Sharjah’s Dynamic Literary Landscape Takes Centre Stage at USA Forum

Sharjah’s dynamic literary landscape took centre stage at an important international forum when two representatives from the Sharjah’s based cultural project took part in the recently concluded IFLA World Library and Information Congress. Rashid Al Kous, General Manager of Knowledge without Borders (KwB) and Majd Al Shehhi, Manager of its 1001 Titles initiative, both participated at the event, which ran at Columbus, Ohio, USA.

In addition to showcasing KwB’s activities that have been instigated to inspire a culture of reading - including its 1001 Titles initiative that aims to launch 1,001 Arabic titles this year and the next - Al Kous and Majd Al Shehhi attended a number of workshops at the congress. Designed to enhance information exchange and archiving across the globe, the workshops included such titles as ‘Access to information for sustainable communities – Asia and Oceania,’ Brave New World – the future of collections in digital times’ and ‘Government information publishing programs – past present and future.’ 

The most important of the activities that the Sharjah representatives participated in at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress was the ‘Knowledge Café,’ which focused on the challenges and opportunities that face libraries in both keeping their staff up to date and in helping their communities to learn. Comprising several sessions, each one addressing a different topic, the programme saw Majd Al Shehhi bring her expertise to its ninth session, which was titled ‘Learning together: when experts from developed libraries work with developing countries, everyone learns and everyone teaches.’

“Nobody learns in isolation – that is the firm belief of Knowledge without Borders and its 1001 Titles initiative. By participating in international events such as the IFLA World Library and Information Congress, we can acquire knowledge from our international peers and at the same time teach them about our experiences in having set up literary initiatives in our own sphere of operations. It is a reciprocal process,” said Rashid Al Kous, General Manager, KwB.

“Both Majd Al Shehhi and I were delighted and honoured to be able to represent Sharjah at this important global forum in the USA and to exchange views with our international counterparts on information transmission, storage and retrieval. Attendance at the event has undoubtedly helped us in our efforts towards elevating the cultural standards in the region,” he added.

Launched as an initiative by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, KwB is supervised and supported by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Head of its Organising Committee. The initiative aspires to establish reading as a noble habit in every household in the UAE by encouraging the establishment of home libraries and supplying these libraries with the best titles in a cross-section of genres suitable for the entire family.

1001 Titles, an initiative by  KwB, aims to enrich the UAE’s intellectual output and ensure the sustainability of its publishing sector, as well as publishing sectors in other countries. Its goal is to support Emirati authors and Emirati publishing houses by working to ensure that they can successfully compete in the industry in the face of its many challenges.