The Brown University Library and the John Carter Brown Library were among the 31 institutions partnering with the Library of Congress and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to launch the World Digital Library (WDL) in Paris yesterday. This highly anticipated event was reported on in the international press, including The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. The WDL is a web site that features unique cultural materials and national treasures from libraries and archives around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, prints, photographs, and other resources. The site – located at www.wdl.org – was conceived in 2005 by U.S. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington as a way to promote cross-cultural awareness by telling the stories and highlighting the achievements of all countries and cultures, including those that lack the resources to digitize and display important cultural resources. The WDL provides unrestricted public access, free of charge, to this material.
The launch took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Harriette Hemmasi, the Joukowsky Family University Librarian at the Brown University Library, and Edward Widmer, Director and Librarian at the John Carter Brown Library, joined WDL partners in helping present the project to those attending the semi-annual meeting of UNESCO’s Executive Board. Ms. Hemmasi said it was a “great honor” and Mr. Widmer agreed it was a “terrific privilege” to be part of this global initiative. “The goals of the project are noble and enriching – to bring together primary documents representing the world’s cultures and make them openly available via the internet,” Ms. Hemmasi said. “It is very humbling to be part of this endeavor and to represent Brown.” Mr. Widmer noted that the WDL had received more than one million hits in its first day.

The WDL was developed by a team at the Library of Congress and supported by UNESCO. Technical assistance was provided by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of Alexandria, Egypt. Institutions contributing content and expertise to the WDL include national libraries and cultural and educational institutions in Brazil, Egypt, China, France, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The WDL functions in seven languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish – and includes content in more than forty languages. Examples of treasures that will be featured on the WDL include oracle bones and steles contributed by the National Library of China; Arabic scientific manuscripts from the National Library and Archives of Egypt; early photographs of Latin America from the National Library of Brazil; the Hyakumanto darani, a publication from the year 764 from the National Diet Library of Japan; the famous 13th century “Devil’s Bible” from the National Library of Sweden; works of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish calligraphy from the collections of the Library of Congress; the first illustrated edition of Christopher Columbus’s letter to the Spanish monarchy from the John Carter Brown Library; and rare works in the iconography of soldiering from the Anne S.K. Brown Military collection at the Brown University Library. A list of the resources on the WDL provided by the Brown University Library can be found at www.wdl.org/en/search/gallery/?ql=eng&i=rpb.
The Library of Congress, Brown University Library, John Carter Brown Library, and Yale University Library are the only four North American institutions participating in this project.