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Viewing cable 06PARIS5461, UNESCO STAFF SEE WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY AS EXPANSION OF

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06PARIS5461 2006-08-11 15:07 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Paris
null
Lucia A Keegan  08/14/2006 05:18:17 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
Text:                                                                      
                                                                           
      
UNCLAS        PARIS 05461

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: UNESCO
    INFO:   POL AMBU AMB AMBO DCM SCI ECON

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: DCM: AKOSS
DRAFTED: INT: NSHETH
CLEARED: PAO: CBERGIN

VZCZCFRI138
RR RUEHC
DE RUEHFR #5461/01 2231507
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111507Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0339
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 005461 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION TO UNESCO PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNESCO AINF APER BBSR SCUL AINT EINT TINT KPAO
 
SUBJECT: UNESCO STAFF SEE WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY AS EXPANSION OF 
AMERICAN CULTURAL HEGEMONY 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: John Van Oudenaren, Senior Advisor for the 
Library of Congress (LOC) World Digital Library Initiative (WDL), 
held an informational meeting with working level UNESCO staff and 
two separate meetings on June 20 and 21 with staff from the UNESCO 
Director-General's (DG) office.  Elizabeth Longworth, the Chef de 
Cabinet to the Director General, addressed UNESCO's general 
expectations of the LOC, the European view of the WDL and plans for 
a December Experts Meeting. Van Oudenaren also met with the Director 
General's Advisor for the United States, Hillary Wiesner and Advisor 
for Communication and Information Issues, Krista Pikkat, who had 
general questions.  All of the interlocutors from the DG's office, 
while generally supportive of the project, held misperceptions about 
its nature.  While DG staff emphasized how the WDL fit in with 
UNESCO's role on the post World Summit on the Information Society 
(WSIS) scene, they seemed more cautious on a UNESCO role in the WDL 
itself than in previous meetings.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------- 
SECRETARIAT STILL UNCLEAR ON WDL: 
 
SIPDIS 
--------------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) Van Oudenaren repeatedly stated to UNESCO staff that the 
WDL is different from the European Digital Library (EDL).  (NOTE: 
The EDL is a mass digitization project, which was designed as a 
publicly funded project in response to Google Print whereas the WDL 
is a project to put rare and remote items on the web. END NOTE.) In 
earlier meetings with Axel Plathe, Deputy for the Information 
Society Division of the Communication and Information Sector and 
Abdelaziz Abid, Deputy Director of the Divsions' Universal Access 
and Preservation Section, both stated that they thought the WDL was 
a mass digitalization project.  They also mistakenly thought it 
would be a portal.  Longworth, the DG's new top advisor and previous 
Director of the Information Society Division of the UNESCO 
Communication and Information Sector, shared this view. 
 
3.  (SBU) Van Oudenaren stated that Librarian of Congress James 
Billington wants the WDL to be more than a portal; he wants it to be 
its own product, which would focus on unique and rare items and draw 
from the LOC experience with the bi-lateral Global Gateway projects 
and the LOC's own American Memory website.  Longworth said the DG 
had asked if a feasibility study could be done before UNESCO got 
more involved with the WDL.  She stated that if the U.S. did its 
homework on the project and could describe what it was and what it 
was not, then the DG could be supportive. 
 
4.  (SBU) Longworth and Plathe identified Aziz as UNESCO's WDL focal 
point.  (NOTE:  Aziz stated in later meetings that he plans to 
retire next summer and hopefully become the national librarian of 
his native Tunisia.  END NOTE.)  Aziz asked van Oudenaren to 
participate in a joint session with UNESCO on the World Digital 
Library in order to build momentum at the International Federation 
of Library Associations (IFLA) meeting in Seoul in August 2006, and 
suggested a large public launch in June 2007. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
LONGWORTH STRESSES EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE: 
---------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) Longworth noted that the Europeans might be more inclined 
to join the WDL if there were a UNESCO label on it.  She repeatedly 
mentioned European reservations with the WDL project, stated that 
the involvement of Google was a problem for many, and added that 
Jean-Nokl Jeanneney, President of the Bibliothhque Nationale de 
France, leader of the European Digital Library project, and author 
of the book "Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge" had a 
"specific constituency" that he needed to address.  Longworth urged 
the LOC to explain the WDL and its connection to Google in order to 
build their support for the initiative.  (COMMENT:  Jeanneney's new 
book argues that Google's digitization of books from partner 
libraries and its heavy reliance on works in English are deliberate 
acts of selection which will extend the dominance of American 
culture abroad.  Jeanneney wrote that an archive that ignores great 
European literature in this way - and whose development is 
commercially driven - cannot provide the foundation for a universal 
library.  END COMMENT.) Van Oudenaren stated that he had met with 
Jeanneney while in Paris and would invite him to the UNESCO Experts 
Meeting in December, though he stated that he expected that 
Jeanneney would hesitate to attend. (COMMENT:  Mission wonders 
whether Longworth's cautious mood is driven by certain member state 
pressure.  END COMMENT.) 
 
