The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : A Library for the World

Last November, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin announced that Google would become the first private-sector company to contribute to the Library's initiative to develop a plan to begin building a World Digital Library (WDL) for use by other libraries around the globe. The effort would be supported by funds from nonexclusive, public and private partnerships, of which Google is the first.

Map of the world with the most recent discoveries, 1811

One of several illustrated cards for ceremonial use

The concept for the WDL came from a speech that Billington delivered to the newly established U.S. National Commission for UNESCO on June 6, 2005, at Georgetown University.

In his speech, Billington proposed that public research institutions and libraries work with private funders to begin digitizing significant primary materials of different cultures from institutions across the globe. Billington said that the World Digital Library would bring together online "rare and unique cultural materials held in U.S. and Western repositories with those of other great cultures such as those that lie beyond Europe and involve more than 1 billion people: Chinese East Asia, Indian South Asia and the worlds of Islam stretching from Indonesia through Central and West Asia to Africa."

Google Inc. has donated $3 million as the first partner in this public-private initiative.

The Library of Congress has extensive pioneering experience building digital libraries. In 1994 the National Digital Library Program was instituted at the Library to offer American historical treasures online; today, more than 10 million rare and unique materials from the Library and those of its partners are available free of charge in the American Memory Web site. The Library also has a bilingual Web site of international materials, called Global Gateway. The site focuses on the intersections of history of the United States with the histories of France, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Brazil.

A. Mary van Schaack, creator. Map of the world with the most recent discoveries, 1811. Geography and Map Division. Reproduction information: Call No.: G3200 1811 .V2 Vault.

B. [Yunnan Sheng, 1500?], [One of several illustrated cards for ceremonial use]. Naxi Collection, Asian Division. Reproduction information: Call No.: LC Number: 2601; Zhu No.: NZO013. Digital ID: asnaxi nzo013; http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.asian/asnaxi.nzo013. Photographic reproductions of these manuscripts are not available. Prints from the digital images of this collection can be obtained by contacting the Library's Photoduplication Service at http://www.loc.gov/preserv/pds.