Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (English: Library of Alexandria; Arabic: مكتبة الإسكندرية‎ Maktabat al-Iskandarīyah, Egyptian Arabic: [mækˈtæb(e)t eskendeˈɾejjæ]) is a major library and cultural center located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. It is both a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, and an attempt to rekindle something of the brilliance that this earlier center of study and erudition represented.

History[link]

Entrance to the library

Mediterranean side of library

Inside Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Mirror of the Internet Archive in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The idea of reviving the old library dates back to 1974, when a committee set up by Alexandria University selected a plot of land for its new library, between the campus and the seafront, close to where the ancient library once stood. The notion of recreating the ancient library was soon enthusiastically adopted by other individuals and agencies. One leading supporter of the project was former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; UNESCO was also quick to embrace the concept of endowing the Mediterranean region with a center of cultural and scientific excellence. An architectural design competition, organized by UNESCO in 1988 to choose a design worthy of the site and its heritage, was won by Snøhetta, a Norwegian architectural office, from among more than 1,400 entries. At a conference held in 1990 in Aswan, the first pledges of funding for the project were made: USD $65 million, mostly from the Arab states. Construction work began in 1995 and, after some USD $220 million had been spent, the complex was officially inaugurated on October 16, 2002.^[1]

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is trilingual, containing books in Arabic, English and French. In 2010, the library received a generous donation of 500,000 books from the National Library of France, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The gift makes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina the sixth-largest Francophone library in the world. The BA also is now the largest depository of French books in the Arab world, surpassing those of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, in addition to being the main French library in Africa.^[2]

Building and library features[link]

The dimensions of the project are vast: the library has shelf space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering 70,000 m² on eleven cascading levels. The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums; four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory. The library's architecture is equally striking. The main reading room stands beneath a 32-meter-high glass-panelled roof, tilted out toward the sea like a sundial, and measuring some 160 m in diameter. The walls are of gray Aswan granite, carved with characters from 120 different human scripts.

The collections at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina were donated from all over the world. The Spanish donated documents that detailed their period of Moorish rule. The French also donated, giving the library documents dealing with the building of the Suez Canal.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina maintains the only copy and external backup of the Internet Archive.

Library Services[link]

The library provides access to print on demand books via the Espresso Book Machine.^[3]

Main Library[link]

[1]

Specialized libraries[link]

Taha Hussein Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired[link]

The Taha Hussein Library contains materials for the blind and visually impaired using special software that makes it possible for readers to read books and journals. It is named after Taha Hussein, the Egyptian poet and literary critic and one of the leading figures of the Arab Renaissance (Nahda) in literature, who was himself blinded at the age of three.

Nobel Section[link]

Contains book collections of Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature from 1901 to present. The Nobel Section was inaugurated by Queen Silvia of Sweden and Queen Sonja of Norway on 24 April 2002.

Nobel Section

Museums[link]

Antiquities Museum[link]

Manuscript Museum[link]

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Sadat Museum[link]

[2] This museum contains many different personnel belongings of the Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat. This includes some of his military robes,the noble prize medal, his copy of the Quraan, some letters written by him, some pictures of him and his family and the blood stained military robe he wore in his assassination. The museum also contains a recording in his voice of a part of the Quraan and different newspaper editions featuring him.

History of Science[link]

See History of science

Permanent Exhibitions[link]

The World of Shadi Abdel Salam Exhibition[link]

The World of Shadi Abdel Salam exhibit contains many of the works and effects of the Egyptian film director, screenwriter, and costume designer Shadi Abdel Salam, donated by his family to the Library to put on permanent display. This includes his personal library, some of his furniture, several awards, and many storyboard paintings and costumes from several of his films.

CULTURAMA[link]

The culturama hall consists of a huge 180-degree panoramic interactive computer screen with a diameter of 10 meters that is made up of nine separate flat screens arranged in a semicircle and nine video projectors controlled by a single computer. Culturama has enabled the display of information that could never have been displayed clearly using a regular computer display system.^[4]

It was developed by the Egyptian Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) and holds its patent in 2007.

It displayed 3 periods from the history of Egypt:

• Ancient Egyptian Period
• Highlights of Islamic Civilization
• Modern Egypt

VISTA[link]

Virtual Immersive Science and Technology Applications. It uses CAVE Technology. VISTA features several projects including

• BA Model: A complete virtual recreation of the BA including the Library’s main building, planetarium, study rooms, and even the Library’s furniture will be seen clearly and accurately in this demo.
• Sphinx
• Socio-Economic Data Visualization: A new visualization technique for multi-dimensional numerical data. The case study uses data provided by the UN, including health care, life duration expectancy and literacy rate over a 25 year period in some countries.