------------------------ 
DECEMBER MEETING AGENDA: 
------------------------ 
 
6.  (SBU) The discussion then turned to the WDL Stakeholder's 
Meeting (known in UNESCO speak as an "expert's meeting") that will 
be held at UNESCO headquarters from November 31 to December 1, 2006. 
 Longworth suggested casting the meeting as grist for a feasibility 
study, and using the meeting to find out what stakeholders want. 
Van Oudenaren noted that the draft agenda included discussions on 
Architecture (including multilingualism), Selection, Governance, and 
Financing.  He stated that he hoped to establish working groups on 
these and other issues.  Longworth said UNESCO could help with 
multilingualism and using search engines across languages.  She 
noted that the multilingual aspect of the site would tie into the 
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Line C8 
(Cultural and Linguistic Diversity on the Internet), one of the 6 
WSIS action lines where UNESCO is identified as a potential 
facilitator. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
MEETING OTHER STAFF FROM THE DG'S OFFICE: 
----------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU) In a separate meeting, Van Oudenaren also saw DG staff 
members Hillary Wiesner and Krista Pikkat.  Van Oudenaren began by 
outlining steps that could be taken to link UNESCO to the project. 
These included the LOC participating in a panel discussion at the 
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions 
(IFLA) meeting in Seoul in August 2006 and the experts meeting in 
December 2006 at UNESCO Hq.  Van Oudenaren stated that the December 
meeting could include Global Gateway librarians that the LOC has 
worked with, along with librarians from the developing world.  He 
added that participants would exchange ideas and then develop 
working groups.  Van Oudenaren said it would be possible later for 
the LOC and UNESCO to talk about a launch once there are 3 or 4 
concrete examples of what the WDL could become.  He noted that 
Billington wanted concrete results that could later be shown to 
Google's Sergey Brin, in the hope of obtaining further funding. 
 
8.  (SBU)  Van Oudenaren stated that multilingualism will be a 
significant aspect of the WDL, and that the project should not be 
seen as an English-language dominated project.  Van Oudenaren said 
the LOC understood the importance of multilingualism, and would work 
with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Google on this 
component of the WDL.   The NSF, in particular, has a grant program 
for developing internet technology and a scientific interest in 
promoting how to handle languages on the web. 
 
---------------------------- 
LOC'S PROGRESS WITH THE WDL: 
---------------------------- 
 
9.  (SBU) In response to Wiesner's question about how the WDL was 
progressing, Van Oudenaren said that there were 4 bilateral projects 
currently in play with 3 to 4 people working on them, and the LOC 
needed to get them working together.  The LOC's Chief Information 
officer and her 3 top lieutenants were engaged in the project, he 
added.  He said there were three main technical aspects that the LOC 
was working on: digitization standards, web presentation, and 
archives.  There was also a digitization team to find and install 
preservation and scanning equipment in developing countries such as 
Egypt and Indonesia.  In developing countries, van Oudenaren noted 
the importance of training local staff and addressing preservation 
and scanning challenges such as heat and sand. 
 
----------------- 
LEGAL AGREEMENTS: 
----------------- 
 
10.  (SBU) Van Oudenaren also added that negotiating agreements with 
various countries could be very cumbersome, and said a simplified 
standardized agreement would be helpful.  Wiesner suggested UNESCO 
could help formulate a legal template and added that UNESCO may 
already have a contract that it used for the Memory of the World 
program that might be used. 
 
----------------------------------- 
REACHING BEYOND NATIONAL LIBRARIES: 
----------------------------------- 
 
11.  (SBU) Because in today's world one can search anything by 
Google, Van Oudenaren stressed that for the WDL to be relevant, it 
needs to put rare and remote materials on the web and create access. 
 To do this, the LOC would work not only with national libraries, 
but also with other institutions such as municipal libraries. 
Wiesner asked if the WDL would work with private collections, and 
van Oudenaren stated that they had digitized private holdings on 
Timbuktu, but would prefer to access items that the public would 
have an opportunity, in principle, to see. 
 
-------------------------- 
POSSIBLE WDL SMALL GRANTS: 
-------------------------- 
 
12.  (SBU) There is a lot of interest in the WDL, Van Oudenaren 
noted, but the LOC only has enough money to work with a few 
countries right now.  For this reason, the LOC would like to start a 
small grant program of grants consisting of $20-30,000.  Van 
Oudenaren noted that this would be a way for people to feel involved 
with the project while creating content and asked if UNESCO could 
provide advice on how to set up a grant program for developing 
countries. Wiesner and Pikkat asked if LOC would set up 
country-level selection panels for the grant program.  Van Oudenaren 
stated that he did not want to set up a system where countries had 
to choose one item for the WDL in the model of UNESCO's Memory of 
the World program. 
 
-------- 
COMMENT: 
-------- 
 
13.  (SBU) While UNESCO interlocutors were enthusiastic about the 
WDL, the meetings exposed misunderstandings on their part about the 
nature of the WDL and a corresponding need to share more information 
on the nature and scale of the subject.  To that end, Mission has 
made available the full text of Van Oudenaren's working-level 
presentation to UNESCO staff.  Washington may want to assess how 
much of an obstacle some UNESCO member states' attitude is towards 
Google and U.S.-initiated global cultural ventures.  It may also 
want to continue building bi-lateral support with a wide variety of 
UNESCO member states before entering the politically charged and 
highly bureaucratic UNESCO ring. 
KOSS