MapsInternet and Blogs

The World Digital Library

Since 2005, the Library of Congress and UNESCO have been promoting the idea of ​​an Internet Library, finally in April 2009 it was officially launched. It adds to a host of referral sources (such as Europeana), with the variant, which is supported by libraries in different countries and with an economic contribution that is sure to guarantee sustainability in the long term.

To start the World Digital Library received financial contributions from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, among others. For now it contains material in 7 different languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish; each material in its own language, only the metadata is translated.

Institutions that collaborate

The content includes books, manuscripts, maps, diaries, films, photographs and sound recordings. A true treasure as long as the libraries involved continue to contribute material. Among these institutions are:

  • Archive and the National Library of Iraq | + VIEW
  • Associazion Tetuán Asmir | + VIEW
  • Central Library, Qatar Foundation | + VIEW
  • Columbus Memorial Library, Organization of American States | + VIEW
  • State Library of Russia | + VIEW
  • John Carter Brown Library | + VIEW
  • Central National Library | + VIEW
  • National Library of Brazil | + VIEW
  • National Library of China | + VIEW
  • National Library of France | + VIEW
  • National Library of Israel | + VIEW
  • National Library of Russia | + VIEW
  • National Library of Serbia | + VIEW
  • National Library of Sweden | + VIEW
  • National Library of the Diet | + VIEW
  • National Library and Archives of Egypt | + VIEW
  • University Library of Bratislava | + VIEW
  • Library of Alexandria | + VIEW
  • Brown University Library | + VIEW
  • Library of the University of Pretoria | + VIEW
  • Yale University Library | + VIEW
  • Library of Congress | + VIEW
  • Center for the Study of the History of Mexico (CEHM) CARSO | + VIEW
  • Mamma Haidara Memorial Collection | + VIEW
  • Royal Netherlands Institute of Studies on Southeast Asia and the Caribbean | + VIEW
  • The National Archives and Document Administration (NARA) of the United States of America | + VIEW

 

Of which regions there is content

The library facilitates the search by region, and once selected it can be filtered by country, period of time or type of content.

global digital library

Here you can see the links to regions and the total of materials available to this date (September of 2009)

To show a button

global digital library Among interesting documents you can see:

Digital files can be downloaded, although not at full resolution, but the online viewer allows a very succulent approach. To show an example, in these days of political tension in Central America:

The map of the provinces of Central America, when they formed a single republic between 1823 and 1838.

global digital library

See the level of detail, it is curious that this was one of the maps used with bad
to intention to favor England in its dispute with Guatemala in the region now known as Belize (formerly British Honduras).

global digital library

The site is:  WDL

Golgi Alvarez

Writer, researcher, specialist in Land Management Models. He has participated in the conceptualization and implementation of models such as: National Property Administration System SINAP in Honduras, Management Model of Joint Municipalities in Honduras, Integrated Cadastre-Registry Management Model in Nicaragua, Territory Administration System SAT in Colombia . Editor of the Geofumadas knowledge blog since 2007 and creator of the AulaGEO Academy that includes more than 100 courses on GIS - CAD - BIM - Digital Twins topics.

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