Qatar Digital Library


Qatar Digital Library is a bilingual online library which was launched as a joint venture by a partnership consisting of Qatar Foundation, Qatar National Library and the British Library in October 2014. QDL comprises one of the largest online collections of historic records on the Persian Gulf countries.

History

Qatar Digital Library was first announced in 2012. The starting budget was reported as £8.7 million. The partnership sought to digitize a rich trove of heritage material documenting Arab and Islamic history and to make it freely accessible to the public through the QDL, which was launched online in October 2014. The launch of the QDL's website marked the first phase of its launch. On 19 January 2015, the second phase of the QDL was commenced and is expected to last until December 2018. The second phase will witness the digitization of 1,125,000 pages of historical documents.
The website was designed and built by . It has won multiple awards.

Content

The digital library, with an English and Arabic bilingual interface, encompasses a total of 500,000 pages of items held by the British Library pertaining to the history of the Persian Gulf region. Some 475,000 pages, dating from the mid 18th century to 1951, are from the India Office Records and Private Papers ; and 25,000 pages are of medieval Arabic scientific manuscripts. Among the pages are numerous photographs, maps, and drawings.
The British Library and QNL will both hold copies of the digital collection; however, after the completion of the digitization, the QNL will assume responsibility for the hosting and further development of the QDL portal.

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