The World Digital Library looks interesting; though a plan for better distribution of the digitization process would be nice. What in particular would you like someone from the Library of Congress to talk about? Someone specifically working on this project? Dr. Serageldin, directory of the Library of Alexandria, couldn't make it last year, but has expressed interest in a future 'mania; he is also interested in worldwide archives, and Alexandria have (maintain?) a copy of Internet Archive data.

As you correspond with the LOC, note : I talked with Jan Herd, a reference librarian at the LOC in DC, last year; who was interested in helping find a suitable Wikimania speaker, but the timing and expense didn't work out.

Sj

On 11/23/05, Brian brian0918@gmail.com wrote:

Google recently donated $3M to the Library of Congress for their World Digital Library project, which seeks to coordinate with world libraries to digitize their works. The project is looking for more private funding, and I've emailed them requesting more information on the possibility of providing a speaker for Wikimania 2006. If they are interested, I will put them in contact with one of the Wikimania coordinators.

More information: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,69646,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7 http://international.loc.gov/intldl/intldlhome.html

brian0918 [[en:User:Brian0918]]

-- ++SJ