World libraries: “Portuguese Culture” – new European project

“Portuguese Culture”   is a special Digital Library Project undertaken by the National Library of Portugal with the financial support of the Luso-American Development Foundation. With this initiative both institutions recognize the importance of promoting the internationalization of Portuguese culture by making freely available on the Internet English translations of works by Portuguese authors and other works in English that deal with Portugal and aspects of the Portuguese culture. The “Portuguese Culture” Collection will encompass a variety of materials from the holdings of the National Library of Portugal (manuscripts, printed texts, iconography, cartography, etc.) covering not only works of historical interest that are in the public domain but also more recent content for which a copyright license could be granted.

Starting in 2009, the Project is developed as a special collection of the National Library of Portugal Digital Library planned to evolve gradually over a period of three years.