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British Library wins Internet and Culture award in the Nominet Best Practice Challenge

28 July 2008

  • Web site of the Library's Sacred exhibition commended for enabling cross-cultural access to knowledge

The British Library's innovative web resources to accompany its 2007 exhibition Sacred, focusing on the great texts of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, have been recognised at the annual Nominet Best Practice Challenge Awards. The Nominet judges stated that “the British Library merited special recognition for its exemplary use of Internet resources to share rare cultural artefacts with a worldwide audience."

The Nominet Best Practice Challenge awards recognise organisations, groups, or individuals who have embraced the challenge of making the Internet a secure, open, accessible or diverse experience for all. The Sacred website was praised for its imagination and creativity in making materials that would otherwise go unseen available for users anywhere around the globe. It provides a rich legacy for anyone seeking to learn more about world's sacred texts.

Also available (at www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/ttpbooks.html) is the Library's award-winning Turning the Pages software on eight texts, including two new volumes specially digitised for ‘Sacred' - the Lisbon Hebrew Bible and a 17th-century Ethiopian Bible manuscript.

Adrian Arthur, the British Library's Head of Web Services, says: “We are delighted that the Sacred website has been recognised. It has been the Library's most popular online exhibition to date with visitors from over 100 countries and well over 120,000 unique users visiting the resources. The British Library aims to open up its collection to as many people as possible and Sacred has truly helped us do that.”

The 2008 Best Practice Challenge winners will be featured by Nominet at the international Internet Governance Forum in December as examples of British creativity and innovation in the use of the Internet.

For further information please contact Suvi Kankainen in the British Library's Press Office suvi.kankainen@bl.uk / +44 (0)20 7412 7105 or Lawrence Christensen lawrence.christensen@bl.uk / +44 (0)20 7412 7114.

Notes to Editors

1. Nominet UK is the national registry for all Internet domain names ending in .uk. Its purpose is the careful and impartial management of this central database, providing stability, security and accessibility for all users of .uk domain names. Nominet is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. It has members not shareholders, pays no dividends and its charges only cover its running costs. Anyone with an interest in the Internet may become a member. Nominet has over 2,800 members representing all areas of the Internet industry and is recognised as the .uk domain name registry by the Internet industry and the UK Government. It is not a governing or regulatory body, but provides a public service for the .uk namespace on behalf of the UK Internet community.

2. The Best Practice Challenge is an annual UK competition organised by Nominet that recognises organisations, groups or individuals who have embraced the challenge of delivering a safer, more accessible or diverse Internet experience.

3. The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages www.bl.uk.