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The World Digital Library Initiative
John Van OudenarenSenior Advisor, World Digital LibraryLibrary of [email protected]
April 18, 2007
The LIBRARY of CONGRESS 2
The World Digital Library Initiative
Vision: To create a digital library of significant original materials representing all of the major cultures from across the globe and make it accessible to students, educators, and the general public
Objectives:– Promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness– Provide a resource for educators that matches the needs of a globalized, wireless world– Acquire rare and unique content of interest to scholars and the general public
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The World Digital Library – Partners
UNESCONational libraries and other cultural
institutionsBibliotheca AlexandrinaNational Library of EgyptNational Library of BrazilRussian State LibraryNational Library of RussiaOthers
The technology community (Google, Yahoo, Apple, Stanford University)
Librarian of Congress proposes World Digital Library to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO
Google gives Library of Congress $3 million for planning phase of the project
Conclusion of agreements with partner institutions in Brazil, Russia, Egypt
Site mockup and draft proposal presented to UNESCO in Paris
Conclusion of agreements with UNESCO and with additional partner institutions
WDL prototype to be unveiled at UNESCO General Conference, Paris
Completion of WDL plan and full-scale launch of the project
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The World Digital Library – Dates and Milestones
June 2005:
November 2005:
2006:
December 2006:
2007:
October 2007:
September 2008:
Not just a big website!
Three pillars:Content acquisitionConstruction of a sustainable network
for production and distribution of content
The web site: www.worlddigitallibrary.org
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The World Digital Library – Implementation
Key objective: Work with partners to digitize content in places where little or no scanning is being done
– bring to light “hidden treasures”
Maintain and build upon existing scanning operations:– Cairo– Rio de Janeiro– Moscow– St. Petersburg– Novosibirsk (mobile scanning team for Siberia)
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Pillar I: Content Acquisition (part one)
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Pillar I: Content Acquisition (part two)
Establish additional scanning operations
Pursue other methods of content acquisition - Re-purposing of already-scanned material
Key objective: Create and distribute content in a way that makes the most sense in terms of cost and technical factors and in ways that build capacity in the developing world
Network is both a technical infrastructure and a community of institutions, scholars, curators, linguists, technologists
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Pillar II. Construction of a Sustainable International Network (part one)
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Pillar II. Construction of a Sustainable International Network (part two)
Network nodes for creation of the World Digital Library: digitization of content cataloging translation development of editorial and
educational content distribution
Network nodes for distribution: central site mirrored sites
Key objective: Present cultural content in a way that appeals to (and thus will be used by) the new generation of Internet users, both in the United States and internationally
Prototype under development
Multilingual: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese
High quality user experience Fast, seamless
Ability to search and browse a large volume of content
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Pillar III: The Web Site (part one)
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Pillar III: The Web Site (part two)
Multi-format: manuscripts maps photographs, prints, postcards rare books sound and video clips 3-D presentations of architectural monuments
Special features with experts, scholars, curators
Educational content for teachers and students
Social networking features
Adjustments to developing-country conditions; low bandwidth and mobile device solutions
