Connecting the World, Responding to User Needs

摘要

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington first proposed the establishment of a World Digital Library in a June 2005 speech at Georgetown University to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. At the time, the United States was in the process of rejoining UNESCO after a nearly 20-year absence from the organization. Billington proposed a cooperative project, to be undertaken by the Library of Congress and partner libraries from around the world in cooperation with UNESCO, to digitize and make freely available over the Internet primary source documents that tell the stories and highlight the achievements of all countries. Such a project, he argued, would "hold out the promise of bringing people closer together precisely by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking."