The Wilson Center invited Serageldin to join a panel of distinguished speakers in celebrating the contributions of James Billington—professor, author, Director of the Wilson Center and co-founder of the Kennan Institute, founder of the Open World Leadership Center, and recently retired Librarian of Congress. Billington and Serageldin have worked closely together for many years, especially on the World Digital Library, and are also longtime friends.
Other speakers paying tribute to Billington were James F. Collins , Diplomat in Residence and Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment; Vartan Gregorian , President, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Jane Harman, Director, President and CEO, Wilson Center; Blair A. Ruble, Vice President for Programs, Kennan Institute.
Billington was nominated to serve as Librarian of Congress by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and was unanimously approved by the Senate. During his tenure, he more than doubled the Library’s traditional collections and embarked on an ambitious drive to digitize and provide electronic access to the Library’s collections, including its visual and audio resources. He was recently designated as the Librarian of Congress Emeritus, and is only the third person given this title by the United States Congress.
Click here to view a webcast of the event.