Digital Library Makes Access to Books EasierThe ever-extending bookshelves of the China Digital Library make searching for information much easier - it is just a few clicks of the mouse away.The digital library project, launched exactly one year ago to "exponentially expand the volume of Chinese-language information on the Internet," now has 40 million pages of Chinese-language content on the Internet, the National Library of China (NLC) announced yesterday in Beijing. "The amount of information is equivalent to 170,000 Chinese books," said Qin Subin, vice-president of the NLC-held China Digital Library Corp. What has been loaded onto the Web by the digital library company represents only a fraction of the mammoth book collection of the NLC - which boasts 22.4 million volumes. As such, Qin said he envisioned a rapid expansion of the information available digitally. According to Qin, more than 200,000 more pages are every day added to the online knowledge storehouse - mostly at www.d-library.com.cn. The NLC, which virtually sponsored the digital project, is thinking about requiring the country's publishing houses to hand in digitized versions of new books along with print copies when they submit works to the library, according to Qin. The NLC wants to turn the digital national library into the world's best Chinese-language digital resource, said Qin. Unlike traditional Internet content providers, the NLC's digital library is a digital content provider that provides readers with customized digital information online and off line, said Qin. A permission-based online lending service offered by the digital library allows a reader to borrow from 170,000 "e-books" and download any three at one time to a local disk. |
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