Library (institution)

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Special Libraries

During the second half of the 20th century, various corporations, organizations, and government agencies throughout the Middle East began emphasizing the establishment and expansion of special libraries and information centers. These institutions provide users in specialized fields with access to information and collections not available in public and university libraries.

In Saudi Arabia, special libraries provide highly valued services to the government and businesses. For example, the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) first developed a special library of energy-related materials during the 1950s. By the 1990s it had grown to include a law library, a medical library, an Arabian affairs library, and numerous technical libraries. Many of the government ministries throughout Saudi Arabia also have their own specialized libraries. Egypt maintains special libraries to serve most of its government ministries and agencies. Examples of special libraries and information centers in Egypt include the Institute of Public Administration Library, the Science Documentation Center of the Atomic Energy Commission, and the National Information and Documentation Center. In Israel, businesses and organizations receive support from the central government to develop special libraries in the sciences and technology. In Kuwait, the National Scientific and Technical Information Center provides extensive information and library services to Kuwaiti scientists.

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Library Associations

Libraries in the Middle East have developed relatively few collective associations. The scarcity of library associations is due in part to the lack of interlibrary cooperation among the various countries and also to political instability in the region.

The oldest library association was founded in Egypt in 1945 as the Cairo Library Association. A few years later it was renamed the Egyptian Library, Information, and Archives Association and became a member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). The Jordanian Library Association has published a number of reference tools for professionals, including an Arabic translation of the Dewey Decimal Classification system. In Iran, the Tehrān Book Processing Center operates as a type of library association by promoting librarianship and improvements to libraries across the country. The two professional library associations in Israel, the Israeli Library Association and the Israel Society of Special Libraries and Information Centers, are both members of IFLA. An international Arab Federation of Library Associations was established in 1996.

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D

Latin America

The region known as Latin America includes the entire western hemisphere south of the United States. The nations of Latin America range from the many Spanish-speaking countries of the region to French-speaking Haiti, Portuguese-speaking Brazil, and the English-speaking nations of the Caribbean and adjacent mainland. Libraries share certain characteristics among the various countries of Latin America, but they also reveal significant differences from one country to the next.

Before most Latin American countries gained independence from European countries in the 19th century, Roman Catholic monasteries and convents generally kept the most important library collections on the continent. Many individuals in Latin America also maintained extensive private libraries, some of which later served as the foundation for research or academic collections. Most countries established national libraries not long after gaining independence, although two national libraries—those in Colombia and Ecuador—trace their history to the 18th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Latin American libraries began to adopt library organization practices such as the Dewey Decimal Classification system and European indexing techniques. In the 1980s some of the largest libraries in Latin America and the Caribbean began introducing automated library systems and many now provide access to the Internet.

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Mexico

Mexico’s National Library is affiliated with the country’s national university, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, or UNAM) in Mexico City. The UNAM’s Institute of Bibliographical Research administers the National Library’s extensive collection of rare documents from Mexican history. The institute also administers the national periodical collection, the Hemeroteca Nacional de México.

Aside from hosting the National Library, the UNAM is home to the country’s largest library, the Central Library, which is one of the most important academic libraries in Latin America. Built in the early 1950s, the Central Library was designed by Mexican architect and artist Juan O’Gorman, who decorated its exterior with colorful mosaic tiles depicting precolonial Mexico. Before the UNAM’s library was founded, most universities in Latin America divided their collections among separate faculty and research institute libraries. The UNAM formed a single coordinated library system for its entire institution, and this allowed the university to minimize costs by avoiding unnecessary duplication of expensive publications. Other Mexican universities in the region maintained small, inadequate libraries, so they closed these facilities, consolidated their resources in the UNAM’s Central Library, and allowed their students and faculty to access the collections there.

By the mid-1990s there were more than 5,000 public libraries in Mexico, a dramatic increase from less than 400 public libraries in 1980. This achievement resulted from an ambitious program of public library expansion that was begun in the early 1980s by the federal government in collaboration with states, cities, and towns. As part of this expansion plan, a federal agency known as the General Directorate of Libraries acquires and catalogs materials, sets standards, and provides orientation for library staff. State and local authorities provide staff members with adequate library facilities and salaries. The primary mission of the libraries is to serve the general public. Because school libraries in Mexico are generally inadequate, all public libraries also make provisions for children’s academic and recreational needs.

The largest of the country’s public libraries is the Library of Mexico in Mexico City. In addition to providing standard library materials, it has a rare-book collection, issues its own journal, and features a special reading room devoted to Mexican history and culture.

The Benjamin Franklin Library (Biblioteca Benjamin Franklin, or BBF) also serves readers in Mexico. The BBF is known as the forerunner of information resource centers maintained around the globe by the U.S. Department of State. These centers are designed to promote American culture abroad. With initial support from the State Department through a grant to the American Library Association, the BBF first opened in 1942 and served all types of readers, from children to scholars, with circulating collections on open shelves. At one time the total collections exceeded 50,000 volumes, including many American scholarly journals.

Most of Mexico’s many special libraries serve government agencies and businesses in the capital city. For example, the National Council for Science and Technology provides government and industry workers with information and training in the scientific and technological fields.

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Central America

During the last decades of the 20th century, Central America was marked by civil strife: the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua (1978-1990), a civil war in El Salvador (1979-1992), and a U.S. invasion of Panama (1989), among other upheavals. The Central American country of Costa Rica remained relatively peaceful during this period, and it devoted much of its national budget to education and improving social conditions. As a result, Costa Rica offers the region’s best public library services and access to foreign information databases. It also has the best national information networks in medicine and several other scientific fields. Public library service is not as good in other Central American countries. However, several governments and international aid agencies have opened cultural centers in rural areas, and some of these centers have modest collections available to the general public.

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