The World Digital Library was founded by UNESCO and 32 cooperative public organizations and developed by the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. Libraries and cultural institutions from Brazil to Britain, China, Egypt, France, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States all participated in this project. They digitize priceless cultural materials and provide them to readers on the Internet. The idea of the World Digital Library was originally put forward by James Billington, a librarian of the United States Congress.