ElGouna Library is set to be the first of many Bibliotheca Alexan-drina embassy libraries across the country. ElGouna library, situ-ated along the shores of the Red Sea, is set on the track of accom-plishing the Bibliotheca’s mission of spreading knowledge and culture beyond the restrains of a single city, thus promoting toler-ance and understanding. ElGouna Library is the archetype of a new age in librarianship: the books on the shelves are important, but the true wealth of this library lies in how it is technologically and digitally set up to face the challenges of our time.

ElGouna library was constructed with an architectural flair that blends the Oriental origin of the country with some classical Greek and Roman structures. The interior is an archetypal modern facil-ity, with ornamentals and inscriptions reflecting the universal val-ues which the institute will represent. The entire facility embraces the natural scenery around it, blending tones of blue, brown and green to compliment its surroundings, allowing the readers to in-dulge in the Wi-Fi supported open air reading area so as to mingle the touristic nature of the site with the purpose of the library.

Upon entering into the library, there are many places for the visitor to

choose from. Study rooms are provided to allow researchers to enjoy a quiet time for studying at a workstation where internet connection is provided. The reading area has around 750 shelved books that were donated by Bibliotheca Alexandrina. While these may seem as the apparent stock of the library, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Embassy section of ElGouna library hosts a wealth of e-resources provided by the BA, allowing the visitor to feel as though he was in the BA’s own premises.

There are many e-resources provided by the BA on the site:

 A book repository is available carrying around 70,000 titles. It allows you to perform a full morphological search on all the texts in the repository or in a se-lected text in particular, and it highlights the results of the searched keyword where ever referenced.

 Access to web portals of the digitized Description de l’Egypte and L’Art Arabe . The former collec-tion was complied in the 20 years following Napo-leon’s expedition to Egypt in 1798 and documents every aspect of the Egyptian history, antiquities, modern state, and geography of that period, while the latter pertains to Islamic monuments in Egypt and was complied in 1877.

 The Holy Books web portal carries antique volumes of the three holy books, the Torah, the Bible and the Quran. The manuscripts can be viewed side by side with the translation of the texts in French and Eng-lish, or they can be accompanied by exegesis. All the texts will be fully searchable, and there is an option to search in all three holy texts at the same time, or to limit the search into a single chapter.

 Al- Hilal Digital Collection is a digital copy of the issues of Al-Hilal magazine since its first publication in 1892. The collection covers 115 years of publica-tion and the web portal allows you to search through the volumes and thoroughly read the articles.

 Arab InfoMall is a website that provides access from which Egyptian and Arab NGOs can both present their activities and observe what others are do-ing at the national and regional levels, presenting means of cooperation between civil society organiza-tions in the Arab world and abroad.

Beyond the e-resources, an additional feature that will add a cultural dimension to ElGouna Library is the CULTURAMA. The CULTURAMA is the first fully interactive 9 screen 180 projection worldwide, which allows the audience to explore different eras of Egyptian history, starting from Pharaonic times till the present.
A service that aims to strengthen the ties between what occurs in the Library and the Bibliotheca is the webcasting service that broadcasts live feeds of the events taking place in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference Center. Not only are they broadcasted live, but they will also be locally archived on servers at ElGouna Library so that visitors can access them at any time they choose.
Hopefully, ElGouna library will become a worthy representative of Bibliotheca Alexandria by the Red Sea, setting an example for modern libraries to come on the importance of immortal digitized material and may it stand as a beacon to collaboration, tolerance and the importance of knowledge.
 

Saturday to Thursday : From 11:00 a.m till 11:00 p.m
Friday : From 3:00 p.m till 11:00 p.m
For more information,please contact : 065/3580521