World Digital Library nears launch

The count down has begun for the launch of the World Digital Library which is expected to grant users free access to multilingual material. The website, to be launched on April 21 at UNESCO's Paris headquarters, will offer rare books, maps, manuscripts, films and photographs from libraries and archives from around the globe. Users will be able to access the material in seven languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Some 32 partner institutions from Brazil, Britain, China, Egypt, France, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the US helped UNESCO with the project which was developed by the world's biggest library, the US Library of Congress, AFP reported. The World Digital Library was first proposed to UNESCO in 2005 by the Librarian of Congress, James Billington. The World Digital Library will be available at worlddigitallibrary.org.