Library of Congress joins UNESCO for online global library

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The world's biggest library, the US Library of Congress, has teamed up with UNESCO and libraries from around the globe in an ambitious project to digitize priceless cultural material and make it available on the Internet.

"When The World Digital Library is launched, and we're looking at late 2008 or early 2009, if you have a computer, you will be able to join the biggest library in the world," Library of Congress spokesman Guy Lamolinara told AFP.

"Membership will be free, and downloading will be free. We will work with public domain material so we won't have copyright issues," he said.

The World Digital Library was the brainchild of Librarian of Congress, James Billington, who attended the launch of a prototype website for the project in...