RIYADH: The King Abdul Aziz Public Library has a children’s book club project to encourage reading at an early age.
Currently at least 5,350 children between three and eight years old are members of the library. Library officials met with consultants to choose the collection of books for children.
About 700 books have already been selected in the first stage of the initiative, which includes implementing an electronic database. The library boasts serving 320,000 people a year, including fielding 126,000 phone queries and 211,000 lent books. About 4,500 school visits take place each year, library officials say.
The library offers books in Arabic and other languages. The library buys books directly from publishers.
The library has about 700,000 titles.
The library is currently digitizing a number of its works. The library has a number of websites.
According to its annual report, the library focuses on acquiring important Arabic and Islamic titles.
There are more than 8,000 local manuscripts at the library. The library also staffs a group of restorers to help preserve original manuscripts.
There are more than 96,000 historical documents at the library. The library also includes 713 maps of the Arabian Peninsula printed as far back as the last quarter of the 15th century. The library also contains over 7,500 unique historical coins.
