Iraq and its National Library

SYED ALI HASHMI

Iraq in the history of communication

Iraq has the privilege of nurturing world's earliest civilization. It was on the
banks of the river Tigris and Euphrates, the earliest civilization known to
history grew and spread throughout the world. Summerians invented in 3200
B.C.. the first written mode of communication, called the coneiform writing.
They were the first builders of schools in the history. Hammurabi
(1792-1750 B.C.) the famous king and the social reformer was a Sum-
merian. The Assyrian king known to Greeks as Ashurbani-Pal (688-631 B.
C.) played an important role in the history of communication. His scribes
spread ancient knowledge and learning to various parts of the world. The
library of clay tablets built by him was the first library in the history. So big
was the library that the excavations of Ninevah discovered not less than
24,000 clay tablets.
Iraq was also fortunate to have seen the zenith of Islamic history and
culture. Baqhdad, the capital of present Iraq was also the capital of the
Islamic empire for centuries, until it was destructed and dvastated by Hulagu
(1235 A. D.) and later by Tamberlane.
The country lapsed into a perioed of illiteracy for more than seven cen-
turies. However, oil wealth has put the country on the road to progress. The
importance of education has been realised and it is given priority in the
country. Education is free at all levels right from primary to college level.
There are six universities functioning in the country and produce thousands
of graduates every year.
This dramatic increase in education from primary to college level and also
emergence of the concept of continuing education throw a challenge at li-
braries, especially public libraries. The country needs a national grid of public
libraries with the National Library at the apex.

The national library, Iraq

The Maktaba al Watani or the National Library at Baghdad was started as a
public library under a private management at its initial stage. It was named as

The author is Library Expert, University of Basrah, Central Library Basrah, Iraq.

Libri 1983: vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 236-243 © 1983 Munksgaard, Copenhagen

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 Iraq and its National Library 237

"Al-Salam Library", after Dar al-Salam, the early name of Baghdad meaning
the House of Peace. In 1929 the library was shifted to al-Mamooria school
where it was named as al-Maktabatil Aammah or the Public Library. The
library had a collection of 4,283 books only at that time.

The national library act, 1961

In 1961 Iraqi Government promulgated the National Library Act and the said
library was declared as Maktabatil Wataniya or the National Library. It was
placed under the control of the Ministry of Information and Culture.
The Library had no independent status for years. It functioned under the
supervision of the Director of Information and culture until rules were issued
under the National Library Act, 1961. These rules granted the National
Library the status of an independent department and created provision for
appointment of a seperate Director. The National Library has a Director
General of its own at present. Seperation of the Directorate has significant
impact on the administration and financial status of the Library. It resulted in
the increase in the library budget considerably. The budget of the library has
been enhanced from I. D. (Iraqi Dinar) 25,0007- in 1979-80 to I. D.
60,0007- in 1980-81, out of which I.D. 40,007- were allocated for purchase
of books and other library materials.
The National Library Rules authorised the National Library exercise tech-
nical supervision over the public libraries in the country. The National Li-
brary is now in a position to achieve Bibliographic Control at the National
level.

The deposit law, 1970

The year 1970 brought more powers to the National Library. The Deposit
Law was promulgated in this year and the National Library was entitled to
receive five copies of all books published in the country. Legal deposits
provided the National Library the material necessary for compilation of Na-
tional Bibliography.

Responsibilities of the national library

The National Library has been assigned the following responsibilities under
the National Library Act, 1961.
1. Collection and preservation of more than on copy of material published
in the country and received under the Deposit Law. also, collection and
preservation of audio-visual material.

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238 Syed AU Hashmi

2. Regular issuance of Iraqi National Bibliography, also, collection of other

bibliographies required by the research scholars both within and without the
country.
3. Exchange of publication at Arab and International levels and by means
of this fostering relations with these countries and their National libraries.
4. Providing readers1 services, including microfilm and reprographic ser-
vices.
5. Providing reference and Information services. Also, establisment of de-
partment of Information for the purpose of publication of pamphlets, posters
and important statistics.
6. Possession and preservation of works of Iraqi authors, translators and
research shcolars, published outside Iraq. Likewise, acquisition of literature
published on Iraq in the national or foreign language, soasto make the col-
lection of the library complete and exhaustive.

The organisation of the library

The Library has the following departments:
1. Acquisitions. 2. Periodicals. 3. Cataloguing and classification. 4. Legal
deposits. 5. Exchange of publications. 6. Stacks and circulation. 7. Bibliog-
raphy. 8. Microfilms. 9. Reference. 10. Training, public relation and Transla-
tion. 11. Administration. 12. Personnel. 13. Accounts.

