Participants in the World Digital Library (WDL) Arab Peninsula Regional Group Symposium 2015 commended the efforts of Qatar National Library (QNL), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, to bring regional libraries together to work on heritage preservation and sharing.
The two-day symposium, organised by QNL in collaboration with the WDL, focused on Arab Authority Control - how library catalogue and bibliographic information can be organised in Arabic.
Delegates included senior representatives, professors and librarians from a number of libraries, heritage centres and universities including Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Bahrain, Yemen and the US.
The symposium provided the participants with information, tools and resources that can be used for cataloguing in their respective libraries, as well as to develop a common understanding of the concepts and tools among the contributors to the WDL so that the records they contribute are better and useful for all.
Saadi al-Said, QNL’s associate director for administration and planning, said such symposiums and meetings provide the opportunity for sharing the best practices in the area of heritage preservation and sharing, and will benefit not just QNL but other libraries and information centres throughout the region.
Jason Yasner, operations manager at the WDL, the Library of Congress, observed that the symposium on the Arabic Authority Control is very timely as it is a wide topic that faces libraries and a serious challenge that stands in the way of sharing heritage material among the different libraries and with the WDL.
WDL was created by the Library of Congress, and reinforced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Libraries and cultural institutions from around the world contribute to WDL, led by the Library of Congress, by sharing their cultural treasures to create a digital fountain of knowledge. Information contained within WDL is available in seven languages, including Arabic.