Management[link]

The current director is Ismail Serageldin. He also chairs the Boards of Directors for each of the BA's affiliated research institutes and museums and is a professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Post-Revolutionary Involvement[link]

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina held a variety of symposiums in 2011 in support of the Egyptian community and emphasizing the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the Egyptian Constitution and Democratic Government in Arab nations. The library also displays a photo gallery of the January 25, 2011 revolution and is working to document it in a wide variety of formats.^[5]

Criticism[link]

Criticism of the library comes chiefly from two angles. Many allege that the library is a white elephant impossible for modern Egypt to sustain, and serves as little more than a vanity project for the Egyptian government. Furthermore, there are fears that censorship, long the bane of Egyptian academia, would affect the library's collection.^[6] In addition, the building's elaborate architecture (which imitates a rising Sun) upset some who believed too much money was being spent on construction rather than the library's actual collection. Due to the lack of available funds, the library had only 500,000 books in 2002, low compared to other national libraries. (However, in 2010 the library received an additional 500,000 books from the Bibliothèque nationale de France.) It has been estimated that it will take 80 years to fill the library to capacity at the current level of funding. The library relies heavily on donations to buy books for its collections.^[7]

Gallery[link]

The building

An ancient statue in front of the library   The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Pool, adjacent to the library outer wall.   The BA Pool with the Mediterranean Sea on the background. An artistic statue is in view   Interior View of the BA

Antiquities Museum

Ancient drawing found in excavations under the new Alexandria library   Anthropoid coffin (mummy) of Aba in 600 BC   Two burial artifacts taking the face of a monkey and a jackal.   A view on an old version of a Quran manuscript   Old window with inscriptions from the Quran

See also[link]

• Planetarium Science Center

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Watson, Bruce (April 2002). "Rising Sun". Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/rising.html. Retrieved 2009-02-24. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

• Official website
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina Webcast
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina webarchive
• Portfolio of photographs of the complex
• Full Photo Collection of the Walls of Bibliotheca Alexandrina
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina: An Ancient Library Goes Modern (illustrated article)
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina video
• Wikimania 2008 venue description
• Friends of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Mexico Association (official Mexican site)
• Highly illustrated page at Sacred Destinations

Coordinates: 31°12′32″N 29°54′33″E / 31.20889°N 29.90917°E / 31.20889; 29.90917

Ismail Serageldin
Ismail Sergeldin speaking at the inauguration of the Sadat Museum.
Born	1944 Giza, Egypt

Ismail Serageldin (born 1944 in Giza, Egypt) is the director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He also chairs the Boards of Directors for each of the BA's affiliated research institutes and museums and was a Distinguished Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He was a member of the Senate in Egypt (Majlis Al-Shura).

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Cairo University and Masters' degree and a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has received 29 honorary doctorates. He has published over 60 books and monographs and over 200 papers on a variety of topics including biotechnology, rural development, sustainability, and the value of science to society.^[1] He is sometimes referred to as the "most intelligent man in Egypt".^[2] Serageldin received the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences on May 1, 2011.^[3]

He speaks Arabic, French and English. He is married and has one son.

Education[link]

1964 B.Sc. (First Class Honors) Cairo University
1968 M.R.P. (With Distinction) Harvard University
1972 Ph.D. Harvard University

Honorary degrees[link]

1996 Doctor of Sociology, University of Bucharest, Romania
1996 Doctor of Agricultural Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
1997 Doctor of Science, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India
1998 Doctor of International Affairs, American University, Washington, D.C., USA
1998 Doctor of Science, Punjab Agricultural University, India
1998 Doctor of Science, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, India
1998 Doctor of Natural resource management, Ohio State University, USA
1999 Doctor of Science, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India
1999 Doctor of Science, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India
1999 Doctor of Economics and Management, CNAM, Paris, France
1999 Doctor of Science, Egerton University, Kenya
1999 Doctor of Agricultural Science, University of Tuscia, Italy
2000 Doctor of Humane Letters, American University in Cairo, Egypt
2002 Doctor of Science, SNHU, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA
2003 Doctor of Science, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2004 Doctor of Letters, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
2004 Doctor of Letters, Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France
2005 Doctor of Laws, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
2006 Doctor of Letters, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
2007 Doctor of Science, Azerbaijan State Economic University, Baku, Azerbaijan
2007 Doctor of Society Development, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan
2008 Doctor of Letters, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada
2009 Doctor of Arts, Beirut Arab University, Beirut, Lebanon
2009 Doctor Diploma, Azerbaijan Cooperation University, Baku, Azerbaijan
2009 Doctor Diploma, National Academy of Sciences, Institute of History, Baku Azerbaijan
2009 Doctor of Letters, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
2010 Doctor Degree, ANAS Institute of Oriental Studies, Baku, Azerbaijan
2010 Doctor Degree, Georgian American University, Tbilisi, Georgia
2010 Doctor Degree, Free University of Tbilisi, Georgia

Currently[link]

Serageldin is currently the director of the Library of Alexandria, and chairman of the board of the seven affiliated research institutes and the three affiliated museums.

He serves as Chair and Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions and civil society efforts which includes the Institut d'Egypte (Egyptian Academy of Science), US National Academy of Sciences (Public Welfare Medalist), the American Philosophical Society, TWAS (Third World Academy of Sciences), the Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Brookings Doha Center, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is Co-Chair of the African Biotechnology Panel (with Calestous Juma). He is a foreign fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences ^[4]

Ismail Serageldin is also a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee^[5], ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace. He also participates as jury member for the Prize for Conflict Prevention^[6] awarded every year by this foundation.

Previous appointments[link]

He worked in a number of capacities at the World Bank since joining in 1972. Economist in education and human resources (1972–76); Division Chief for Technical Assistance and Special Studies (1977–80), and for Urban Projects in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (1980–83); Director for Programs in West Africa (1984–87), Country Director for Central and Occidental Africa (1987–89), Technical Director for all Sub-Saharan Africa (1990–92), and Vice-President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (1993–98). In addition, he was active in promoting NGO-Bank relations, and served as Co-Chairman of the NGO-Bank Committee (1997–99). Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked as a consultant in city and regional planning, and taught at Cairo University and Harvard University.

He is former Chairman of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR, 1994–2000), founder and former Chairman of the Global Water Partnership (1996–2000) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest, a microfinance program (1995–2000). He was Chairman of the World Commission for Water in the 21st Century (August 1998-March 2000). He was Professor of the International Chair Savoirs contre pauvreté (Knowledge Against Poverty), at Collège de France, Paris, for the academic year 2010/2011.

Publications and speeches[link]

Over 60 books and monographs (edited or authored) and 200 articles, book chapters, and technical papers on various topics, including: Nurturing Development (1995), Sustainability and the Wealth of Nations (1996), Architecture of Empowerment (1997), Rural Well-Being: From Vision to Action (1997, with David Steeds), The Modernity of Shakespeare (1998), Biotechnology and Biosafety (1999, with Wanda Collins), Very Special Places (1999) and Promethean Science (2000, with G. Persley).

• Making Development Sustainable: From Concepts to Action (1994) ISBN 978-0-8213-3042-5
• Nurturing Development (1995)
• Sustainability and the Wealth of Nations (1996)
• Architecture of Empowerment (1997)
• Rural Well-Being: From Vision to Action (1997)
• The Modernity of Shakespeare (1998)
• Biotechnology and Biosafety (1999)
• Very Special Places (1999)
• Promethean Science (2000)
• Social Capital: A Multifaceted Perspective (2001) ISBN 978-0-8213-5004-1
• Historic Cities and Sacred Sites: Cultural Roots for Urban Futures (2001) ISBN 978-0-8213-4904-5

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ismail Serageldin

• Dr. Serageldin's Official page

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (January 2012)

Poonam Ahluwalia is a social entrepreneur and the founder and director of Youth Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (YES), an international nonprofit based at Cambridge College, MA.

Early Years[link]

Poonam Ahluwalia was born and raised in an affluent family in Jaipur India on February 14, 1957.^[1] Living in an affluent family, she was encouraged to get married and have a family. However, Ahluwalia had the desire to do her own work and make a difference. After she graduated from high school Ahluwalia taught basic hygiene in small schools and neighborhoods. As she began working, Ahluwalia realized that through a collaborative effort, she could make a difference. Following her mother’s words, she wanted to leave every place that she worked in better than she found it. This soon became her philosophy in every project she has undertaken for the world.

Early career[link]

After receiving her M.A. in political science from Rajasthan University in Jaipur, India, Ahluwalia continued to pursue her interest in the movement against poverty. In her 20s she worked as the marketing manager of a chain of pizzerias called “Pizza King”.^[2]

Ahluwalia moved to the United States in 1985 and began providing household help for a family in Brookline in order to pay for her education at Boston University. She attended Boston University in pursuit of a master’s in mass communications, which she received in 1989.^[3]

Ahluwalia began working for The Hunger Project in 1984. She became involved when she was introduced to Werner Erhad, the Founder of The Hunger Project, when he came to India to launch the organization. She was instantly enrolled and continues to be a member. During her work with The Hunger Project, Ahluwalia raised awareness around the issue and funds, as well as helped launch Ending the Subjugation of Women as a Critical Step to Ending Hunger. For about three to four years she helped raise over $100,000 a year through an annual event that they held – many times at Ahluwalia’s own home. Ahluwalia also organized a dance with Jothi Raghawan and two walkathons in Lexington to raise funds.

By the late 1980s Ahluwalia also began to work for Welfare-to-Work programs under the administration of Massachusetts governor Michael S. Dukakis.^[4]

In 1997 Ahluwalia began to work with the Education Development Center (EDC) based in Newton, MA. With funding from USAID she was able to create work force development workshops with the purpose of promoting global learning, health, and education. In association with EDC Ahulwalia ran workshops in Peru, India, and Namibia. While the workshops were hugely successful, Poonam became aware of the issue of youth unemployment based on the feedback she received directly from participants. With this feedback in mind, Ahluwalia founded YES in 1998.^[5]

During her work with EDC Ahluwalia also had some contact with SEWA (All Indian Federation of Self-Employed Women’s Association) ^[6]

Work with YES[link]

As the founder and director of YES, Ahluwalia launched a 10-year campaign in 2002 with the purpose of creating accessible education and opportunities to youth around the world. She held the hope that these youth could build productive and sustainable livelihoods.^[7] The initiative was launched in Alexandria, Egypt in the world’s first international summit on youth employment sponsored by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).^[8] The summit was co-chaired by former president Bill Clinton, and first lady of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Suzanne Mubarak.^[9]

To build her vision to empower youth globally, Poonam helped start YES country networks in 55 countries with the goal of building the national capacity to ensure that 2 million youth become entrepreneurs by 2012. The way that YES manifests itself is different in each country network based on the conditions for growth. What is consistent throughout the country networks is the support given to youth leaders while they work towards learning how to use their resources and opportunities. Her vision is specifically focused on the triple bottom line (people, planet, profits) enterprises. In total she has organized five YES international summits in Alexandria, Egypt (2002), Veracruz, Mexico (2004), Nairobi, Kenya (2006), Baku, Azerbaijan (2008), and Leksand, Sweden (2010) and three YES Regional Summits in Hyderabad, India (2003), Asunción, Paraguay (2005), Dominican Republic (2006) and Panama City, Panama (2008).^[10]

These summits had the purpose of applying Ahluwalia’s dual approach of providing training and capacity building programs coupled with creating networks that enable youth to create sustainable job opportunities. To bring together the many different cultures represented at the summits, Ahluwalia employs three basic tenets for growth: renewal and replenishment, risk, and perseverance. Ahluwalia has worked to create markets and opportunities for entrepreneurship that are driven by the youth themselves.^[11] YES’ empowering approach has proven successful, as after the summits there have been more than 400 youth employment projects worldwide.^[12]

Ahluwalia has been recognized by the California Legislature and the Indian-American Trade and Commerce Council for her work as “an outstanding youth community leader”. In 2003 she was nominated for the South Asian Woman of the Year Award by the India New England News.^[13]

Ahluwalia’s innovative approach to creating youth employment opportunities has proved greatly successful. She believes that youth should be empowered and have ownership of these efforts. Ahluwalia also encourages collaborative relationships between YES and its country networks. The collaborative approach that YES employs, combined with the system of country networks and action-oriented methodology, has allowed YES to put youth employment at the forefront of the global agenda. With the idea to inspire creative action in mind, Ahluwalia plans to employ new and different initiatives to create opportunities for youth all over the world.

Under the leadership of Ahluwalia, YES currently focuses on encouraging the use of renewable energy, the implementation of information and communication technology, campaigns against HIV and AIDS, the growth of rural development and development of water sanitation.^[14] Ahluwalia is also planning an international summit in Kansas City, USA to take place in 2012.

Ahluwalia currently resides in Lexington, MA with her husband and two kids.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Yesweb
• Education Development Center
• Rework the World
• Youtube