The Library of Congress and Alexandria Library Become Partners in World Digital Library
By GAIL FINEBERG
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern library that was conceived in 1974 and built in Alexandria, Egypt, beside the Mediterranean with the idea of reviving the legacy of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, has become a founding partner with the Library of Congress in creating a World Digital Library.
On May 11, Ismail Serageldin, director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, signed a memorandum of understanding by which the Bibliotheca Alexandrina agrees to play a part in the planning for a World Digital Library and to contribute some of its own collections to the project.
The signing took place in the Librarian’s office in the Madison Building.
According to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Web site, the new library aspires to be "the world’s window on Egypt, Egypt’s window on the world, a leading institution of the digital age, and above all, a center for learning, tolerance, dialogue and understanding." This world view seems consistent with that expressed by Billington in his speeches and writings about his vision for a World Digital Library.
The Librarian introduced his concept for a World Digital Library in a June 2005 speech before the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO at Georgetown University. He argued that the cooperative building of a World Digital Library "would hold out the promise of bringing people closer together precisely by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking."
Billington briefed the commission on two of the Library’s successful digital projects, American Memory and Global Gateway. Over the past 12 years, American Memory has assembled digitized primary source material from the Library’s own collections and research institutions throughout the nation into a single, consolidated Web site that has grown to more than 130 thematic collections and more than 10.5 million items.
The Global Gateway project has drawn together international materials from the Library as well as those of library partners, currently, in Russia, Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands and France. Global Gateway focuses on materials that document the intersection of U.S. history with the histories of the contributing countries and presents these materials in both English and the language of the partner country. The World Digital Library will not focus on connections with the United States, but will present the richness of cultures from around the world.
Billington’s idea is to expand on these concepts with a global grass-roots effort to populate one Web site with digital versions of unique or rare historical and cultural materials that represent and "define" a particular culture. "Because cultural materials have a special human appeal that transcends politics, there is enormous potential for increasing transcultural understanding," the Librarian wrote in a Washington Post Op-Ed piece announcing the initiative on Nov. 22, 2005.
Billington appointed John Van Oudenaren, chief of the European Division, as his point man for the World Digital Library project. Van Oudenaren and Laura Campbell, associate librarian for strategic initiatives, Office of Strategic Iniatives (OSI), outlined the project in a paper they delivered at a Middle East Digital Library Workshop in Alexandria, Jan. 15 - 17.
They explained: "For each participating country, the goal would be to have many thousands of images (the precise number will vary over time and by size of country) of manuscripts, works of art, musical scores, recordings, films, photographs and plans of a country’s buildings and architectural monuments, recordings of popular songs, posters and so forth that in some way ‘represent’ that country and culture in a way that is likely to increase international understanding, promote language learning, encourage travel and reading, and provide links to other Web resources that for one reason or another are not appropriate for direct inclusion in the WDL. Selection of these materials ideally would be by committees or groups of scholars most knowledgeable about a given country or culture."
On Saturday, May 20, another Library delegation will leave for a week-long mission to Alexandria as well as Cairo to meet with scholars and librarians who will recommend items for inclusion in the World Digital Library. Delegates, in addition to Van Oudenaren, will be Mary-Jane Deeb, chief, African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED); Fawzi Tadros, Arab world specialist, AMED; and Michael Fitzella, OSI.