Largest Chinese digital library opens
( 2003-11-09 11:36) (Xinhua)
The world's largest Chinese digital library, a database containing over 12
million documents or 25 percent of China's public information resources, opened
on Saturday.
The digital library aims to make it possible for users to share 80 percent of
China's intellectual resources through the Internet within three years. The
database covers information from periodicals, newspapers, books, theses and
on-line resources and information on many fields such as natural sciences,
engineering and social sciences.
The most important feature of the database was that it operated
professionally so users could find information efficiently, said Pan Longfa,
president of the China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House (CAJEPH).
The database was jointly developed by CAJEPH and Tsinghua Tongfang Optical
Disc Co., Ltd (TTOD) eight years ago.
"During the construction of the database, we stressed the importance of
protecting intellectual rights and paid over 31 million yuan (3.73 million US
dollars) to writers," Pan said.
A survey by China's Press and Publication Administration in June showed
Internet information resources included just 15 million Chinese documents on
science, economy, culture and education, about 40 percent of the documents
printed, and only 150, 000 books with legal copyrights on the Internet, about
five percent of the books available on the domestic market.
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