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The Memory of the World International Register is a compendium of documents, manuscripts, oral traditions, audio-visual materials, library, and archival holdings of universal value.<ref name=strategy /> Inscription on the register aims to improve conservation of the documentary heritage by calling upon the program's networks of experts to exchange information and raise resources for the preservation, digitization, and dissemination of the material.<ref name=2003_memory /> The program also uses technology to provide wider accessibility and diffusion of the items inscribed on the register.<ref name=2003_memory />
Any organization or individual can nominate a documentary item for inscription on the register via [[Member states of UNESCO|UNESCO Member States]] through their [[National Commissions for UNESCO|National Commission for UNESCO]] or, in the absence of a National Commission, the relevant government body in charge of relations with UNESCO, involving, if one exists, the relevant national MoW committee. Two proposals per UNESCO Member State are considered in each nomination cycle, joint nomination proposals from two or more UNESCO Member States are unlimited. During its meetings, the International Advisory Council (IAC) examines the full documentation of the item's description, origin, world significance, and contemporary state of conservation. The IAC recommends to the [[UNESCO#Executive Board|Executive Board of UNESCO]] the items proposed for inscription.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=UNESCO |title=General Guidelines of the Memory of the World (MoW) Programme |access-date=3 March 2025 |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378405}}</ref>
==History==
In 1992, the program began as a way to preserve and promote documentary heritage, which can be a single document, a collection, a holding or an archival [[fonds]] that is deemed to be of such significance as to transcend the boundaries of time and culture.<ref name=strategy /> This recorded memory reflects the diversity of languages, people, and cultures.<ref name=2005_memory>{{cite web| title= Twenty-nine new documentary collections inscribed on the Memory of the World Register | date=2005-06-21 |url= http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28029&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |publisher=UNESCO Press |access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref> UNESCO, the world agency responsible for the protection of the world's [[cultural heritage|cultural]] and [[natural heritage]], realized the need to protect such fragile yet important component of cultural heritage. The Memory of the World Programme was established to preserve and digitize humanity's documentary heritage.<ref name=2007_memory>{{cite web | title=Thirty-eight new inscriptions for Memory of the World Register | author=Jasmina Sopova | date=2007-06-20 | url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38423&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html | publisher=UNESCO Press | access-date=2009-09-06 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091111132741/http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D38423%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html | archive-date=2009-11-11 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|People the world over are creating [memories] in forms that are less and less permanent—be it sound recordings, film, videotape, newsprint, photographs, or computer-based documents. It must be said that the output of the present century alone is probably greater than the total output of all previous centuries put together; and ironically and tragically, it is being lost faster than ever before. It is a tragedy indeed, for what is at stake is the recorded memory of mankind.|Dato’ Habibah Zon, Director-General of the National Archives of Malaysia|introduction from<br>''UNESCO MEMORY OF THE WORLD PROGRAMME: The Asia-Pacific Strategy'', 17 April 1999<ref name=strategy />}}
The program is administered by the International Advisory Committee (IAC), whose 14 members are appointed by the [[Director-General of UNESCO]].<ref name=strategy /><ref name=2003_memory /> The IAC is responsible for the formulation of major policies, including the technical, legal and financial framework for the program. Regular meetings were held by the IAC in its interim capacity beginning in 1993 to sustain the momentum gained by the program, culminating in the creation of the Memory of the World International Register during its second meeting in 1995,<ref name=strategy /><ref name="1997_report">{{cite web|title=Third Meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme, Tashkent, 29 September-1st October 1997: final report |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109753 |date=October 1997|access-date=2025-06-17|publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}}</ref> with the inaugural batch of documents being inscribed on the register in 1997, after the statutes that created the IAC as a standing committee took effect.<ref name="1999_report">{{cite web|title=Fourth meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme, Vienna, 10-12 June 1999: final report |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000116830 |access-date=2025-06-17|publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme|date=July 1999}}</ref>
The IAC also maintains several subsidiary bodies:<ref name=IAC>{{cite web | title=International Advisory Committee | date= 2009-08-11 | url= http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2254&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html | archive-url= http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20160311102614/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2254&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html | url-status= dead | archive-date= 2016-03-11 | publisher= UNESCO Memory of the World Programme | access-date= 2009-12-09 }}</ref>
* ''Bureau'': Maintains an overview of the Programme between IAC meetings and makes tactical decisions in liaison with the Secretariat, reviews the use of the Memory of the World logo, and liaises with national Memory of the World committees and monitors their growth and operation.
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