QNL celebrates successful first year
Qatar National Library (QNL) today marks the first year anniversary of its official inauguration by His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, on April 16, 2018.
In this short span of time, the Qatar community has embraced QNL as a beacon of knowledge, guiding their individual journeys of personal discovery.
QNL has given the community access to a wealth of resources, including books, journals, electronic resources, and a full programme of over 900 curated events.
“On the auspicious occasion of QNL’s first anniversary, you just need to be here to get the sense of the scale and scope of what is the world’s most beautifully designed national library and the many people using it — expansive yet at the same time personal. People of Qatar voted with their feet on its value when more than 738,000 people came through its doors in its first year of being, and borrowed more than one million
books,” said Dr Sohair Wastawy, executive director, QNL.
The growing demand for membership has also contributed to the popularity of QNL’s dynamic programmes, with more than 21, 000 people registering to attend the year’s events.
QNL’s use of online resources is highly valued by the users.
Qatar Digital Library received over 2.5mn views. It makes available more than 1.5mn pages of historical records on Qatar and the Gulf, which were previously housed in the British Library, and thanks to a partnership agreement between the two libraries, are now being used by scholars and students from anywhere in the world.
These resources as well as the rich collection of valuable texts and manuscripts, reaching 174, 866 rare items, held at the Heritage Library has made the Library as an institution of reference for Arabic and Islamic heritage and civilisation, and one of increasing global importance.
It has also digitised 4,215,652 pages of history.
As part of a series of public events commemorating QNL’s first year, Princess Dana Firas, Unesco Global Ambassador and president of the Petra National Trust, will deliver a lecture at QNL and take part in a panel discussion, ‘Cultural Heritage and its Role in Preserving History, Identity and Cultural Legacy’, today from 5pm.
HE the Minister of State Dr Hamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kuwari will also address the event.
“This library is a testimony to the vision and wisdom of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser in propelling learning for all. The library’s powerful environment of learning, sharing and togetherness is transforming the society into a deeply engaged community. We are grateful to the entire community who have embraced this public space of discovery and knowledge, and we are motivated to continue to offer new services,” said Dr Wastawy.