UNESCO and the US Library of Congress will join forces to build a World Digital Library, following the signing of an agreement by James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress and, Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 17 October 2007.
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.