Qatar's Ministry of Awqaf Discusses Role of Libraries as Cultural Incubators During "The Nation's Seminar" Activities

Doha, October 07 (QNA) - The intellectual and cultural activities of the quarterly seminar called The Nations Seminar, organized by the Department of Islamic Research and Studies at the Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs, launched Thursday evening to discuss the society and nation issues, with a group of thinkers, scholars and researchers, under the patronage and presence of HE Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (Awqaf) Ghanem bin Shaheen bin Ghanem al-Ghanem. The Ministry started its seminars Thursday evening at the hall of the Abdullah Bin Zaid Al Mahmoud Islamic Cultural Center with a seminar entitled "The cultural incubators - libraries as a model." It was attended by Heritage and Rare Book Adviser in the Office of the Cultural Adviser at Qatar Foundation, the writer and researcher Mohamed Hammam Fikri, the researcher in the Qatari heritage Ali Al Fayyad and Director of the Libraries Department at the Ministry of Culture, Jassim Ahmed Al Buainain, and moderated by Head of Sharia Research section of the Department of Islamic Research and Studies at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. The seminar started with a welcoming speech by HE Director of the Department of Research and Islamic Studies Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Ghanem Al-Thani. He said that the first seminar of the Nation Seminars series aims to highlight the role of libraries as incubators for the cultures of nations, and to pose them to the problems facing cultural incubators, to come up with innovative and effective solutions for re-establishing the role of libraries as incubators for cultures and sciences, expressing his happiness to work on reviving cultural, intellectual and scientific seminars within the ministry's efforts. He added that important issues need bright minds to produce effective solutions, affirming that cultural incubators are a mirror of the nation's level among other nations. The researcher Muhammad Hammam Fikri talked about the concept of cultural incubators, explaining that it is the environment that achieves the transfer of knowledge to generations and the containment and development of creative energies. He pointed out that libraries, throughout the ages and up until the era of digital libraries, constituted the basic incubator for preserving the cultural and intellectual wealth of civilizations. In turn, the researcher Ali Al Fayyad explained that the interest in libraries in Qatar began since the inception of modern Qatar, starting with the city of Al-Huwailah and passing through the city of Al-Zubarah. Al Fayyadh dealt with the era of the founder Sheikh Jassim bin Muhammad bin Thani, who, besides his political wisdom, was a scholar and poet, used to bring scholars from Najd to spread knowledge and was also printing books in India and distributing them to science students in Qatar, Najd and the Gulf. Researcher Ali Al-Fayyad talked about private libraries in Qatar, the oldest of which is the library of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Hamdan, the first judge in Qatar during the founder’s period, as well as the libraries of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jaber, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ansari, and Sheikh Ahmed bin Hajar Al-Binali, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Mana, Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser Al-Thani, may God have mercy upon them, and other libraries. He also enumerated the most important libraries for contemporaries, such as the library of HE Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, the library of writer Saad Al-Rumaihi, the library of Dr. Mohammed Abdul Rahim Kafud, Dr. Mustafa Aqil, Dr. Youssuf Al-Qaradawi, may God have mercy upon him, and others. At the conclusion of his speech, Al-Fayyad called on the owners of large and important libraries to present their libraries or parts of them to the state’s cultural institutions, whether in return for material compensation or as a donation, to preserve these libraries. In turn, Jassim bin Ahmed Al-Buainain, Director of the Public Libraries Department at the Ministry of Culture, reviewed the ministry’s efforts in developing public libraries, as one of the most prominent features of the scientific renaissance among Arabs and Muslims, as it plays a key role in helping to achieve sustainable development goals by providing access to and preserving information to ensure that it is passed on to generations to come. He said, "The Qatari House of Books has played an important role in serving researchers, readers and school students and has been the main source of information they need from books, periodicals and manuscripts since its establishment in 1962 with the integration of the Public Library and the Knowledge Library, marking the establishment of the National Library in Qatar, and it is considered one of the oldest libraries in the Arab Gulf states." He explained that the Qatar National Library collects, preserves and publicizes the national production in the country and also generalizes public library services to include all parts of Qatar by establishing and supervising branch libraries, as it has established 5 branch libraries in separate areas of the country to serve the community. Al-Buainain stressed that the Department of Libraries at the Ministry of Culture is developing a renewed strategy that suits the development and change in previous concepts by changing the civilizational concept of the library today, as the library is no longer the specified spatial space, but rather includes all kinds of technology and information networks, stressing the need to pay attention to the concept of the modern library that preserves the convenience and appropriate service for the environment of reading or discussion and cultural dialogue, as well as the up-to-date information and availability of the required appropriate references. He said, "To overcome cases of poor reading, it is necessary to provide books and the appropriate information in the right place, even if it is a place for entertainment ." Al-Buainain added that the Ministry of Culture is also keen to support private libraries and libraries of cultural centers with the necessary books according to the nature and interests of the readers, as the role of libraries in the community awareness is increasing through participation. Modern libraries do not wait for help from its users, but rather go out to the community and shares its various collections in all branches of knowledge, Al-Buainiain said. He went on to say that at the international level, the Ministry of Culture worked to support cultural activities in fragile communities in cooperation with Qatar Charity, as well as to support cultural activities for displaced Syrian children in camps in cooperation with the Qatar Red Crescent, based on the ministry's keenness to carry out its awareness and humanitarian mission, and to harness all capabilities, tools and means and the necessary support to convey its message both internally and externally, so that culture would be an essential element in development. Concluding, Al-Buainain praised the efforts of the Department of Islamic Research and Studies at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in re-projecting the seminars that support the development of community awareness and highlight the role of cultural institutions in the country.(QNA)