The trend of reading books have risen sharply in Qatar demonstrating that rise of digital technology has failed to dent the love for books. Libraries across the country have seen a whopping rise in the number of book borrowers and books borrowed.
The total number of book borrowers in the country has increased sharply from 33,794 in 2016 to 207,651 in 2017, showing a rise of over 500 percent.
The number of books borrowed has also risen sharply as total number of books borrowed were 58,065 in 2016 which rose to 224,168 in 2017, according to the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics data.
Opening of Qatar National Library has played a big role in strengthening the bond between books and residents, as 177,332 borrowers approached the state-of-the-art library for borrowing books. Although, QNL was officially opened in April this year, but it had opened its doors to the public in November 2017 for an experimental period, and since then has welcomed thousands of visitors.
Apart from QNL, Ah-Ali Thani Library was another crowd puller as 22,100 books were borrowed from the library in last year while the number of borrowers stood at 9,680.
Al Khanssa Library attracted 2,300 borrowers last year who borrowed around 4,230 books while around 5,000 were borrowed from Al Wakrah Library in 2017. Al Khor Library, Al Khanssa Library, Al Rayyan Library also attracted book lovers.
“I have not seen any library like QNL in my entire life. It has a rich collection of books and the process of borrowing book is also very simple,” a senior official of construction company told The Peninsula.
“Initially, I went there alone to see the library but now I go with my family, because it also has a good collections of books for kids. My kids have developed a liking for books after visiting QNL,” he added.
QNL’s collection includes one million books in English, Arabic, and other languages, complemented by a dedicated Children’s Library and Young Adults collection.
The QNL Heritage Library collection includes rare and valuable items related to Arab and Islamic civilization. Its collection has more than 50,000 items, including manuscripts, early printed books, historical maps, globes, photographs, and scientific instruments.
Have you borrowed any book yet? Comment below.
By Sachin Kumar
Source: The Peninsula
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