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An Internet library called World Digital Library was officially inaugurated at UNESCO's Paris Headquarters on Tuesday (April 21). The new UN Internet library aims to digitize world's cultural heritage. World Digital Library will display and explain the wealth of all human cultures through the Internet. The users can access the digital library in seven different languages including Arabic.
According to James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress, the idea behind launching such a digitized library is to provide the students and scholars of the world with easy-to-navigate site for information on human culture. The site contains a collection of primary documents and authoritative explanations from world's leading libraries. At present, the newly inaugurated digital library will have 1,200 documents and their explanations from scholars in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.
The Library of Congress in Washington has developed the website with technical assistance from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. Private donors like Google, Microsoft, the Qatar Foundation, King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia and the Carnegie Corporation of New York have contributed about $10 million for the development of this digital library. Apart from UNESCO and the Library of Congress, 26 other libraries and institutions in 19 countries have helped to develop the World Digital Library.
