The Qatar National Library (QNL) will host a series of events to highlight the benefits of public services and prioritise the training of students and professionals this month.
The events include a book discussion featuring ‘Qatar’s Modern and Contemporary Development: Chapters of Political, Social and Economic Development’, co-authored by Dr Ahmed al-Shalaq, Dr Mustafa Mahmoud and Dr Youssef al-Abdullah.
The book sheds light on the nation’s modern history, and discusses Qatar’s emergence as a sovereign state in 1971, and its continuing political, economic and social developments up until 2013. The discussion will be conducted in Arabic and will take place on May 11 in the TV Lounge at the Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) Student Centre.
QNL will also host the ‘Train the Trainer  - Hands On’ workshop for library professionals on May 14 at the HBKU Student Centre.
Entitled ‘Public Services in Libraries and Information Centres’, the workshop will be presented by guest lecturer Huda Abbas, Executive Director of the HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Library in King’s Academy Amman, Jordan.
Targeting local librarians and focusing on the benefits of reference materials, the workshop aims to raise awareness of public services provided by libraries and information centres, and their role in spreading knowledge in the local community. The workshop will enable participants to enhance their skills to catalogue, locate and efficiently deliver relevant information to library patrons.
On May 17, QNL will offer a comprehensive training course at the HBKU Student Centre, which is open to all librarians in Qatar, on the selected Islamic online resources E-Marefa, al-Manhal and Dar Almandumah collections, containing scholarly journals and full-text Arabic and Islamic publications in various fields.
“QNL aims to cultivate well-trained knowledge providers, so as to offer the highest standard of information services delivery to our patrons,” said Saadi al-Said, Director of Administration and Planning at QNL.
Last Saturday QNL hosted a popular research workshop entitled ‘Conducting Research’ at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies (QFIS) to develop the research skills of students and researchers.