Posted December 8, 2003.

Library of Congress Team Recommends New National Library for Iraq

The present Iraq National Library building in Baghdad is unsuitable to function as a library, says a report released November 28 by a Library of Congress team that visited the war-torn capital October 17–November 3. The report advises the Iraqi Ministry of Culture that “Baghdad’s illustrious history requires that the symbols of culture like a National Library be located in beautiful surroundings and in an architecturally outstanding building.”

The LC team also agreed with the Coalition Provisional Authority that the new library should be located in the Senior Officers’ Club—currently occupied by 300–400 U.S. troops—and that a new building should be built behind the club as a stack area for the new library. The team also recommended that a library director be appointed as soon as possible and that the archives be separated from the library as one of three autonomous entities reorganized under the Ministry of Culture: a National Library, a National Archives, and a House of Manuscripts.

Like the UNESCO missions that preceded it, the LC mission assessed the damage from fire and looting at the National Library and House of Manuscripts and made a number of recommendations regarding the preservation of materials that remain.

The members of the LC team were Mary-Jane Deeb, an Arab World area specialist who led the group; Michael Albin, chief of Anglo-American acquisitions; and Alan Haley, senior preservation specialist.

Posted December 8, 2003.