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Ailyn Agonia
DOHA
While Qatar National Library (QNL) has temporarily closed its doors to the public as a precautionary measure for the outbreak of coronavirus disease, the library ensures that book lovers and avid readers are still able to access its wealth of resources.
With the library’s thousands of electronic resources available for free to all its members, residents across ages and varying interests can include browsing through digital copies of the latest magazines on different topics and accessing e-books and audiobooks as among the activities that would keep them busy and productive while at home.
“The library’s services aren’t limited to the print books and materials contained in our building; we have thousands of electronic resources available for free to all our members. Members can browse electronic resources in many different fields and disciplines,” said Najla al Shahwani, head of Social Sciences.
“They can download ebooks, audiobooks, academic research journals and newspaper articles, in addition to streaming music and videos, and browsing digital copies of the latest magazines on various topics, including cooking, fitness, economics, art, sports, physics and philosophy. We have a digital repository (http://ediscovery.qnl.qa) that contains millions of digitised pages of historical Arabic and English books, newspapers and magazines,” Shahwani added.
The library has more than 215 databases, beyond 611,000 ebooks, 16,780 periodicals, 465,000 research papers, numerous theses and dissertations, digital magazines, and audiobooks.
Shahwani stressed that the QNL is always exploring ways to add new resources to benefit their users, particularly given the current situation.
“For example, OverDrive allows members to read more than 10,000 ebooks and listen to more than 1,000 audiobooks. They can also browse local and international magazines and newspapers using the PressReader and RBdigital applications. Library members can also learn languages through Mango Languages, an online application that offers practical lessons for more than 70 different languages,” she added.
She also mentioned QNL’s Qatar Digital Library (www.qdl.qa), which provides access to more than 1.9 million digital pages, including more than 450,000 digital pages of manuscripts from the golden age of Islamic civilisation in the fields of science, astronomy, medicine, engineering and mathematics.
Maram al Mahmoud, head of the Children’s Library, said the temporary closure of the library doesn’t prevent them from fulfilling their mission of spreading knowledge and providing learning opportunities for children.
She said, “We provide children and their parents with free access to an impressive collection of electronic resources, audiobooks and other interactive learning applications. These develop children’s love for reading and enable them to explore a variety of learning opportunities while schools are closed. Parents can help their children engage with the educational resources provided electronically by the library. They can, for instance, read interactive stories and perform several activities related to the text, as well as use different electronic games, creating an enriching experience.”
The library also provides online interactive storytelling platforms, such as I Read in Arabic, the iJana programme for reading and the Nahla and Nahel website. Parents can encourage their kids to read more for fun using RBDigital Comics, which has more than 600 Marvel and IDW graphic novels and comics. There is also BookFlix, which offers online video storybooks for pre-schoolers through grade 3, as well as related games and activities.
Mahmoud added, “There is no doubt that the changes caused by this unfortunate situation affect all aspects of learning. The biggest challenge facing parents now is how to familiarise themselves with distance learning so they can support their children to adapt accordingly. We encourage parents to use the various online resources provided by the library to help their children continue to learn at home.”
Ahmed al Malki, head of the Young Adults’ Library, said, “The secret is using the right communication and information technology. The technology we have now makes it possible to work, learn and communicate remotely, even as we’re all trying to fight COVID-19. This means that, although schools are closed, young adults can access thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, interactive digital magazines and other learning resources. This is a great time for young adults to register for their own library membership if they have not done that before.”
Given the distance learning and teaching currently adopted by schools and universities across Qatar, Maki said young adults can communicate remotely with the library’s writing and communication specialist to get support on writing essays, conducting research and filling out college applications, along with writing emails, letters and creative projects. He mentioned the availability of the Ask Our Librarians service where students can send requests for assistance with their school research.
He also said the library’s OverDrive platform allows members to borrow a range of popular ebooks and audiobooks.
Other useful databases include Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, RBDigital Comics, the Bookshare e-library for audiobooks for young adults with disabilities, the Frontiers Science Portal, the RBdigital database for digital magazines and the AudioBookCloud database.
“Young adults are usually independent and self-reliant in their search for information and learning material. Even when they’re stuck at home, young people can accomplish a lot. For instance, they can take advantage of our resources to improve their language skills by exploring English language tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, complete their research articles for school and continue their educational journey in various disciplines such as science, the humanities and social sciences,” said Malki.
Library visitors can email the library’s writing and communication specialist at [email protected] to seek advice and support on their written and creative projects, articles, emails, letters, applications and more.
The library’s online resources are available to all members, wherever they are, for free. Anyone with a Qatar ID can become a library member.
Registration for the membership takes just a few minutes and can be done through QNL website.
Residents who don’t have a library membership are encouraged to register online.
