Alexandria Library Scholars Collective hopes to digitize all books

Alexandria Library Scholars Collective is apparently hoping to virtually recreate it's ancient predecessor with the goal of eventually digitizing every book in the world.

"The library has scanned only about 100,000 pages of its own material, mostly medieval Arabic texts, Mr. Serageldin said. But it has embarked on a plan to digitize thousands of books over the next several years, most of them Arabic texts, with French and English translations, he said. Other works are scheduled to be scanned elsewhere in Africa, including a whole library of crumbling medieval manuscripts in a monastery in Timbuktu in Mali, Mr. Serageldin said."
"The library will also have access to one million books that are now being scanned by Carnegie Mellon University, which is creating its own vast digital archive and is one of Alexandrias partners. And the library has a vast trove of Web material already donated by the Internet Archive, a California partner with similar universal ambitions. The collective then plans to begin bargaining for access to digital collections at other libraries and universities around the world, offering access to its own materials and its network of scholars in exchange. The cooperative also plans to begin urging authors to donate their digital rights in the hopes that the courts will let them be used."

See also: http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010522/2001052239.html
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