AccordingtotheLegalEveningNews,theNationalLibraryhassignedaco-developmentagreementwithHarvardUniversityLibraryregardingthedigitizationoftheChineseancientandrarebooksintheHarvard-YenchingLibrarysothatreaderscanreadthepreciousancientbooksontheNationalLibrary'swebsitebythebeginningofnextyear.
Digitalizationisaneffectivewaytopreservebothancientandrarebooks.ItisplannedthattheNationalLibrarywillofficiallyreceivedigitalinformationmonthlybeginninginJanuary2010,which,afterqualityinvestigationandmetadataindexing,willbepostedonitswebsiteforthereferenceofscholarsfromtheworldover.
Asisprescribedbytheagreement,theachievementofthisprojectwillberecordedinthefullformatofdigitalimagefile,andeachpartyofthetwowillholdonerespectively.Thefileswillbepostedonlineforfreeontheirwebsitesandalsoforacademicandpreservationpurpose,whichcreatesanunprecedentedlibraryofChineserareandancientbooks.
Harvard-YenchingLibraryisfamousinAmericaandEuropeforitsEastAsiancollection,someofwhicharepreciousandrare,drawingtheattentionofsinologistsfromtheworldover.