Cultural Policies in Knowledge Societies: the United States of America

Dr. Robert S. Martin, Director, U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services
UNESCO Ministerial Roundtable "Toward Knowledge Societies"
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
October 10, 2003

Director General Matsuura, Madam President, distinguished ambassadors, ministers, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen: I am delighted to be part of the official U.S. delegation to UNESCO. I share my colleagues' sense of excitement and commitment on this occasion as we work together to advance learning, ensure human rights, preserve our cultural heritage, promote cultural diversity, and champion the principles of universal access to information.

I represent the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent Federal agency that is the primary source of federal grants for museums and libraries in the United States of America. IMLS helps to shape policy and practice among our 122,000 libraries and 15,000 museums, specifically in the areas of capacity-building, lifelong learning, the development and dissemination of new digital technologies, cultural preservation, and civic engagement. Our grants and programs support core museum and library services, encourage excellence, and leverage substantial local, state and private resources. We recognize that, as agencies dedicated to education, museums and libraries can play a central role in the building of a knowledge society.

With the other cultural and scientific organizations of the Federal government, IMLS has championed identifying best practices for the creation, management, and preservation of digital resources, and in disseminating those practices throughout our educational and cultural communities. However, with our sister cultural agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities - and in partnership with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities - we share the conviction in our authorizing legislation that "democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens. It must therefore foster and support a form of education, and access to the arts and the humanities, designed to make people of all backgrounds and wherever located masters of their technology and not its unthinking servants."

We know that today, in the United States, we must be more than an information society; we must be a learning society. And that is why the Institute of Museum and Library Services is dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners.

In the international context, we share your belief that we must work towards a knowledge society, rather than merely a global information society. A knowledge society requires that we do more than develop the hardware, software, telecommunications networks, and other services and systems that supply and catalogue content. It requires additional structure and context to enable learners around the globe to put information to good use. With our colleague organizations, we are working to narrow the digital divide and guarantee the free flow of, and equitable access to, information, best practices and knowledge.

We have worked with many international partners to support applied research and to develop frameworks that help to build, preserve, and provide access to digital collections. For example, we supported the development of a Framework of Guidance in Building Good Digital Collections, which was issued in 2002. We have been an active partner in the international Digital Cultural Forum, participated in an e-learning conference sponsored by the Asian Pacific Economic Council, and worked with the Coalition of Networked Information and the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee. We also fund collaborative projects that provide technical assistance to small urban and rural museums and libraries in order to train staff in digitizing practices and standards and make holdings accessible to the public, with particular attention to teachers and students in underserved areas. In all of our work supporting the development of digital cultural content, we insist that grantees do more than just generate digital "stuff." We feel that it is imperative that these new collections be enveloped in a matrix of interpretive and didactic materials to achieve an educational purpose.

With new technologies, the boundaries across our institutions are blurring, and the requirements for collaborations are increasing. IMLS, for example, is working with the National Science Foundation and other public/private partners on many digital initiatives, such as the International Children's Digital Library, which will make more than 10,000 children's books from 100 cultures accessible to children aged 3 to 13. The National Endowment for the Humanities has partnered with the WorldCom Foundation to create EDSITEment, an online resource that identifies the best humanities web sites for teachers, students, and parents and includes online lesson plans and links to 130 top humanities sites.

Therefore, in addition to our work in promoting new technologies in service of a knowledge society, we cherish and promote our cultural diversity. Our cultural life flourishes in a myriad of environments from the smallest community organizations to large urban institutions, from libraries and museums to schools and universities, from historical societies and national parks to theaters and concert halls. Our cultural forms claim their origins from a multiplicity of sources around the globe.

Our programs promote greater awareness and appreciation of diverse cultures, both within our borders and beyond. IMLS, for example, has special grant programs for Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages that support library services and professional assistance. In addition, our grants support library services in, and sustain the cultural heritage of, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. For more than twenty years, the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowships have honored artists or groups that have made a significant contribution to the cultural heritage of the United States. These fellowships, the highest form of federal recognition for folk and traditional artists, honor both individual mastery of a particular art form and an artist's contribution to the cumulative heritage of an artistic tradition.

At the University of Texas, Latin American and U.S. scholars, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, are working together to create an online database of audio and textual materials related to the indigenous languages of Latin America. The project will preserve data from endangered languages, increase access worldwide, and facilitate the exchange of data and ideas between indigenous communities and scholars.

Global prosperity and individual productivity depend upon the ability to learn constantly, to adapt to change readily, and to evaluate information critically. In an information rich world, we are hungry for knowledge and keenly aware that we must be committed to fair and equitable access. We believe that a deeper understanding and respect for cultural heritage helps build a stronger foundation for cooperative work and productive enterprise among nations. Within the UNESCO framework, we look forward to productive discourse on ways to nurture and preserve our diverse tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

In conclusion, my colleagues in the U.S. cultural sector and I look forward to working within UNESCO to foster digital opportunities; strengthen capacities for the production and dissemination of educational, scientific, and cultural materials; ensure preservation of the digital heritage; and enhance learning opportunities through access to diversified contents and delivery systems. We, like you, are committed to achieving the full potential of a global knowledge society.

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