Library holdings
Holdings of the Library include books, periodicals and microfilms. Its total
book-collection is 1,24,903. The collection is mostly Arabic and includes
books in English, Italian, Turkish, Kurdish, Persian and Urdu. It has collec-
tion of rare books and archives too.

The Iraq national bibliography

The first issue of the Iraqi National Bibliography was published in th6 year
1981, under the title "Legal publications". Its title was later changed to
"Iraqi National Bibliography". The National Bibliography covers the fol-
lowing areas:
1. General publications. 2. Government publications. 3. School publications.
4. Children's literature. 5. Literature for Araba, Turkish and Kurdish adult
and neoliterates.

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 Iraq and its National Library 239

Training public relation and translation services

The National Library's Department of training & Public relation holds semi-
nars and conferences of librarians periodically. It also conducts inservice
training for librarians employed in libraries of schools, colleges and Govern-
ment Departments. The students are given practical training at the National
Library. The Department also provides translation services.

Personnel
The National Library is headed by a Director General who is assisted by four
Directors who in turn supervise seperate departments. With the onerous
responsibility of technical supervision of all public libraries in the country, the
National Library bears the responsibility to see that all public libraries are
manned by qualified librarians and that its own staff is qualified and compe-
tent to provide technical guidance to the staff emploeyd in public libraries.

Library building
The National Library has an imposing building with a three floor accommo-
dation spread over an area of 10,240 square metres. Its accommodation is
adequate for the present functions. The Library is located at Babul Moazzam
and it is close to the public bus centre. Thus it is accessible to public coming
from different directions of the city.

Suggestions for improvement

The National Library is supposed to serve as centre for the Nation's library
and information services. In order to conform to the international standards
and the universally accepted National Library and Information Policy, the
National Library is urged to adopt the following suggestions:

1. Centralised administration. The National Library has powers of technical

supervision of public libraries. But for all other purposes, these public lib-
raries are independent units. For a developing country like Iraq, it is desir-
able to have a National grid of public libraries with the National Library at
the apex as the controlling authority. Eventhough the National Library, has
the powers of technical supervision, its role is advisory in nature. It is
suggested that the NL (National Library) acquires administrative powers and
plays an executive role in the functioning of public libraries.

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 240 Iraq and Its National Library

2. Hiring qualified staff. The NL can shoulder its responsibilities only when
qualified and adequate staff is imployed. Unlike other requirements of a
library, such as reading material, library building, equipment, etc. it takes
years to prepare qualified staff. It is more so in case of processing books in
foreign languages. Until such time local expense is prepared for this purpose,
the NL has to hire qualified and experienced foreign personnel in adequate
number.

3. Compilation of union catalogue vis-a-vis achieving bibliographic control

The National Library should exploit powers vested in it by virtue of the
National Library Rules and see that a Union Catalogue of the holdings of all
the public libraries is prepared. The NL can also expand this scheme to
include holdings of the six University libraries in the country. This will help
achieve National Bibliographic control too, Similarly, the NL can attempt
compilation of Union List of Serial holdings of the libraries in the country.

4. Enhancement of budget on purchase of library materials: The NL's budget

in the year 1980-81 for purchase of library material was I. D. 40,0007. or U.
5. dollars 1,20,0007- approximately. Whereas budget allocation of a de-
veloping country like Phillipines in 1980-81 for purchase of library materials
was U.S. $ 1,89,2597-, The budget allocations of National Libraries of some
other countries on this item during 1980-81 are given below.

Name of the country Budget allocation

in U.S. dollars
Australia 24,30,5007-
Nigeria 5,55,0007-
Singapore 4,22,2137-
U.S.A. 2,17,74,2007-

Considering thirteen million population of Iraq, the expenditure per head

incurred by the NL on reading material is just 3.25 fils. It is desirable that the
NL's budget is enhanced and at least 3% of the Nation':s budget for Educa-
tion is appropriated for National Library.

5. Building up reference and bibliographic material. Absence of reference and

bibliographic tools is conspicuous in Arabic literature. Inadequate supply of
Arabic material in science and technology will certainly hamper progress of
research in these fields. Unless the research institutions and scholars are fed
with latest and adequate literature, their research will not be fruitful. The
NL can come to their rescue in the following ways:

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 Iraq and its National Library 241

i. Research questions can be invited in Arabic and translated into English.

Authoritative answers can be transmitted to the questioners through the
NL's Training, Public relation and Translation Department.
iL Book production in Arabic can be promoted by subsidising production
cost and by placing standing orders with the publishers for supply of bulk
number of copies of books to the public libraries,
iii. Until such time Arabic literature is rich enough in reference sources, the
NL should purchase widest possible range of reference and bibliographic
tools in English.

