Qatar National Library

Qatar National Library is a Cultural, Scientific and Diplomatic beacon

The Qatar National Library, which Dr. Hamad assumed as president in April 2020, has a pivotal and influential role in disseminating knowledge and documenting the history of the State of Qatar and the Gulf region, in addition to the Arab and Islamic documentary heritage. The library has benefited from the digital revolution and information technology to be at the forefront of cultural institutions that employ digital technology to make knowledge and information available in its various printed and digital forms. Dr. Hamad sought to make the library an exceptional cultural landmark, locally, regionally and globally, by launching the Cultural Salon Seminars initiative in cooperation with Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

During his reign, the library flourished and shone culturally by organizing many exhibitions that strengthened cultural relations between the State of Qatar and the partner countries in the Years of Culture Initiative and concluding many partnership and cooperation agreements with major libraries and national archival institutions in Europe and the Arab and Islamic world with the aim of providing a digital copy of the treasures of Arab heritage and the Islamic content preserved in these institutions is available to researchers, interested people and all others in Qatar and the Gulf through the Qatar Digital Library and the digital repository, in addition to making cultural and cognitive content available to students, researchers, scholars and scholars in the State of Qatar by facilitating access to the most famous international electronic resources in various aspects of science, literature and the arts.

One of the most prominent partnerships that the library established was cooperation with the British Library in digitizing its contents of documents and images closely related to the history of Qatar and the Gulf. One of the most prominent fruits of this partnership was the launch of the Qatar Digital Library in October 2014, before the official opening of the library, to be the largest specialized digital repository. In the history of the Middle East.

The library contains approximately two million documents available for free access to everyone around the world, which had a great impact, and its impact became clear in the completion of research on the history of the Arab region by foreign researchers, including those who communicated with the library, confirming its reliance in the sources on the documents made available by Qatar National Library.

The library signed memorandums of understanding with a number of Arab and Islamic libraries, and in Central Asia, such as the Turkish National Library, the Turkish Presidential Library, the Ottoman Archives, the National Library of Azerbaijan, the National Library of China, and the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in Russia, in addition to the existing cooperation with the National Library of the Netherlands, and the Archives. The Dutch National Library, the French National Library, and New York University.

All of these efforts are aimed at enhancing the digitization of documents and manuscripts about Qatar, the region, and the Arab and Islamic world, and exchanging knowledge sources. His Excellency Dr. Hamad Al-Kawari worked to build partnership relations with Central Asian countries that possess documents related to Arab civilization, so that the role of the library went beyond the cultural and scientific role, and became a major tool of cultural diplomacy for the State of Qatar.

The library, under the leadership of Dr. Hamad, succeeded in overcoming all challenges. Cultural events and activities did not stop during the Corona (Covid-19) pandemic, as the library presented many events and activities virtually, which had a positive impact on the library’s audience from various segments of society in the State of Qatar.

The library, under the supervision of His Excellency Dr. Hamad, spared no effort in promoting the knowledge-based economy and contributed to achieving development goals, whether in the economic, social, educational or other aspect, based on the fact that its role is not limited to books or documents.

The library paid great attention to children and young people, allocated hundreds of thousands of books and references, and dozens of electronic resources, and organized many activities for them that spoke to their minds, developed their passion for reading and learning, stoked their curiosity, and aroused their interest in science and technology and its tools. Thanks to the vision of His Excellency Dr. Hamad, the library provided economic opportunities, quality education and self-development, and was an essential and effective partner for the United Nations in achieving the goals of sustainable development. The library plays a major role in the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), which chose the Qatar National Library to be the accredited regional center for preserving and preserving heritage materials in the Arab countries.