DOHA
While Qatar National Library (QNL) has temporarily closed its doors to the public as a precautionary measure for the outbreak of coronavirus disease, the library ensures that book lovers and avid readers are still able to access its wealth of resources.
With the library’s thousands of electronic resources available for free to all its members, residents across ages and varying interests can include browsing through digital copies of the latest magazines on different topics and accessing e-books and audiobooks as among the activities that would keep them busy and productive while at home.
“The library’s services aren’t limited to the print books and materials contained in our building; we have thousands of electronic resources available for free to all our members. Members can browse electronic resources in many different fields and disciplines,” said Najla al Shahwani, head of Social Sciences.
“They can download ebooks, audiobooks, academic research journals and newspaper articles, in addition to streaming music and videos, and browsing digital copies of the latest magazines on various topics, including cooking, fitness, economics, art, sports, physics and philosophy. We have a digital repository (http://ediscovery.qnl.qa) that contains millions of digitised pages of historical Arabic and English books, newspapers and magazines,” Shahwani added.
The library has more than 215 databases, beyond 611,000 ebooks, 16,780 periodicals, 465,000 research papers, numerous theses and dissertations, digital magazines, and audiobooks.
Shahwani stressed that the QNL is always exploring ways to add new resources to benefit their users, particularly given the current situation.
“For example, OverDrive allows members to read more than 10,000 ebooks and listen to more than 1,000 audiobooks. They can also browse local and international magazines and newspapers using the PressReader and RBdigital applications. Library members can also learn languages through Mango Languages, an online application that offers practical lessons for more than 70 different languages,” she added.
She also mentioned QNL’s Qatar Digital Library (www.qdl.qa), which provides access to more than 1.9 million digital pages, including more than 450,000 digital pages of manuscripts from the golden age of Islamic civilisation in the fields of science, astronomy, medicine, engineering and mathematics.
Maram al Mahmoud, head of the Children’s Library, said the temporary closure of the library doesn’t prevent them from fulfilling their mission of spreading knowledge and providing learning opportunities for children.
She said, “We provide children and their parents with free access to an impressive collection of electronic resources, audiobooks and other interactive learning applications. These develop children’s love for reading and enable them to explore a variety of learning opportunities while schools are closed. Parents can help their children engage with the educational resources provided electronically by the library. They can, for instance, read interactive stories and perform several activities related to the text, as well as use different electronic games, creating an enriching experience.”
The library also provides online interactive storytelling platforms, such as I Read in Arabic, the iJana programme for reading and the Nahla and Nahel website. Parents can encourage their kids to read more for fun using RBDigital Comics, which has more than 600 Marvel and IDW graphic novels and comics. There is also BookFlix, which offers online video storybooks for pre-schoolers through grade 3, as well as related games and activities.
Mahmoud added, “There is no doubt that the changes caused by this unfortunate situation affect all aspects of learning. The biggest challenge facing parents now is how to familiarise themselves with distance learning so they can support their children to adapt accordingly. We encourage parents to use the various online resources provided by the library to help their children continue to learn at home.”
Ahmed al Malki, head of the Young Adults’ Library, said, “The secret is using the right communication and information technology. The technology we have now makes it possible to work, learn and communicate remotely, even as we’re all trying to fight COVID-19. This means that, although schools are closed, young adults can access thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, interactive digital magazines and other learning resources. This is a great time for young adults to register for their own library membership if they have not done that before.”
Given the distance learning and teaching currently adopted by schools and universities across Qatar, Maki said young adults can communicate remotely with the library’s writing and communication specialist to get support on writing essays, conducting research and filling out college applications, along with writing emails, letters and creative projects. He mentioned the availability of the Ask Our Librarians service where students can send requests for assistance with their school research.
He also said the library’s OverDrive platform allows members to borrow a range of popular ebooks and audiobooks.
Other useful databases include Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, RBDigital Comics, the Bookshare e-library for audiobooks for young adults with disabilities, the Frontiers Science Portal, the RBdigital database for digital magazines and the AudioBookCloud database.
“Young adults are usually independent and self-reliant in their search for information and learning material. Even when they’re stuck at home, young people can accomplish a lot. For instance, they can take advantage of our resources to improve their language skills by exploring English language tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, complete their research articles for school and continue their educational journey in various disciplines such as science, the humanities and social sciences,” said Malki.
Library visitors can email the library’s writing and communication specialist at [email protected] to seek advice and support on their written and creative projects, articles, emails, letters, applications and more.
The library’s online resources are available to all members, wherever they are, for free. Anyone with a Qatar ID can become a library member.
Registration for the membership takes just a few minutes and can be done through QNL website.
Residents who don’t have a library membership are encouraged to register online.
