Facades of Nations: National Libraries as Knowledge Icons

Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 2006

The Islamic Republic of Iran's parliament, the Maj/is, passed in 1990 a law setting out the functions of its national library. In 2005, the inauguration of the first stage of the new national library building was celebrated as a major national cultural and architectural achievement. This article looks at the origins and evolution of the National Library of Iran (NL/), considers its changing place within the Iranian library system, and also briefly considers what scope it has for developing. It also examines the nature of the new building, asking how well it is designed to implement the guidelines laid down by the Majlis and what scope and flexibility it allows for future developments.

portal: Libraries and the Academy, 2018

Library Review, 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a clearer picture of the first establishment of school libraries in Kuwait. In addition, the paper explores the development of the school library between 1911 and 1962.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a qualitative research strategy. The interviews and documentation techniques have been utilized to gather data about the subject.FindingsThe findings traced the first appearance of the school library in Kuwait back to 1944. It showed that the development of the library encountered major difficulties.Originality/valueThe unique study reveals a branch of Kuwaiti education history hitherto concealed from its people, where the recognition of other disciplines in the field and the need for further study emerges.

2015

Public Libraries in the United Arab Emirates are recognized as repositories of human knowledge and heritage especially in today’s knowledge-driven economy where knowledge and innovation are essential drivers of growth and prosperity. Public Libraries provide access to information which may be used for self-development, cultural awareness and enhancement and continuing education. For children and young people they provide a positive alternative to pastime reading, researching and participating in activities organized by the library. United Arab Emirates is a union of seven emirates and public libraries in these emirates are affiliated mainly to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development (MCYCD), and libraries set up by local entities. The National Library in Abu Dhabi also serves as a public library and has recently embarked on projects of establishing branch libraries in different locations in the emirate. Most of the libraries have been established as joint ventures b...

2005

The International Information & Library Review, 1996

Collaborative Librarianship

A recent outreach project brought together the American University of Afghanistan and four world renowned US universities with branch campuses in Qatar's Education City. Librarians in Qatar often collaborate with each other, but this unusual effort was the first time their collaboration reached across international borders to extend assistance to another country. The experience became a cultural exchange that brought together these dramatically different worlds. By utilizing technologies that make connecting and collaborating so easy these days, four librarians with backgrounds in public and technical services worked together to share their expertise, culminating in a learning visit by an AUAF library assistant to Doha. The sharing of skills and knowledge was a wonderful experience on many levels and made a distinct difference in a part of the world that needs and wants so much to change.

2015

Many developed countries saw a post-World War II construction boom from the 1950s–1970s, resulting in thousands of international, modern, and brutalist style civic buildings. Although referring to architectural styles or design philosophies, the terms “modern” and “brutal” in particular are often used to convey the perception of a lack of sensitivity to qualities humans value in buildings (in fact, the term brutalist refers to the concrete used in construction, derived from the French beton brut, or “raw concrete”). In the US, these mid-20 th century buildings were often designed in response to Cold War fears as bunker-like buildings with limited access to daylight and views. Many of the world’s libraries inhabit such structures today. Built when the term collection referred to physical books and was one of the sole measures of a library’s quality, these midcentury buildings were efficient shelter for stacks. Today, libraries struggle to provide relevant services in these rigid, oft...

Design, Development, and Management of Resources for Digital Library Services, 2013

The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the 1990s and universally centralized digital media for information storage, organization, retrieval, and management have led to the emergence of the Digital Library, which, while not replacing the traditional library per se, has contributed to the creation of hybrid forms combining the characteristics and organizational structure of both the digital and the traditional library models. This chapter draws on existing literature to highlight the potential opportunities, which digital libraries offer to the countries of the Arab world, and to examine the challenges inherent in their development and how these might best be overcome. The chapter concludes that libraries in many Arab countries are still hindered by a severe lack of resources, trained and experienced staff, and adequate infrastructure, and these problems could severely undermine attempts to move towards digitizing libraries. It is the role of the governments of these countries, along with commercial organizations, information professionals, academic specialists, and other groups to acknowledge the benefits and opportunities offered by digital libraries and work together to make them a reality in the Arab world.