Digital content has replaced the paper resources in providing information for students and researchers, said Dr. Musaed Al Tayyar, supervisor general of the library, at a workshop he presented at the International Exhibition & Conference for Higher Education, entitled The Saudi Digital Library.
“Providing electronic research and scientific content is no longer an informational luxury, but has turned into a strategic necessity that many international scientific universities and centers in the world are heading toward providing,” said Al Tayyar. He added that the Saudi Digital Library was becoming a center point for researchers and those in the higher education sector.
The library, Al Tayyar pointed out, provided advanced information services that included converting paper sources produced by Saudi universities. They included MA and Ph.D. papers, academic staff papers, research and conference papers and Saudi universities' publications. “Turning them into digital resources will enable everyone to be connected in this sector,” he said.
The Saudi Digital Library was, opined Al Tayyar, not only the largest electronic book collection in the Kingdom, it also aimed at acquiring digital books published by distinguished universities around the world, as well as those published by commercial publishers in various specialties.
Last year the library uploaded over 1 million publications, Al Tayyar said, adding the next stage will add more subscribers and members.
The library is developing new applications and programs to enable subscribers to reach information speedily. Al Tayyar said the emergence of this library came at the right time when the relationship between researchers and books is considered “primitive.” He pointed out that traditional libraries which still exist, lack the elements of innovation and attractiveness.
“Traditional libraries are completely isolated from their cultural and scientific surrounding as is the case of school libraries, which some describe as ‘the forgotten libraries,’” said Al Tayyar, concluding that the paper resources were consigned to the past by digital content.
