by Mahmoud Fouly, Emad al-Azrak

CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Greater Cairo Public Library (GCPL) serves as a historical memory for the Egyptian capital in particular and Egypt in general and a chronicle that preserves national identity, said the library's director general Yasser Othman in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"GCPL was established on the model of the Historical Library of the City of Paris, to serve as a historical memory that brings together the capital's heritage and history, documents Cairo's architecture and philosophy and sheds light on prominent foreign figures who lived in Cairo," Othman pointed out.

Inaugurated by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture in 1995, the massive library was established inside a classy historical palace overlooking the Nile River in Zamalek district. The palace belonged to late Princess Samiha, daughter of Sultan Hussein Kamel who ruled Egypt from 1914 to 1917 under British protectorate.

The princess, who was known for her love for art, music and literature, bequeathed the palace to be used for cultural activities after her death.

The three-story library is located in the middle of a vast garden, on an area of about 3,475 square meters, of which the library building occupies 350 square meters, according to the GCPL director.

"The library is public and open to all age groups, containing books on Cairo arts, periodicals and microfilms of Cairo as well as maps of Cairo and its geography, which have been converted into digital maps," Othman told Xinhua.

It also has a complete archive of microfilm and microfiche containing all issues of Egypt's top newspaper Al-Ahram since its first issue was published on Aug. 5, 1876, as well as heritage books, such as the 200-year-old Description de l'Egypte, a series of publications prepared by the French military campaign on Egypt.

GCPL also hosts Al-Maqrizi's Khitat, a book by medieval Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi on Cairo topography and society, besides volumes on the entire history of Egypt throughout all eras, according to Othman.

"The library includes a complete description of every city, every village, every lane, every alley and even every tree with a history in Egypt," said the library director.

Othman noted that the library annually organizes a competition between investigative researchers on Cairo neighborhoods and streets to verify or update their information and it also registers how Cairo has interacted with influential events and figures.

"GCPL contains 120,000 volumes, including scientific references and lexicons in Arabic, English and French, as well as periodicals and books on various fields and sciences such as history, geography, religions, arts, technology, literature, philosophy, politics, tourism, and all types of human knowledge," he said.

Around 2,000 people visit or deal with the library daily, either directly or electronically.

The library also holds cultural seminars, presentations, conferences and workshops on a regular basis.

As for the influence of information technology (IT) and social media on culture in general, Othman said that they can be positive in contributing to enriching culture and providing quick access to information, or negative if misused to spread fabrications.

He explained that IT and artificial intelligence will be "the language of the age," noting that GCPL frequently organizes workshops on IT and robotics.

Surprisingly, COVID-19 pandemic led to attracting more visitors to the library because of closure of schools in Egypt and replacing traditional attendance of exams with researches to be sent online by students.

"Due to COVID-19, the library has recently been frequently visited by students of different ages, whether directly or online, to get digital books or those in PDF format, digital maps, microfilms and microfiches," he clarified.

Othman also hailed the Egyptian-Chinese distinguished cultural relations and described the Chinese culture as "unique."

He noted that he has visited China several times and seen how China attaches great importance to the book "as the basic source of art, culture and knowledge."

"I have seen this myself during my visits to Chinese cultural institutions and learned from the progress they have made, such as the National Library of China in Beijing," the Egyptian library director told Xinhua. Enditem

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