With more than one million print books in our collections, along with hundreds of thousands of ebooks, it can be hard to figure out where to begin. In this section, we’ll regularly take a deeper dive into the Library’s collections to learn a bit more, including exploring history through the items in our Heritage Library. We’ll also feature other topics that explore various aspects of our Library. All of the items linked in the posts are either available for members to check out or view online. Enjoy!
A group of young men from Al-Khor gathered in front of a shop, 1960s.
What can you find in an old family drawer? Perhaps an expired passport, a school certificate, a photograph, or a bundle of documents whose importance has long been forgotten.
Look a little closer though and a family collection of documents can be full of surprises.
A healthy blend of excitement and nervousness, in just the right balance, is felt by children and parents alike. New avenues appear, milestones are set, doors to imagination open, and opportunities abound.
Soon, it will be time to press the play button once again.
Then, with that same excitement and nervousness—albeit in different proportions—we will send our children on their way to the first day of school.
Raising a child who loves to read is not merely an educational endeavor; it is a journey that begins in the earliest stages of life. Studies suggest that even in the womb, a baby responds to the tone of the mother’s voice and the rhythm of her words as she reads aloud, laying the foundation for an early emotional connection with language.
Following Napoleon Bonaparte's military campaign in Egypt in 1798, a substantial body of literature emerged around a previously marginalized topic: women's participation in travel to the East. Through memoirs and personal testimonies, we began to uncover aspects of their hidden contributions to a field long associated with adventure, imagination, and myth. During that era, travel was an adventure across time and space, with a clear demarcation between the traveling "Self" and the distant “Other,” which stirred curiosity and a desire for discovery.
Although manuscripts have been the subject of much scholarly interest, many other aspects of book culture in the Islamic world have not been adequately researched. One of these is the protective enclosures—satchels, slipcases, chests, boxes, wrapping cloths and cloth bags—used to carry and preserve precious books. A formal study of slipcases1 was undertaken recently and another study of cloth bags is now ongoing.
Travel to the holy sites – especially to Makkah and Madinah – has long been associated with spiritual dimensions that form the core of individual experience. Yet these journeys have also held elements of exploration and adventure, often unfolding in unexpected and unplanned ways. The Arabic literary tradition has preserved many stories and accounts of such travels, whether undertaken by explorers and adventurers from around the world or by state officials on official missions.
Libraries have always been a reflection of the transformations and conflicts that societies experience, as well as of cultural exchanges and openness to others, regardless of background or belief. Everything happening in the outside world, from cultural movements and the questions being raised, to debates and literary works, echoes within these open spaces.
Hello! مرحبًا Hola! Cześć! Sawubona!*
Another year is over, and if 2024 was the same as 2023, more than 600,000 books have been borrowed from Qatar National Library, but which were the most popular and have you read them?
