Over 6 million copies of books, periodicals, archive documents, photos, maps, music and films will be accessible at the European Digital Library via Internet by 2010.

The building up of a Digital Centre at the Sts Cyril and Methodius National Library is implemented in line with the national concept on the protection of the literary and cultural heritage and is a part of the large-scale initiative, European Digital Library, National Library Director Prof. Boryana Hristova told a news conference on Tuesday. Bulgaria will seek to join the European digital library in 2007 and the World Digital library in 2008.

Fifty documents out of a total of 8 million kept at the National Library have been digitalized within a pilot project presented Tuesday. A total of 2,000 files: early-print books, periodicals, dating back to the beginning of last century, Oriental manuscripts, letters of the royal family, valuable photos and others have already been included in the DocuWare archiving system.

The initiative will help preserve cultural monuments, such as the first book, issued by the first Bulgarian printer Yakov Kraikov in Venice in the 16th century and clergyman Pouncho’s 18th c. collection of books containing a unique manual copy of "Slav-Bulgarian History"(Written in 1762 by Paissi of Hilendar, this book marked the beginning of the Bulgarian National Revival.), experts said.

The Digital Centre at the National Library has been established in partnership with one of the leading software companies in Bulgaria Nemecheck - Bulgaria. The virtual archives created by it through DocuWare ensures easy access to information through precise sorting out of documents, data indexing and search by key word or a combination of key words, said the company’s Trade Director Goran Milanov.

It takes up to three seconds to find and download the document, said Milanov. The National Library’s electronic archives will be accessible via Internet after the completion of the next stage of the Digital Centre. It involves provision of servers and consoles that should be additionally financed by 200,000 leva. The National Library will apply for funds under EU programmes.

BTA