WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY OPENS

A new worldwide digital library has opened on the internet. The library website has taken four years to put together. It was officially launched at the headquarters of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Paris, the capital of France, on 21st April.

The digital library lets people see rare items from around the world, including some of the earliest written works. These include ancient books and maps. For example, you can see a digital image of a 1,000-year-old Japanese novel, believed to be the oldest in the world, and the very first European map to include America. The map was drawn in 1562.

The library contains images of some of the earliest known Chinese writing, which is about 3,000 years old. Another item on display is called the Devil's Bible. It's the largest medieval book in the world. The book, which contains a copy of a collection of Jewish and Christian texts first put together by scholars 1,700 years ago, was handwritten in the 13th century. It gets its name because it also contains a large illustration of the Devil. It is now kept in a museum in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

The World Digital Library was the idea of James H Billington. He is the head librarian of the USA's Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. Mr Billington hopes the new digital library will be used by young students and teachers everywhere to discover more about the world's cultural history. The library contains about 1,200 items from 26 libraries in 19 countries. An explanation of each item is available in seven languages — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.

Visitors can search the library in different ways. They can enter historical dates to see what items were made in the world at that time. They can also sort their searches by similar topics or by country. You can visit the new World Digital Library at www.wdl.org

2. The author tells us about the person who created the library and why he decided to do it. Find this extract and read it aloud.

3. What ways are used to search the library?

4. Why is it a good idea to create such a library? The digital library lets people see rare items from around the world, from some of the earliest written works to the modern ones.

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