The National Library of Wales was already digitising 600,000 pages of modern Welsh literature and factual writing. Now it’s being given £2 million by the Welsh Assembly Government to digitise another two million pages from newspapers and magazines, some dating back to the 18th century.
The aim is to create “an easily accessible teaching and research library” for schools, universities and home users that “addresses the shortage of online learning materials relating to the culture, history and identity of Wales”. It will be the largest body of Welsh-language material yet published online, but won’t be ready until 2012 the release says.
The library says it has a “vision to digitise the entire printed memory of Wales”. In this sense, it’s not unlike similarly grand digitisation projects, like the European Commission’s plan to digitise museums and libraries.
The Welsh library, which got a £1 million Lotto award for its earlier project, is getting the latest handout from the government’s Strategic Capital Investment Fund and will put online 300 old papers and mags, including kids’ mag Cymru