documents in their original language, would "promote intercultural dialogue and international understanding".The World Digital Library supports one of the main mandates of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), to increase cultural and educational content available on the internet, and builds on a prior project called the Memory of the World Programme, intended to protect documents that would preserve the memory of global cultural heritages.
The World Digital Library (WDL)
The site contains digital formats of original books, journals, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, prints, photographs and sound recordings from all over the world representing every memberUNESCO country. Descriptions of the materials and the user tools are available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Users can choose to navigate the site using a time line starting from 8000 BC up to the present day, by topic of interest, or by selecting a particular region of the world.
Donated content for the project came from the US Library of Congress, UNESCO, National, University, and private libraries from around the world, and other institutes. Funding and development support totalling over $10 million dollars worth of investment, came from a range of companies and organisations including Google Inc, Microsoft Inc, and The Qatar Foundation.
Development of the project
Dr Billington was responsible for the "American Memory" National Digital Library (NDL) Program, which made around 11 million US historical materials freely available online. He approached UNESCOin 2005 with a proposal of the idea of creating a similar global online library.
In 2006, the US Library of Congress and UNESCO co-hosted a meeting at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters to start work on building a global network of experts and partners to allow the project to become a reality. The meeting’s objectives were met with a lot of support. Laura Bush the Honorary Ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade said, "making all this available free of charge on the Internet will give teachers and librarians a new resource to encourage young people to read and study foreign languages, and will advance learning both with and between countries".
UNESCO and the US Library of Congress signed the agreement to go ahead and work on the creation of the WDL in 2007. Under the agreement efforts would be made also to assist developing nation’s libraries in gaining the technology needed to enable them to contribute to the project.
Global praise for the WDL
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said "UNESCO welcomes the creation of the World Digital Library which reflects the values and priorities of our Organization", and that it "offers an invaluable platform for the free flow of information, for international solidarity, for the celebration of cultural diversity and for the building of inclusive knowledge societies. With projects like the Digital Library, the cultural and societal potential of digital technologies come into their own."
Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation, said that she was proud of Qatar’s involvement in the project and felt that "this endeavour will do much to develop the appreciation of other cultures and nations."
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