Calls for New Nominations for Memory of the World International Register
22-10-2009 (Paris)

UNESCO is inviting new nomination proposals for inscription on its Memory of
the World International Register, a list of library collections and archive
holdings of world significance, which was established in 1997 to promote
documentary heritage of universal value.

Nominations should ideally be submitted through the National Commission for
UNESCO or the Memory of the World National Committee in the country where it
is located. Proposals should be based on the selection criteria listed in
the General Guidelines to Safeguard Documentary Heritage, which stipulates
that the most important criterion for inscription on the register is the
universal significance of the documentary heritage.

The deadline for the submission of nominations is 31 March 2010 and no late
submissions will be accepted. They should be submitted to UNESCO's Memory of
the World Secretariat:
* by mail accompanied by an electronic version on diskette, CD-Rom or USB
key (addressed to Joie Springer, Memory of the World Programme, Information
Society Division, 1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France);
* by email to j.springer[at]unesco.org.

Nominations are posted on the Programme’s Website and illustrations such as
photographs or slides (TIFF, GIF, JPEG formats), and sound recordings
(real-media) can be included to help describe the proposal. As the images
submitted may often be used by the Memory of the World Secretariat in
publicity material, an authorization for their reuse for non-profit purposes
should also be included. A copy of this form can be downloaded here <
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13809&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&UR...>.

At present, a total of 193 collections submitted by 76 different countries,
3 international organization and one private foundation are inscribed on the
International Register of the Memory of the World Programme. Regional
registers have been created for the MOWCAP and MOWLAC committees and an
increasing number of countries have now established national registers.
Assessment for inscription on the Register is determined by a panel of
experts, the Register Sub-committee and the International Advisory Committee
(IAC) whose recommendations are forwarded to the Director-General for final
decision.

The announcement on the next round of inscription will be made in 2011.

UNESCO launched the Memory of the World Programme to guard against
collective amnesia calling upon the preservation of the valuable archive
holdings and library collections all over the world ensuring their wide
dissemination. The Programme is intended to protect documentary heritage,
and helps networks of experts to exchange information and raise resources
for preservation of and access to documentary material.

Source:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29240&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&UR...

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Anup Kumar Das
New Delhi, India
http://anupkumardas.blogspot.com/
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