The number of users of the digital library "Arab Groups on the Internet" affiliated to New York University increased by 700%, as the number increased from 50 thousand to 350 thousand during the month of March, given the current conditions that impose the need for social separation and staying in homes, according to statistics for New York University Abu Dhabi .
The digital library is the result of a partnership between New York University in New York and New York University Abu Dhabi. It is content in Arabic language drawn from a number of distinguished libraries around the world, and this content is available to anyone connected to the Internet.
New York University is digitizing Arab books from the National Archives of the Emirates and academic libraries of six scientific institutions: New York University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University, American University of Beirut and American University in Cairo.
The project provides electronic access to approximately 13,000 volumes in more than 7,000 disciplines and fields, such as literature, history, law and Islamic studies, whose authoring dates vary from ancient literature to those of the nineties, with support from New York University Abu Dhabi, in addition to obtaining The funding is currently from two private entities.
For his part, Dean of the New York University Libraries, Austin Booth said: “Since the beginning of our work on this huge digital library, there have been very few resources available in the Arabic language on the Internet, so we have always known that this digital library (Arab groups on the Internet) will be very useful for language readers. Arabic everywhere. It is used by some in scientific research, while others are for viewing and browsing.
He added: "We did not expect a day to come when people would need their homes in this way, but we are glad that we can now offer this wealth of free content to anyone in the world who will find it useful and enjoyable."
The digitization project aims to display up to 23,000 volumes of the collections of the New York University Library and partner institutions, and make them available to the public on the website of "Arab Collections on the Internet".