With 150,000 volumes of periodicals and books now collected, the Gaza Library Project, a registered British Charity established in 1990, has been successful in the first 6 years of its operation. Pictured right, Engineering lecturer Mashhour Abudaka chats with a Project employee in the storage room of Birzeit University's Maktoum Building used by the project.
The project has also gathered excess books for West Bank institutions, including these multiple copies of complete journal sets (left) sent by the Royal Society in Britain, which will be sent to each of Palestine's universities. During the Intifada period, when universities were closed and access to campus libraries was prohibited even to library administrators, many gaps in periodical subscriptions appeared. Microfilms, needing to be stored below 21°C were also damaged in the heat. Today Palestinian university libraries are still trying to recover from this difficult period.
Medical books are a sought after resource. There is no adequate medical library currently in the occupied territories. This project was instigated by Palestinian academics studying abroad in European institutions. For more information, see the Gaza Library Project website below.
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