6. Promotion of book production. Genral book production in all Arab coun-

tries is low. Iraq is no exception. However, Iraq stands second in the Arab
world, in the matter of book production, first being Egypt. Yet, the rate of
annual book production is much lower compared to countries like United
States of America (book production p.a. 84,542), U.K. (34,340), West Ger-
many (44,471) and Japan (36,066). The NL may indentify areas in which
literature is wanting and provide funds to authors and publishers for produc-
tion of books, in these areas.

7. production of books for adults and neoliterates. While schools and Univer-
sities are imparting education to the youngsters, the NL can take care of the
adult neoliterates by producing books in functional literacy. Apart from
books, the NL should undertake production of illustrations, posters and
charts for neoliterates. Books on fuctional literacy will serve double purpose,
i.e. of spreading literacy among the illiterate adults and of educating them in
their professional fields. The NL can thus serve the vast majority of the
population in the country.

8. Promotion of library profession and publication of professional literatures.

Promotion of library profession and improvement of library and information
services in the country have been declared, inter alia, the policy of the NL.
This can be implemented by funding research and development in the field of
library and information services in coordination with the universities. The NL
can organise regular courses to improve professional skills of inservice li-
brarians. The existing department of Public Relation and Training can be
expanded and Research and Development unit can be established in the NL
itself. Besides, a scheme of publication of professional literature can also be
taken up by the NL.

9. Resource sharing. The NL can mobilise its services for a country wide
resource sharing in the following ways:

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242 fytd Ali HoMhmi

i. by providing access to overseas data bases through its reference and

bibliographic collection;
ii. by establishing its centres in each state to develop collection to meet
national needs;
iii. by arranging inter-library loan and exchange of information and thus
arranging for nation wide circulation of books, periodicals and non-book
material, in coordination with public and university libraries, and lastly;
iv. by becoming National Centre for foreign inter-library lending and bor-
rowing.

10. Introduction of computer based library and information services.

44
An automated library system will place the full resources of the library at
the immediate disposal of a user". (Phyllis Richmond) The philosophy be-
hind spreading public library service was that books should no more be a
private possession. But they should be accessible to public. Likewise, modern
public libraries are supposed to spread information technology and make it
accessible to one and all The NL can provide following services:

i. Periodical indexing.
11. SDL
iii. Issuance of current awareness bulletins.
iv. Retrospective on-line searches.
v. Participation toward realisation of UBC.

11. Participation in the international programmes. The NL can widen its

sphere of functioning and update its library services by participating in the
international information programmes. It should acquire equipment and then
seek designation of Focal Point for the following international information
programmes:

i. UNESCO General Information programs.

ii. ALECSO (Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Or-
ganisation), if not designated sofar.
iii. NATIS.
iv. UNISIST.

12. Library based cultural programmes: The NL can organise a nation wide
library week, every year in which library-based cultural programmes can be
conducted at all the public libraries. The NL can organise National Book
Fairs, hold seminars and conferences, arrange film shows and capture public
information media, i.e. Newspapers, Radio and TV.

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 243

Conclusion
Iraq can be proud of a prolific history of communication. The National Li-
brary of Iraq can play an important role in the country's progress by supple-
menting the drive of the educational institutions in spreading literacy and also
by imparting informal education to all the citizens of the country. Public
libraries are the institutions of information education by themselves. They
are symbols of progress of a country. The National Library of Iraq can play a
key role in the organisation and operation of library and information services.
Iraq is fortunate to have established a National Library under statute. It has
to function as centre for country's library and information services. Men are
more important than the material of the National Library. Hence qualified
and competent staff is the first and foremost requirement. Opportinonment
of more funds is a.must for strenthening financial resources and implementa-
tion of the programmes envisaged in the National Library Act.

Bibliography
1. Penna, C. V. and others: National Library and Information Services: Handbook for Planners
(London, 1977).
2. Shearer, K.: 'The Arabian Gulf Plans its Library Future'*. International Library Review, 13
(1981): 259-273.
3. Richmond, Phyllis A.: "Library Automation in the United States of America". Program, 15
(1981): 24-37.
4. Chandler, G.: "The Role of National Libraries". International Library Review, 12 (1980):
17-42.
5. Iraqi National Bibliography No. 25 (1980).
6. The National Library of Iraq. Handbook (1980).
7. Iraq. State Organisation for Tourism: A Tourist Guide (1978).
8. Margueren, Jean-Claude: Mesopotamia (London, 1965).

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