Library Ireland Week 2010

A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry.
— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Digital library project... access millions of resources for free!

The World Digital Library
http://www.wdl.org/en/
Yesterday we presented you with Europeana, the European platform giving you access to millions of digitised items from all over the world, today, let’s travel again in cyberspace with the World Digital Library, a similar project to Europeana, but developped in the US by the Library of Congress and supported by UNESCO.
The World Digital Library started in 2006 and its missions are to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and finally help narrowing the digital divide within and between countries.
With the World digital Library,
The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
The principal objectives of the WDL are to:
• Promote international and intercultural understanding;
• Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;
• Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
• Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.


Libraries around the world (by A. Finegan)
Tuesday 9th March 2010:

The National Archives and National Library of Bangladesh, (Dhaka)
http://www.nanl.gov.bd/
The Bangladeshi National Library and Archives comprises almost all of the country’s publications and has a large collection of foreign publications, especially on Asian countries and more specific related to South Asian Studies.
The National Library and Archives of Bangladesh has collected a considerable number of proceedings volumes from the Bangladesh Secretariat Record Room dating from 1859 to 1964, which mainly contain letters, orders, resolutions, rules, reports etc. of the Government of the East India Company and Government of Bengal. There are also a vast number of valuable historical records, which have been collected from the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner’s Office. These records cover the period from 1898 to 1971 and deal with the events occurred in the rural Bangladesh.
Visit the online gallery to browse contents from the National Library and Archives – you can zoom in to examine documents in greater detail http://www.nanl.gov.bd/

The National Library of Ireland (Dublin)
http://www.nli.ie
The National Library of Ireland’s holdings constitute the most comprehensive collection of Irish documentary material in the world and offer an invaluable representation of Ireland’s history and heritage. The Department of Manuscripts has approximately one million items in its collections spanning nearly a thousand years, and many of these can be accessed online through the Library website, http://www.nli.ie.
And did you know that the Library hosts a wide variety of events including public lectures, poetry and music recitals, theatre, children's storytelling, creative workshops, and much more. Award-winning exhibitions can be visited at the library for free in person or online.
So log on to http://www.nli.ie and visit the Library on Kildare Street in Dublin city centre and the National Photographic Archives in Temple Bar