New Qatar Digital Library Offers Readers Unrivalled Collection of Precious Heritage Material
From the post:
The Qatar Digital Library which provides new public access to over half a million pages of precious historic archive and manuscript material has been launched today thanks to the British Library-Qatar Foundation Partnership project. This incredible resource makes documents and other items relating to the modern history of Qatar, the Gulf region and beyond, fully accessible and free of charge to researchers and the general public through a state-of-the-art online portal.
In line with the principles of the Qatar National Vision 2030, which aims to preserve the nation’s heritage and enhance Arab and Islamic values and identity, the launch of the Qatar Digital Library supports QF’s aim of unlocking human potential for the benefit of Qatar and the world.
Qatar National Library, a member of Qatar Foundation, has a firm commitment to preserving and showcasing Qatar’s heritage and promoting education and community development by sharing knowledge and providing resources to students, researchers, and the wider community.
With Qatar Foundation’s support, an expert, technical team has been preserving and digitising materials from the UK’s India Office Records archives over the past two years in order to be shared publicly on the portal owned and managed by Qatar National Library.
The Qatar Digital Library provides online access to over 475,000 pages from the India Office Records that date from the mid-18th century to 1951, and relate to modern historic events in Qatar, the Gulf and the Middle East region.
In addition, the Qatar Digital Library shares 25,000 pages of medieval Arab Islamic sciences manuscripts, historical maps, photographs and sound recordings.
These precious materials are being made available online for the first time. The Qatar Digital Library provides clear descriptions of the digitised materials in Arabic and English, and can be accessed for personal and research use from anywhere free of charge.
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The Qatar Digital Library (homepage).
Simply awesome!
A great step towards unlocking the riches of Arab scholarship.
I first saw this in British Library Launches Qatar Digital Library by Africa S. Hands.