Friday, April 10, 2009

The World on a Website


A new digital library, according to The Guardian, will carry thousands of cultural treasures and put them online for all to view.

From the story...

It is not every library that displays ancient Chinese manuscripts alongside postcards of Sarah Bernhardt, crumbling Iraqi newspapers near maps of the New World, and Rabelais originals next to the voice recording of a 101-year-old former slave named Fountain Hughes.

But then the World Digital Library (WDL) is not every library. Hailed as an online "intellectual cathedral", it is an unprecedented coming together of some of the world's finest treasures.

When it is launched at Unesco's headquarters in Paris this month, the website will be a digital looking-glass through which internet users can view and study tens of thousands of cultural gems from countries as diverse as Sweden, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.


Pictured above: "La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel" by François Rabelais.

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