Upcoming: World Digital Library

In a significant step in expanding the availability of global materials and resources, UNESCO and other partners will unveil the World Digital Library (WDL) April 21, 2009, at a reception at UNESCO headquarters. The materials will come in many media forms in an effort to share knowledge from a diverse group of voices and to promote international and intercultural understanding. Further, these materials will also be completely free and offered in multilingual formats in order to most effectively share information with the global community.

The idea for the WDL originated from a June 2005 speech delivered by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. Since then, the project has developed into an initiative drawing more than 32 partners and interest from around the world. A progression of the WDL project can be found here.

Content in the library will include items gathered from global educational institutions and libraries, and descriptions of each item alongside videos and other materials for selected items hope to ignite interest in cultural artifacts and events. Materials will be easily searchable:

See the prototype and concept videos here

WDL is looking for others to become involved! Surveying what has been done, identifying important collections for WDL, and developing plans to build capacity all need institutional support and collaboration. For more information on how to become involved, see the WDL involvement page.