JEDDAH, 14 April 2008 — The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the US Library of Congress started a joint project to digitize the records of Arab and Muslim scientific heritage with the aim of documenting them in the World Digital Library, according to a KAUST statement quoted by the Saudi Press Agency.
An international consultative committee comprising leading librarians and scientists will be set up as a first step. The committee will take necessary measures to locate and choose the books, manuscripts and other rare sources related to the scientific achievements of the Arabs and Muslims over the centuries, and classify them.
The project will also support research works on these topics, the statement said.The project would be completed before the launch of the digital library under the auspices of UNESCO early next year.
The World Digital Library aims to make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials.
The objectives of the library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research.
“The cooperation with the KAUST will enable us to get the help of leading scientists, librarians and museum curators in the Muslim world, Europe and the United States to develop this important content in the World Digital Library,” said James Billington, librarian at the US Library of Congress for more than 20 years and the driving force behind the international project.
The World Digital Library started two years ago with a $3-million grant from Google and technical assistance by Apple. Initially, five other libraries contributed material for the prototype, including the national libraries of Egypt, Brazil and Russia.
The first meeting of the consultative committee, to be held this fall, will set up a network of work groups to develop the library.
Commenting on the KAUST’s collaboration with the project, Nazmi Al-Nasr, acting president of the university, said, “Through digitized documentation we underscore the importance of the ancient Islamic sciences and make them accessible to the common people on an international level.”
Al-Nasr hoped that the project would help the nascent KAUST to perfect its academic and research programs in modern sciences and engineering and stay in touch. “This would also make it clear that the KAUST has a comprehensive vision that does not limit to researches of 21st century but include all the scientific achievements of Muslims and Arabs made in the service of mankind,” Al-Nasr said.
