Towards Arab Digital Libraries: Opportunities, Challenges, and Requirements

Towards Arab Digital Libraries: Opportunities, Challenges, and Requirements

Mohammed Nasser Al-Suqri, Khalsa Abdullah Al-Hinai, Kawther Mohammed Al-Hashmi
ISBN13: 9781466625006|ISBN10: 1466625007|EISBN13: 9781466625013
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2500-6.ch006
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MLA

Al-Suqri, Mohammed Nasser, et al. "Towards Arab Digital Libraries: Opportunities, Challenges, and Requirements." Design, Development, and Management of Resources for Digital Library Services, edited by Tariq Ashraf and Puja Anand Gulati, IGI Global, 2013, pp. 50-57. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2500-6.ch006

APA

Al-Suqri, M. N., Al-Hinai, K. A., & Al-Hashmi, K. M. (2013). Towards Arab Digital Libraries: Opportunities, Challenges, and Requirements. In T. Ashraf & P. Gulati (Eds.), Design, Development, and Management of Resources for Digital Library Services (pp. 50-57). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2500-6.ch006

Chicago

Al-Suqri, Mohammed Nasser, Khalsa Abdullah Al-Hinai, and Kawther Mohammed Al-Hashmi. "Towards Arab Digital Libraries: Opportunities, Challenges, and Requirements." In Design, Development, and Management of Resources for Digital Library Services, edited by Tariq Ashraf and Puja Anand Gulati, 50-57. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2500-6.ch006

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Abstract

The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the 1990s and universally centralized digital media for information storage, organization, retrieval, and management have led to the emergence of the Digital Library, which, while not replacing the traditional library per se, has contributed to the creation of hybrid forms combining the characteristics and organizational structure of both the digital and the traditional library models. This chapter draws on existing literature to highlight the potential opportunities, which digital libraries offer to the countries of the Arab world, and to examine the challenges inherent in their development and how these might best be overcome. The chapter concludes that libraries in many Arab countries are still hindered by a severe lack of resources, trained and experienced staff, and adequate infrastructure, and these problems could severely undermine attempts to move towards digitizing libraries. It is the role of the governments of these countries, along with commercial organizations, information professionals, academic specialists, and other groups to acknowledge the benefits and opportunities offered by digital libraries and work together to make them a reality in the Arab world.

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