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 Bridges of Understanding supports the World Digital Library (WDL), which recently observed the first anniversary of its April 2009 launch. Featuring keynote addresses by Librarian of Congress Dr. James H. Billington, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Director Dr. Ismail Serageldin, and Connecticut Congressman John B. Larson, the event brought hundreds of WDL partners and supporters from around the world to the nation?s capital.
Brainchild of Dr. Billington and realized by the United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in conjunction with five additional international partner institutions - the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library of Brazil, the National Library and Archives of Egypt, the National Library of Russia, and the Russian State Library - the WDL maintains an online catalogue of historically and culturally significant documents from every UNESCO member state. These documents include manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials, all of which are available free of charge through the WDL online platform. Since its inauguration last year, the project has grown to include 85 partner institutions from 55 different countries, and has welcomed more than 10 million users from all over the world to its online database.
The WDL objective of promoting international and intercultural understanding falls directly in line with our mission at Bridges. Our support of the WDL is dedicated to developing Middle East-related content, specifically the Arabic texts and literature database. Arabic is one of the WDL?s seven official languages, in addition to English, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Click here to help support our work!
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