page_title: AUC Libraries and Learning Technologies
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: AUC Libraries and Learning Technologies / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Exterior view of the AUC Greek Campus Library building, during construction in 1981.
context_page_description: AUC Libraries and Learning Technologies is a school of the American University in Cairo. It is located on the University’s New Campus, in New Cairo, Egypt.
  LLT is composed of several units: the Main Library, the Rare Books and Special Collections Library, and the Center for Learning and Teaching.
  Together, these units form one of the largest, and most important academic research libraries in Egypt. Despite its physical location in Egypt, the American University of Cairo is accredited in the United States by the Middle States Commission of Higher Education; the School of Libraries and Learning Technologies therefore implements US standards and practices in all aspects of its work.
  AUC Libraries and Learning Technologies is a member of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, a member of the Center for Research Libraries’ Global Resources Network, and a member of IFLA. It is also a member of the AMICAL Consortium, and participates in OCLC’s resource-sharing programs ILLiad and SHARES.
  As of February 2015, its holdings include some 70,000 electronic journals in over 138 databases; over 480,000 volumes of printed books.
context_section_description: By 1922, three years after its founding, AUC had a small reading room as part of the School of Oriental Studies at the Tahrir Campus.  In 1959, the Library was moved to Hill House and managed by faculty librarians and staff. The collection comprised primarily English and Arabic titles. In 1973, the Library created the first computerized serials holdings list. The collection was reclassified from the Dewey Decimal system to the Library of Congress call number system between 1972 and 1975. In 1982, the Main Library moved into a new purpose-built facility on the Greek Campus (a plot on the corner of Muhammad Mahmoud and Yousuf Elguindi Streets, originally belonging to the Greek community). In 1986, the Library implemented one of the first online catalogs in the Middle East through the German-Belgian Dobis/Libis system.
  In 1995, the Main Library was the first in the region to create a department of Information Literacy, and more faculty members were added as services were expanded to meet the specialized needs of new academic departments and developing technologies. The year 1990 saw the inauguration of the Rare Books and Special Collections Library. In 1998, the Director of the Library was elevated to the rank of Dean. Shortly thereafter, in 2000, the Library was merged with the Departments of Media Services, Academic Computing, and Web Communications. The Centre for Learning and Teaching was inaugurated in the 2002. 
  In the summer of 2008, Libraries and Learning Technologies moved from downtown Cairo to its present location on the University’s new 265-acre campus in New Cairo.
caption: AUC Library on the Greek Campus, downtown Cairo, in 1981
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