On March 10th of each year, the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization commemorates the “Arab Library Day”. This is a renewed opportunity to celebrate the culture of reading, learning and education, and to highlight the role of libraries in the advancement of societies at the intellectual and cultural levels, in the education of successive generations, as well as in fostering the sense of belonging to the Arab Nation whose scholars have had significant contributions to all fields of knowledge and science.
Through the celebration of the Arab Library Day, ALECSO seeks to preserve the heritage of the Arab Nation and support initiatives for its preservation. This celebration is an opportunity to strengthen ties with all types of books, as part of a cultural vision aligned with the requirements of the 21st century. Libraries, in fact, play a prominent cultural and scientific role within knowledge societies, by providing cultural linkages between the past and the present, and helping to catch up with future scientific and technological developments.
The Arab Library Day is also an opportunity to deepen thinking about ways to enhance the performance of libraries and improve their services in order to develop learners' capabilities in terms of exploration and acquisition of knowledge, access to intellectual production, and development of research skills for positive interaction with technological and knowledge advances. Libraries are a key tool for shaping society's culture, sharing views, enhancing self-learning opportunities, and building creative individuals who are fully aware of their societies’ issues.
In line with its future-oriented strategic vision in the educational, cultural, scientific and ICT fields, ALECSO pursues its efforts to enrich Arab libraries with significant publications in its fields of specialization. It also seeks, through various projects and activities, to enhance the roles of authors and publishers.
In this regard, ALECSO has issued nearly 3000 titles covering all fields of education, culture, science, ICT, literature and arts, including encyclopedias, reference books, intellectual, scientific and literary heritage books, book series in Arab-Islamic art and contemporary Arab visual art (including the Palestinian Cities Stories Series), translations of masterpiece books, dictionaries, and specialized journals.
ALECSO takes this opportunity to express its deep appreciation and gratitude to all those in charge of libraries, including librarians and technical staff, and to commend the efforts of Arab governments to develop and expand library services. At the same time, it calls for increasing efforts and providing the needed financial resources to support Arab libraries, develop their performance, upgrade their human resources, diversify their sources, and thus bring them in tune with modern technological advances, so that they can serve as a driver of progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
