At the UNESCO session of The World Library and Information Congress and the 79th Conference of the National Committees of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Serageldin gave an update on the focus and development of the of the World Digitial Library (WDL), of which he is Chairman of the Executive Council. The session was entitled “Preserving our past for the future – the importance of long term preservation for the cultural heritage sector”.
Launched in April 2009, the WDL is a website that features cultural material from libraries and archives from around the world. It was developed by a team at the Library of Congress and technical assistance was provided by the BA as one of the WDL key partners and a major contributor of digitized content. The project aims to promote the free flow of knowledge.