World Digital Library Arab Peninsula Regional Group Meeting Doha, Qatar, December 12-14, 2010

1. World Digital Library Arab Peninsula Regional Group Meeting • Doha, Qatar, December 12-14, 2010 • An Introduction to the WDL John Van Oudenaren

2. A website, http://www.wdl.org, that provides free access to primary sources that document the histories and cultural achievements of all countries. • Rare books • Journals • Manuscripts • Maps • Prints and photographs • Films • Sound recordings

3. Timeline • June 2005: Dr. Billington proposes creation of a World Digital Library • December 2005: Initial funding secured • December 2006: Agreements with UNESCO; WDL Experts Meeting • October 2007: Prototype unveiled at UNESCO General Conference • April 2009:www.wdl.org launched • March 2010: WDL Charter adopted • June 2010: Partner meeting under the WDL charter

4. In addition to building a website, the WDL is also an effort to share knowledge and build capacity around the world by: • Assisting in the establishment of digital conversion centers (Egypt, Iraq, Uganda) • Encouraging digitization where little or no digital content is being produced • Facilitating cooperation between experienced institutions and those just getting started

5. Digital conversion centers Delivering scanning equipment to the National Library of Uganda Training at the Iraqi National Library and Archives Newly trained staff at the National Library and Archives of Egypt

6. 116 partners from 63 countries • National libraries • University libraries • Public libraries • Archives • Museums

7. Governance • Charter • Executive Council • Project Committees • Content Selection • Technical Architecture • Translation and Language • View project site for more information (http://project.wdl.org/).

8. Statistics

9. Visitors12.7 million Engaged users Pages viewed87 million April, 21 2009 – October 31, 2010

10. Current set of languages • Arabic • Chinese • English • French • Portuguese • Russian • Spanish

11. Languages of pages viewed French: 3.7% Arabic: 1.4% Chinese: 3.9% Russian: 5.2% Portuguese: 10.9% Spanish: 53.9% English: 20.8% April, 21 2009 – October 31, 2010

12. Top countries by visitor April 21, 2009 – October 31, 2010

13. Top external search engines referring traffic April 21, 2009 – October 31, 2010

14. Top searches on the WDL site April 21, 2009 – October 31, 2010

15. Partners in the Arab World • Bibliotheca Alexandrina • National Library and Archives of Egypt • Qatar Foundation • Education Ministry, Kingdom of Bahrain • Iraqi National Library and Archives • Tetouan-Asmir Association, Morocco • King Abdullah University of Science and Technology • Hill Museum and Manuscript Library partners in Syria and Lebanon

16. Content Selection • General selection guidelines • Specialized working groups • Meso-American Codices • Chinese Language Content • Arabic Scientific Manuscripts • South Asian Content • Arabian Peninsula • Key role of partner institutions – curators and experts