Hispanic Division Chief Georgette Dorn (left center) shows a 1768 map of North America to (from left) Antonio Fontán, Queen Sofia, King Juan Carlos, Marjorie Billington and Deputy Librarian Donald Scott. - Yusef El-Amin
King Juan Carlos I of Spain and Queen Sofia, in a Great Hall ceremony on Feb. 24, witnessed the signing of an agreement between the Library and the National Library of Spain to collaborate on a project to share electronically their historical collections that illustrate the common history of Spain and the United States.
Dr. Billington and Antonio Fontán, president of the Royal Board of Trustees, National Library of Spain, signed the protocol stating the intent to digitize such items as early travel books, chronologies, books of memoirs, maps, drawings and engravings that recorded early exploration and settlement of the Americas.
From the collections of libraries and archives in Spain and the Library of Congress, which holds some 11 million items from and about the Luso-Hispanic world, the digital reproductions will be exchanged between the two countries and made available on the Internet.
Left and center, King Juan Carlos I and other participants in the Feb. 24 ceremony in the Great Hall of the Jefferson Building.; right, King Juan Carlos and Dr. Billington. - Yusef El-Amin
