The Memory of the World Registers and Their Potential

This chapter provides an overview of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Memory of the World Programme (MoW) registers at international, regional and national levels; the assessment criteria and process for register inscription; and perceived problems of geographical and cultural imbalance in the registers and mechanisms for addressing this, such as joint nominations. It emphasises the potential of national registers for promoting preservation of and access to documentary heritage in individual countries; appraises the value of a register of lost and missing heritage; and describes the potential of the MoW registers for research and education.