Ambassador Killion Hosts Reception to Announce the Creation of the World Library of Science

Vikram Savkar and Dr. Philip Campbell, Nature Publishing Group, Gretchen Kalonji, UNESCO, Ambassador & Mrs. Killion, and Getachew Engida, UNESCO (A. Wheeler)

On January 14th, Ambassador and Mrs. Killion hosted a reception at their residence to announce the creation of the World Library of Science, a joint collaboration between UNESCO and Nature Publishing Group.  The World Library of Science is an open and permanent online learning resource that will offer high quality educational materials in the life and physical sciences to secondary and university level students around the world. It is designed to address a critical global problem the world faces in the 21st Century – the lack of scientific literacy, especially in the developing world.

In addition to articles drawn from Nature Publishing Group’s authoritative publications, The World Library of Science will contain over 2,500 learning modules specifically created for this project in life and physical science subjects such as biology, physics, chemistry, nutrition, environmental science, and much more. Each module will be fully customizable and accessible free-of-charge through a web and mobile-based platform. 

Ambassador Killion began the reception by welcoming the attendees and saying a few words regarding the importance of the initiative.  As he stated, The World Library of Science “is a project that is very ambitious in its scope – extending scientific literacy for all – yet with a perfectly realistic target: the dearth of access in the developing world to current, high-quality science textbooks and teaching materials in secondary and post-secondary education.” 

After Ambassador Killion spoke, Gretchen Kalonji, the Assistant Director-General of the Natural Science Sector for UNESCO, addressed the crowd on the great potential of the UNESCO and Nature collaboration.  She then introduced Dr. Philip Campbell, the Editor-in-Chief of Nature Publishing Group, who spoke generally on the importance of science education.  Finally, Vikram Savkar, Senior Vice-President and Publishing Director of Nature Publishing Group, described some of the technical details of the World Library of Science.

This joint-initiative between UNESCO and Nature Publishing Group is just one of a number of important new initiatives between the private sector and UNESCO.  The U.S. Mission has taken an active role in brokering and promoting these types of private partnerships within UNESCO, so as to extend UNESCO’s reach in building capacity and knowledge around the world.