Everybody's welcome to participate and it's all free.Īt the National Commission's 2006 annual conference, Dr. became the first partner of this public–private partnership and donated $3 million to support development of the World Digital Library in 2005. His speech, entitled A View of the Digital World Library, described a vision in which the rich collections that 'institutions, libraries, and museums have preserved could be given back to the world free of charge and in a new form far more universally accessible than any forms that have preceded it.' National Commission to UNESCO and was invited to give a plenary speech at its inaugural conference in June 2005. Billington, Librarian of Congress, was nominated as a commissioner of the U.S. As of early 2018, it lists more than 18,000 items from nearly 200 countries, dating back to 8,000 BCE.Īfter almost 20 years without participation, the United States re-established its permanent delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2003. The library intends to make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials.

It aims to expand non-English and non-western content on the Internet, and contribute to scholarly research. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and to build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and among countries.

The World Digital Library ( WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress.

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