MEMORY OF THE WORLD - PRESERVING THE DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

This paper outlines the main features of the ''Memory of the World'' P rogramme, a new UNESCO initiative to safeguard endangered documentary heritage, democratize access to it and distribute, on a large scale, p roducts derived from it. This Programme is a new approach which is not intended to replace UNESCO's traditional activities in the field of p reservation and conservation of archive and library holdings, but to c omplement them with vigorous action to raise awareness, stimulate init iatives and develop partnerships to carry out projects under the emble m, ''Memory of the World''. The criteria used to select projects are s et out, together with a brief account of the Programme's technical, le gal and financial framework. Seven pilot projects at various states of completion are briefly described. They are a CD-ROM featuring a selec tion of manuscripts from the National Library in Prague; a disc on the Radzivill Chronicle in Saint Petersburg: another CD-ROM concerning th e symbolic figure Saint Sophia, patron saint of the capital of Bulgari a; an inventory of 19th century Latin American newspapers and their st ate of preservation; an introductory disk on Yemenite manuscripts incl uding the Koranic fragments at Sana'a; a preservation project of astro nomical manuscripts of Kandilli Observatory in Istanbul; and an ambiti ous project called ''Memory of Russia''.