Image used for representation only.
Doha, Qatar: In a pioneering collaboration between the Qatar National Library (QNL) and the British Library, over 2.4 million historical pages originate from documents related to the Arabian Gulf region and are housed in the British Library have been successfully digitised.
This ongoing partnership hailed as one of the largest of its kind, has recently advanced into its fourth phase with a mission to preserve and make accessible valuable historical documents pertaining to the region.
Since its inception, the project has made significant strides in digitising a vast array of materials, including manuscripts, photographs, and maps. The endeavour, which is set to continue until 2025, promises to unlock a treasure trove of historical knowledge for researchers, scholars, and enthusiasts worldwide.
“Our ongoing partnership with the British Library has played a crucial role in expanding our digital collections. Over the past decade, we have collaborated to digitise archival documents about Qatar and the Gulf region found in the India Office Records held at the British Library. This partnership has resulted in the addition of over 2.4 million pages of archival documents, maps, photographs, charts, and diary entries to the Qatar Digital Library,” Director of Distinctive Collections at the Library, Stephane J Ipert told The Peninsula.
“In 2022, the partnership was extended to a fourth phase, scheduled to conclude in December 2025. During this phase, we plan to digitise and upload an additional 675,000 pages to Qatar Digital Libray, offering researchers and users worldwide free access to a wealth of Islamic manuscripts, audio files, maps, charts, and archival documents,” he added.
The British Library-QNL partnership was launched in July 2012 to digitise the British Library’s historical collections relating to the history of Qatar and the Gulf, medieval Arab science and medicine, and other cultural spheres. The project aims to transform people’s understanding of the history of the Gulf and the wider Middle East.
The first two phases of the partnership digitized more than 1.5 million pages. Phase 3 of the project involved the digitisation of 900,000 pages of new material on the Arabian Gulf as well as Arabic manuscripts on science. The Arabian Gulf-related material includes music, maps, ships’ logs, reports, letters, private papers (including the Curzon Papers), and historical publications.
The documents are accessible on the Qatar Digital Library and it is making a vast archive featuring the cultural and historical heritage of the Gulf and wider region freely available online for the first time. It includes archives, maps, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, and much more, complete with contextualised explanatory notes and links, in both English and Arabic.
Qatar Digital Library caters to both – those with a general interest in the history of the Gulf to the academics undertaking research.
