Arabic Press Release

English Press Releases

November 15, 2006

As delivered by Michael Albin, Director of the Library of Congress Cairo Office

Dr. Arab, Ambassador Ricciardone, Dr. Shaheen, distinguished guests, friends and colleagues. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the National Library and Archives of Egypt on the occasion of the opening of this new digitization facility at the National Library. I am pleased that the Library of Congress and the National Library will be working together on the project, “Islamic Civilization and Science: A History in the Manuscripts of the Library of Congress and the National Library of Egypt,” and on the even more ambitious effort to develop, in cooperation with many other partners from around the world, a World Digital Library.

By working together in this way, we are helping to foster better understanding between cultures and religions, creating a resource that will be of great value to teachers, students, and scholarly researchers, and helping to narrow the “digital divide” about which so much has been written in recent years.

A great deal of hard work has gone into the establishment of this center. I cannot begin to name individuals, but I would like to thank the leadership and staff of the National Library, Ambassador Ricciardone and his staff at the U.S. embassy, the dedicated staff of the Library of Congress office in Cairo, and of course the staff of the Library of Congress – all of whom worked together and contributed to achieving this happy result.

With the equipment up and running, we look forward to seeing the results of your efforts – in the form of the display on the Internet of some of the important and interesting manuscripts and other unique materials that are found in the rich holdings of the National Library. I wish you success in this new endeavor, and look forward to seeing, in the not-too-distant future, the first results of our joint cooperation.

James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress