The Institute of Arabic Manuscripts, a subsidiary institution of ALECSO, signed a Cooperation Agreement with the National Library of France. The signing ceremony was held on November 17, 2022 at the headquarters of the National Library in Paris.
The agreement was signed by Dr. Mourad Rifi, Director of the Institute, and Dr. Laurence Engel, President of the National Library of France, in the presence of Ms. Afifa Zayadi, Officer in charge of the Permanent Office of ALECSO to UNESCO, and Ms. Géraldine Chatelard, Coordinator of the Middle East Program at the National Library.
The agreement involves providing financial support for the implementation of a project to digitize and index one of the Institute’s undigitized microfilm collections, and to equip the Digitization Unit with the latest devices in this field.
By virtue of this agreement, the Institute joins the “Bibliothèques d’Orient” program of the National Library of France, which will allow the Institute to make its digitized collections available at the program’s virtual library.
In his remarks on this occasion, Dr. Mourad Rifi conveyed the greetings of H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, to the President of the National Library of France, and his support for this agreement. He highlighted ALECSO’s achievements in terms of heritage protection and preservation, and commended the “Bibliothèques d’Orient” program and the National Library’s interest in promoting the world’s heritage assets and making it available to the wide public. He welcomed the National Library’s cooperation with the Institute for the digitization and indexing of its manuscript collections, noting that the present agreement will lay the ground for a constructive partnership between the two institutions.
For her part, Dr. Laurence Engel presented the tasks and roles undertaken the National Library of France, and highlighted its openness to the world’s heritage and cultures. She indicated that “Bibliothèques d’Orient” is one of the main programs of the National Library, and that the Institute’s joining of this program reflects the high interest attached to increasing the presence of the Arab heritage in the National Library, drawing, in this regard, upon the high expertise and rich experience of the Institute in the field of manuscript heritage.
