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To enrich the Emirates National Library.. a tour between 3 countries
The Emirati delegation looks at the rare Birmingham Library manuscripts.
From the source
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With the aim of enriching the Emirates National Library, which seeks to be a national reference and a cultural and information center that preserves the heritage of the UAE, a delegation from the “National Archives and Library” concluded its tour in a number of the world’s most famous libraries between the United Kingdom, Singapore and the Arab Republic of Egypt, with the aim of simulating them in the Emirates National Library, which is being planned To create it and enrich its advantages to be similar to the major global libraries.
The delegation, headed by the Acting Director General of the National Archives and Library Abdullah Majid Al Ali, began its tour by visiting the Birmingham Library, which is the largest public library in the United Kingdom and has a prominent position on the map of distinguished libraries in the world. It consists of 41 floors and attracts three million visitors annually.
The delegation visited Birmingham Library, the Children's Center and Music Library, the Business Center and the Learning Centre, the Lending and Reference Library, the Shakespeare Room and the indoor and outdoor café.
The Birmingham Library is characterized by its environmentally friendly building, its distinctive exterior, and its interconnected and interconnected circular halls that provide natural light and ventilation, and the building's harmony with the industrial character of Birmingham.
The delegation visited the Manuscript Center at the University of Birmingham to learn about best practices in the restoration and preservation of manuscripts, and reviewed the oldest manuscript of the Holy Qur’an and other rare manuscripts.
From the University of Birmingham, the delegation headed to the British Library in London - which is the national library of the United Kingdom - to benefit from its experience in the services it provides, and toured the reading halls and permanent specialized and artistic exhibitions.
In the corner of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts, he was briefed on the methods of preserving and displaying holdings of all kinds, and the rules for their availability, and listened to a general explanation of the digital infrastructure of the Great Library and the search mechanisms available in it.
The British Library is distinguished by its unique style of managing its contents of more than 150 million items from prints, manuscripts, digital materials, artwork, multimedia, periodicals, audio recordings and these holdings from around the world, some of which date back to 2000 BC.
The library attracts more than one million visitors annually, and these advantages make it, along with the US Library of Congress, the two largest libraries in the world.
At the end of the tour, the delegation praised the role played by the British Library, as it is a destination for senior researchers and librarians from all over the world with its rich content.
He expressed his optimism that the UAE National Library to be established will benefit from the distinguished experiences of the British Library, in order to provide research requirements and mechanisms for future generations in the UAE and the Arab region.
The delegation also visited the Pitt Rivers Museum in London, which has an exclusive agreement with the National Archives and Library, according to which it can make Wilfred Thesiger's "Mubarak bin London" collection available to researchers who wish to use it in their research.
From the United Kingdom to Egypt, the Emirati delegation visited the Library of Alexandria, toured its corridors and got acquainted with its holdings, and inspected the Museum of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and praised its role as a cultural and civilized beacon.
Among the features of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the Archeology Museum, which includes antiquities of the old library site, artifacts belonging to the Byzantine and Pharaonic civilizations, and the Manuscripts Museum, which includes rare documents and collections of books, in addition to the Museum of the late President Anwar Sadat.
The delegation praised the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which is a beacon of cultural radiation that preserves human civilization's brilliance, and an Egyptian civilizational project that brings to mind the library's ancient role in preserving human culture and its distinctive experience in cultural enrichment.
In parallel,
A second delegation from the National Archives and Library visited the Singapore National Archives and Library, and was briefed on the library and archive strategies, facilities and services, the most prominent advanced practices, and methods of preservation, availability and lending that can be used in the UAE National Library.
The Singaporean library was opened in 1845, as it was established to support the field of education.
It includes a unique cultural wealth of countries and cultures from all over the world.
For his part, Abdullah Majid Al Ali said that “the contemporary vital role played by the National Library, as it archives and preserves the intellectual heritage of the nation, has made it more than just a book incubator, to become a habitat for readers and researchers, and this is what we saw in the major libraries in the world when we went to it to learn The National Archives and Library, which is proud of its various historical records and documents documenting the memory of the nation, and its collections of books of all kinds, paper and electronic, and what it acquires from private libraries characterized by the value of their content, looks forward to a friendly green national library. For the environment, in one of the advanced modern smart buildings, it relies on smart infrastructure that takes into account the needs of users in facilitating borrowing, and meets their desires to provide comfortable reading spaces.”
Successful experiences.. don't start from scratch
Abdullah Majid Al Ali, Acting Director General of the National Archives and Library, said: “In the UAE, we are aware of the importance of reading in the dissemination of knowledge, the development of societies and the building of civilization. , to meet the needs of the requirements of its patrons of all walks of life.
Accordingly, we toured three countries, in order to attract the latest practices and the highest standards in library work, emphasizing the great and diverse role played by the National Library.”
He stressed that "successful experiences are those that do not start from scratch, but benefit from the experiences of others, and proceed from where they arrived towards the future with its rapid development and progress, and this is what the UAE adopts as it sets strategic plans for the next 50 years."
150
One million items of prints, manuscripts, digital materials, artwork, multimedia of all kinds, periodicals, audio recordings, etc. are included in the British Library.
The Emirates National Library seeks to be a national reference and a cultural and information center that preserves the heritage of the UAE.
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