The World Digital Library: Progress to Date and Prospects for the Future Infopolitiika Foorum VI Tallinn, Estonia | September 16, 2010 John Van Oudenaren Director, World Digital Library The Library of Congress

2 World Digital Library World Digital Library: Mission and Objectives Mission: Digitize and make freely available over the Internet primary source materials that tell the stories and highlight the achievements of all countries Objectives: Promote international and intercultural understanding and awareness Expand multilingual and culturally diverse content on the Internet Provide resources to educators and contribute to scholarly research Build knowledge and capacity in the developing world; help narrow the digital divide

3 World Digital Library Key Features of the WDL Site Multilingualism Interface in seven languages Content in more than forty languages High quality content of cultural and historical importance Consistent, high-quality metadata to allow searching and browsing across cultures and time periods Item-level descriptions, curator videos to enhance user understanding of the content Speed and performance Web 2.0 features

4 World Digital Library User Statistics (since public launch on April 21, 2009) Total visitors: more than 11,000,000 Total page views: more than 76,500,000 Links from other Web sites: 1,700,816 90% of users are from outside of the United States; WDL has been visited by users from every country in the world

5 World Digital Library User Statistics (since public launch on April 21, 2009) Countries of highest usage: Spain, United States, Mexico, Brazil, China, Argentina, France, the Russian Federation, Portugal, Colombia Cities of highest usage: Madrid, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Barcelona, Mexico City, Lisbon, Moscow, Paris, Bogotá, Caracas Most frequently used interfaces: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Chinese, French, Arabic

6 World Digital Library Partners as of September partners from 62 countries World Digital Library Africa National Library and Archives of Ethiopia Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library, Mali University of Pretoria Library, South Africa National Library of Uganda East Asia National Library of China National Central Library National Diet Library, Japan National Library of Korea Central and South Asia Allama Iqbal Library, University of Kashmir, India Anna Centenary Library, India National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic National Library of Kazakhstan Government College University of Lahore, Pakistan

7 World Digital Library Partners (continued) World Digital Library Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, Italy National Library of Latvia Vilnius University Library, Lithuania National Library of Moldova Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies National Library of Portugal National Library of the Netherlands National Library of Romania Romanian Academy Library Europe Austrian National Library National Library of Belarus Plantin Moretus Museum, Belgium Irish College in Paris Central Library of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences National Library of Bulgaria The Royal Library, Denmark National Library of Estonia National Library of Finland National Library of France Bavarian State Library, Germany Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

8 World Digital Library Partners (continued) World Digital Library Europe, continued National Library of Russia Russian State Library Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, Russia National Library of Serbia University Library in Bratislava, Slovakia National Library of Spain National Library of Sweden National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine Vasyl Stefanyk Lviv Scientific Library of Ukraine The British Library National Library of Wales Wellcome Library, United Kingdom

9 World Digital Library Partners (continued) World Digital Library Latin America and Caribbean National Library of Argentina National Library of Brazil National Library of Chile National Library of Guyana National Archives of Haiti National Library of Cuba “Jose Marti” Archivo General de la Nación de México Center for the Study of the History of México (CARSO) National Council for Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA) National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), México Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León, México Fundación Nueva Era, Nicaragua National Library of Perú National Archives of St. Kitts and Nevis National Archives of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

10 World Digital Library Partners (continued) World Digital Library Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon Near East School of Theology, Lebanon Oriental Library, University of St. Joseph, Lebanon Tetouan-Asmir Association, Morocco Qatar Foundation King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia Greek-Catholic Archdiocese of Aleppo, Syria Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, Syria North Africa and Middle East National Library of Armenia National Library of Azerbaijan Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Bahrain Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt National Library and Archives of Egypt Saint Mark Coptic Library, Egypt National Parliamentary Library of Georgia Iraqi National Library and Archives National Library of Israel

11 World Digital Library Partners (continued) Tulane University, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library University of South Carolina Library University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee Libraries Walters Art Museum Yale University Library World Digital Library North America Brown University Library George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Hill Museum & Manuscript Archive John Carter Brown Library Library of Congress National Archives and Records Administration Smithsonian Institution State Library and Archives of Florida

12 World Digital Library Partners (continued) World Digital Library Oceania and the Pacific National Library of New Zealand State Library of South Australia Southeast Asia National Library of Laos International Organizations Columbus Memorial Library, Organization of American States (OAS) International Federation of Library Institutions and Organizations (IFLA) United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

13 World Digital Library The WDL Governance Structure WDL launched as a Library of Congress-UNESCO partnership WDL Charter provides for: Annual partner meeting Executive Council Standing Committees for: Technical Architecture Content Selection Translation and Language Regional and Subject Sub-committees Arabic Scientific Manuscripts Chinese Language Content Meso-American Codices Library of Congress serves as Project Manager ( )

14 World Digital Library Capacity Building By providing training, equipment, and technical support to partner institutions in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, and Uganda, the WDL is bridging the global digital divide and ensuring that rare and unique cultural treasures previously accessible only to a tiny minority of researchers are now available for worldwide use. Content digitized at WDL- supported digitization centers and now accessible on the WDL includes the oldest magazines and journals published in Iraq, thousand-year-old scientific manuscripts from Egypt, and rare photographs from Brazil. Newly trained staff at the National Library and Archives of Egypt

15 World Digital Library Financial Supporters Google, Inc., $3 million for the initial development of the WDL prototype Qatar Foundation, $3 million in general support Carnegie Corporation of New York, $2 million to support the inclusion of cultural institutions from sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia in the WDL King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia, $1 million to digitize and display on the WDL scientific manuscripts from the Arab and Islamic worlds Microsoft, Inc., $1 million in general support Additional support from the Lawrence and Mary Anne Tucker Foundation, the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress and other donors.

16 World Digital Library Next Steps – Future Work Increase content while maintaining quality Increase partners (to include institutions from all UNESCO member countries) Develop tools to scale up the creation, processing, and ingest of content Develop new site features

17 World Digital Library National Library of Estonia Contributions Old Geographical Maps from the NLE Cartography Collection The selections include maps of Livonia and the Nordic countries drawn by eminent Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Polish, and Swedish cartographers depicting Livonia and relevant territorial changes from the second half of the 16 th century to the second half of the 18 th century, including the Livonian War ( ), Polish-Swedish Wars ( ), and the Great Northern War ( ). Old City Maps from the NLE Cartography Collection The selections include the earliest map of Tallinn in the National Library of Estonia’s map collection and the earliest map of Tartu.