Back المكتبة الرقمية العالمية Arabic Dünya Rəqəmsal Kitabxanası Azerbaijani Сусветная лічбавая бібліятэка Byelorussian Световна цифрова библиотека Bulgarian বিশ্ব ডিজিটাল গ্রন্থাগার Bengali/Bangla Biblioteca Digital Mundial Catalan کتێبخانەی دیجیتاڵی جیھانی CKB World Digital Library Danish World Digital Library German Παγκόσμια Ψηφιακή Βιβλιοθήκη Greek

World Digital Library

World Digital Library
The WDL homepage on launch day (April 21, 2009)
Type of site
International education
Available inMultilingual
OwnerUnited States
Created byLibrary of Congress
URLwww.wdl.org
CommercialNo
LaunchedApril 21, 2009 (2009-04-21)
Current statusOnline

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

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.[1] It aims to expand non-English and non-western content on the Internet, and contribute to scholarly research. 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.[2][3][4]

The WDL opened with 1,236 items.[5] As of early 2018, it lists more than 18,000 items from nearly 200 countries, dating back to 8,000 BCE.

  1. ^ "About the World Digital Library: Mission". World Digital Library. Library of Congress. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
  2. ^ "UNESCO and Library of Congress sign agreement for World Digital Library". portal.unesco.org. Paris. October 17, 2007. Archived from the original on January 24, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
  3. ^ "UN puts global treasures online". BBC News. BBC. April 21, 2009. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
  4. ^ Flood, Alison (April 8, 2009). "Free-access World Digital Library set to launch". The Guardian. London: Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
  5. ^ Cody, Edward (April 21, 2009). "U.N. Launches Library Of World's Knowledge". Washington Post. Retrieved April 21, 2009.

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