Development of the Al-Assad National Library’s Collections under the Circumstances of the Military Conflict in Syria
Authors: Saad Aldin Ammar 
Published: August 2022

During the military conflict on going on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), there was destroyed not only the economic, but also the educational and cultural infrastructure of the country. Thousands of libraries located in northern Syria have completely lost their collections. The number of Arab cultural centres (public libraries) decreased by 60% from 2011 to 2018. They were located in the conflict zones and were destroyed during military operations. Huge damage was caused to the market of publishing industry and the book culture of Syria as a whole.

During the tough movement process from war to peace, the preservation of monuments, including writing, remains an important issue for the country and its future. The leading library in Syria is the Al-Assad National Library (NL), which receives legal deposit copy of domestic publications; it is engaged in international book exchange; makes procurements; receives books and manuscripts as donation. Preserving the documentary cultural heritage of the country, the library performs the memorial function, which is much more complicated in the conditions of military conflict and economic crisis.

The purpose of the research is to study the impact of the war in Syria on the activities of the Al-Assad National Library, the dynamics of the development of its collections, as well as the formation of strategy for the reconstruction of the countryʼs library system. The author used the methods of comparative analysis in the work and conducted the review of the literature on this topic.

In 1988, the Al-Assad National Library’s collections contained 131,931 items. In the 2000s, there was an increase in the number of publications received by the library via legal deposit copy system. Since 2011, the beginning of the terrorist war, which was accompanied by the economic blockade by Western countries, the replenishment of the stock has significantly decreased. From 2012 to 2015, the International Book Fair in Damascus was suspended. At the end of 2020, the total stock of the library amounted to 567,117 information resources in Arabic and foreign languages.

Russiaʼs support in restoring peaceful life in Syria is highly appreciated by the Syrian people. The relevance of the study is related to the lack of information in Russian about the development of the national library collections during the war in Syria. Russian universities train Syrian specialists in both library and other branches of science. The Russian language has been introduced into educational programs in Syria, which will further lead to its adoption as a foreign language to replace English language in the Republic.

At present, it is necessary to restore all areas of life in Syria, including cultural. The Al-Assad National Library plays a key role in the reform of the library system in the country, the formation of cultural policy through the creation of a stable system of book communication and the embedding of national book culture in the world information space. The Syrian society is forced to take into account political, economic, socio-cultural challenges. It is necessary to expand international cooperation, especially with countries that have maintained friendly relations with Syria.