UNESCO: ADG KHAN ON WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 005563 SIPDIS FROM USMISSION TO UNESCO PARIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNESCO AINF APER BBSR SCUL AINT EINT TINT KPAO SUBJECT: UNESCO: ADG KHAN ON WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. John Van Oudenaren of the Library of Congress (LOC) met with UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Abdul Waheed Khan and staffer for Digital Libraries, Abdelaziz Abid to discuss UNESCO's cooperation on the World Digital Library (WDL). Khan, like other UNESCO staffers, pointed out how work on the WDL fit in with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action lines for which UNESCO has been named as a potential facilitator. Khan first raised the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (ILFA) conference that will take place in Seoul in August. Abid and Khan suggested that UNESCO's session at the conference shift from being solely about the WDL, as previously agreed between Abid and van Oudenaren, to including many digital libraries. They then discussed plans for a one-day WDL meeting that would take place at UNESCO in December. Finally, it was agreed that they would try to launch WDL at the 2007 General Conference (GC). END SUMMARY. -------------- -- UNESCO SESSION AT THE IFLA CONFERENCE IN SEOUL: -------------- -- ¶2. (SBU) The first topic of discussion was the IFLA conference in Seoul, at which UNESCO would have a two-hour session. In a previous meeting Abid and Van Oudenaren agreed that the session would be about UNESCO and the WDL, and that the speakers would be Van Oudenaren, a UNESCO representative, and a representative of a partner country of the WDL. Claudia Lux from IFLA would chair. However, in the meeting with Khan, Abid suggested having a representative from the EDL speak. Khan then suggested having a representative from South Korea speak, as it is hosting the event. Van Oudenaren said that was fine, but then the title of the session would have to be changed from UNESCO and the WDL, as it would no longer be focused solely on the WDL. Van Oudenaren stated that the European Digital Library (EDL) is not comparable with the WDL. (NOTE: The EDL is a mass digitization project, whereas the WDL is a large-scale project to put rare and remote materials, particularly from the developing world, into a digital library. The EDL is a counterpart of, and was created in response to, Google Print. END NOTE.) Van Oudenaren also added that the President of the French National Library, Jean-Noel Jeanneney, who is spearheading the EDL, would reject the idea of having the EDL presented as a part of, or tied to, the WDL. ¶3. (SBU) Khan suggested having several digital libraries represented at the session, and renaming it "Digital Library Initiatives" and discussing how these initiatives linked to UNESCO's post-World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) role. Khan then proposed that IFLA would pick a few digital library initiatives from various regions to be represented at the Seoul session, so that UNESCO was not in the position of choosing who would participate. Van Oudenaren emphasized that in the session, UNESCO should focus on articulating its goals and how it expected digital library projects can contribute to these goals. Librarians tend to get sidetracked into detailed discussions of standards. Standards are important for WDL and other projects, but in this forum the focus should be on the big picture, he stated. ¶4. (SBU) Following the two-hour UNESCO session in Seoul would be a meeting of senior librarians. It was agreed that UNESCO would brief the high-level meeting on the outcome of the two-hour "Digital Library Initiatives" session. -------------- DECEMBER WDL MEETING AT UNESCO: -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The discussion then turned to holding a December WDL "experts' meeting," at UNESCO headquarters. Abid said the meting would involve between 30 and 35 people, maybe more, while Khan emphasized the need for a focused meeting and stated that there should be no more than 30 people. UNESCO expressed strong interest in having a mockup of the WDL site available at the December meeting in order to get a better understanding of the project. Van Oudenaren said that this would be possible. He added that the title "experts meeting" was a misnomer, as the LOC would like to invite librarians of the six Global Gateway Sites (GGS) and IFLA members. Khan said the private sector, including Google, Microsoft, and Melinda Gates, should be involved to this meeting. He added that the Europeans (meaning Jeanneney) should also be invited as a courtesy. Van Oudenaren responded that Jeanneney strongly dislikes Google, and that the private sector should be invited to the launch when there is a product that they can consider supporting through private donations, instead of to the December meeting. ¶6. (SBU) Khan and van Oudenaren agreed that the December meeting would take place over one day. Van Oudenaren mentioned the LOC's draft agenda for a meeting focused on four issues: Architecture (including multilingualism),Selection, Governance, and Financing. Khan said that a one-day meeting would present a challenge of time, and he would like to see advance work done in order to ensure a focused, results-oriented meeting that established working groups. Van Oudenaren suggested that UNESCO could provide the wrap-up of the meeting with its perspective on the WDL. -------------- LAUNCH OF WDL IN OCTOBER 2007: -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Abid turned the discussion to the launch of the WDL, saying that the DG was in favor of a formal launch after the December meeting. Abid suggested organizing a high-level event with several heads of state to raise funds for the WDL. He noted that this kind of event had been a success when 20 Arab heads of state had gotten together to raise money for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Van Oudenaren objected to the idea of an early launch date, saying the LOC did not want to launch something that was still an "empty shell." Van Oudenaren and Khan also agreed that there would be a functioning multilingual site at the launch. Khan agreed with Van Oudenaren, stating the October 2007 UNESCO General Conference would be a better place for the launch, as many heads of state and ministers would already be present, and it would leave 18 months to develop the WDL project. Van Oudenaren added that Google's Sergei Brin and other private sector representatives could be invited to the GC for the launch, and Khan proposed creating a Kiosk modeled on the UNESCO kiosk at WSIS in Tunis last November in order to generate private sector interest. ¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: The meeting with Khan was helpful in the sense that it brought a focused timeline of cooperation (IFLA Conference, Experts meeting at UNESCO HQ in December 2006, followed by a formal launch in October 2007, perhaps with a technology savvy display modeled on the UNESCO Kiosk at WSIS in Tunis.) However, the meeting also showed that Aziz, though enthusiastic about the project in principle, was not willing to defend the original plan for UNESCO and the WDL to share the floor at IFLA. Van Oudenaren had to explain yet again that the WDL is different from the EDL, and finally, while Khan is keen to attract private sector investment to UNESCO and to the project, Aziz's instinct - like many UNESCO staffers - is to raise public funds. END COMMENT. KOSS