"Juma Al Majid for Culture and Heritage"/ An Emirati monument that preserves human memory and keeps pace with digital transformation
Dubai, February 28 / WAM / The Juma Al Majid Center for Culture and Heritage, in Dubai, has established its position as one of the most prominent cultural edifices in the UAE that contributes to preserving human heritage and preserving Arab and Islamic cultural memory, in addition to its continued support for scientific research in the various branches of the humanities.
The Center was officially established in 1991 as a charitable scientific institution for public benefit, based on a vision that aimed to collect rare books, manuscripts and documents, preserve them and make them available to researchers and students of science inside and outside the country, to become a pioneering knowledge platform that contributes to enriching culture at the local and global levels.
The center houses more than two million books in various branches of knowledge, in addition to about one and a half million rare historical documents, more than 37,000 university theses, and 8,342 scientific periodical titles, in addition to 136 private libraries donated to the center by scholars and thinkers from different parts of the world.
It also includes a section specialized in national heritage, documenting the history of the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region through accurate primary sources that monitor the most important social, political and economic transformations that the region has witnessed.
Dr. Mohamed Kamel Gad, Director General of the Center, said that work has been underway for about a year to launch a qualitative shift in electronic services, in line with the requirements of the modern digital revolution, and keep pace with technical development.
He added that during the first quarter of this year, the Center will launch a smart application for mobile phones, which will provide access to comprehensive databases that include a detailed description of its holdings of books, manuscripts, periodicals, etc., in addition to making the same knowledge materials available in accordance with the controls of the intellectual property law in the UAE.
He said that the application will enable researchers around the world to view the center’s holdings and benefit from its services directly, thus enhancing its presence on the global knowledge scene.
The Center provides book and manuscript restoration services through a specialized department equipped with the latest technologies. It has provided more than 50 cultural and scientific bodies in 30 countries with preservation and restoration equipment. It also includes about 1,287,430 original and illustrated manuscripts, which have been indexed according to an accurate scientific method that makes them easily accessible to researchers.
The center established an advanced digital laboratory to convert various cultural vessels into modern digital formats, including photocopying manuscripts, documents, and books, and converting microfilm, videotapes, and cassettes into digital formats, at a rate of about 20,000 frames per day, equivalent to 40,000 pages converted from paper to digital.
The Center continues to fulfill its cultural mission by organizing more than 40 scientific events annually, including seminars, conferences and dialogue sessions, in addition to issuing 162 specialized publications in the fields of scientific research, heritage and historical studies.
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