Theme 4: Electronic Libraries: Bibliotheca Universalis
The Library of Congress, year 2000 Note: Copyright Office
Thomas – a service of The Library of Congress
Open World Leadership Center – 2011
I saved the page where I found this info. I assumed it was archived and the live website was gone.
Founding Chairman: James Hadley Billington
Note: as it says above, Electronic Libraries was a global system decided on in 1995
Excerpts:
His proposal in 2005 for the creation of a World Digital Library was endorsed by UNESCO in 2007 and put online in April 2009 containing primary cultural materials from all 192 countries in UNESCO with expert commentary in seven languages.
Dr. Billington is a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has been decorated as Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and as Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the President of France, as Commander of the National Order of the Southern Cross of Brazil. He has been awarded the Order of Merit of Italy, a Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany, the Gwanghwa Medal by the Republic of Korea, and the Chingiz Aitmatov Gold Medal by the Kyrgyz Republic. In 2008, Dr. Billington was awarded the Order of Friendship by the President of the Russian Federation; the highest state order that a foreign citizen may receive.
In April 1999, Librarian of Congress and noted Russia expert James H. Billington shared his vision for a large-scale U.S.-Russia leadership exchange in talks with Members of Congress. A bipartisan, bicameral effort led by Sen. Ted Stevens (AK) made this vision a reality within weeks. Congress authorized Open World as a Library of Congress–administered pilot project that May, and in July 1999 the first delegations of Russian political and civic leaders began arriving in the United States.
In December 2000, Congress set up a separate legislative branch agency to conduct the program, which had already hosted some 3,500 Russians in 48 states. What is now the Open World Leadership Center opened its doors at the Library of Congress in October 2001. Also in 2001, Open World launched a specialized rule of law program through which U.S. judges host Russian jurists for targeted professional exchanges.
Target Group: Mayors, city managers and other municipal administrators, regional and local legislators, civic and political activists, policy researchers, journalists, public services providers, NGO leaders, local business leaders involved in community development, election officials, and environmental managers. Delegations may be composed of people holding similar positions in different cities or regions, or of people from the same community or region (to support sister-city partnerships, specific projects, or cross-sectoral programming). Within this theme, Open World will also host a limited number of delegations with a special focus on community economic development or environmental management.
Board of Trustees (Note: Debbie Wasserman Schultz)
Initial authorization was slipped into an emergency supplemental appropriations bill H.R. 1141, Public Law 106-31.
Page 37 – Russian Leadership Program
It is but it is still a Congressional Office.
It is an active agency within the legislative branch of government
Congressional Office for International Leadership
Leads into Global Health, Theme 8 of Global Systems
This is just a temporary webpage to give you a heads up.
