Sharjah presents its experience in digitizing 18 million knowledge documents to international experts in Portugal
Coimbra – Portugal, July 19 / WAM / Yesterday, the Portuguese University of Coimbra hosted the Sharjah Public Libraries in the international symposium “Digitizing Historical Libraries in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, where it presented the Sharjah experience as an applied model in the digitization of historical libraries and the preservation of heritage collections.
Sharjah Libraries’ participation focused on the methodology followed by the emirate in building an integrated digital knowledge system that begins with cooperation with international institutions with the aim of preserving rare sources and extends to making knowledge available to researchers, students and individuals.
During a session entitled “Sharjah’s Experience in Digitizing Historical Libraries in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” Iman Bushalibi, Director of the Sharjah Public Libraries Department, reviewed the emirate’s experience in digitizing historical libraries and employing modern technologies in preserving and documenting more than 18 million knowledge items, along with experts and specialists from a number of countries, who discussed the future of preserving heritage collections in light of digital transformations.
Sharjah Public Libraries stressed that the digitization of historical libraries in the era of artificial intelligence represents a civilizational responsibility that goes beyond converting manuscripts and documents into digital copies, to include building an integrated system that combines high-quality photography, scientific description, and sustainable technical infrastructure, in addition to the pivotal role of experts and librarians in managing knowledge and preserving cultural memory.
The session discussed the challenges facing the digitization of documentary heritage, based on the fact that a large part of human memory is still fragile, concentrated in specific locations, and difficult to access, which makes digitization an essential tool for reducing direct dealing with rare assets and expanding the benefit from them.
Bushalibi explained that the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, formed the basis from which Sharjah’s experience in preserving knowledge and making it available was launched, and that digital archiving comes within an integrated institutional environment led by the Sharjah Book Authority and is based on several foundations, including compatibility with the directions of the United Arab Emirates in artificial intelligence, including the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and the Emirates Charter for Artificial Intelligence 2024, in addition to the cultural message that Sharjah has established since Its selection as World Book Capital for 2019 and professional capacity building programs such as the Sharjah International Library Conference and the Sharjah Library Literature Award.
She said that Sharjah deals with heritage as a shared trust and a responsibility that goes beyond the boundaries of a single institution, pointing out that successful digitization requires a clear vision, sustainable funding, and agreements that preserve the rights of the institutions that own the collections and at the same time ensure fair availability for researchers and readers, and that artificial intelligence can accelerate access to knowledge, but it does not eliminate the role of specialists in indexing, verification, scientific description, and preserving the historical context of texts.
The session reviewed four main dimensions that constitute the core of the challenge in this field, the first of which is the technical dimension related to the difficulty of optical recognition of texts and manuscripts, especially in ancient Arabic texts, with their diversity in fonts, interlacing, movements, and the condition of the original material. The second is the organizational dimension, which relates to the need for long-term funding, clear implementation stages, and governance of rights and access. The third is the ethical dimension, which relates to the possibility of transferring biases present in original collections to digital systems, while the sustainability dimension is related to ensuring that digital materials remain accessible and usable in the future.
During the session, Sharjah Libraries presented a set of models that reflect the breadth of this trend, including the Ambrosiana Library project in Milan, which aims to digitize more than 2,500 rare Arabic manuscripts, some of which are more than 450 years old, while expanding their availability through the Sharjah Public Library system under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2021.
In the context of the symposium, the Director of Sharjah Libraries presented the Portuguese Joanina Library project as a large-scale model for the digitization of historical libraries. It includes about 18 million images and nearly 30,000 historical volumes within a plan that extends until 2031.
The session stopped at the University of Khor Fakkan project, which began with 30 manuscripts in its first phase. Work is currently underway on the second phase in cooperation with the House of Manuscripts in Sharjah, and includes manuscripts of various topics that have undergone cleaning, sterilization, and indexing operations in accordance with international standards, in addition to being included in an integrated platform that allows text and image search and employs augmented reality techniques.
The session stressed that the partnerships in the Sharjah experience do not remove scientific guardianship from the institutions that maintain the groups, but rather preserve their role and expertise while providing the strategic support, financing, and governance necessary to complete long-term projects.
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