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The New Library of Alexandria - Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The Government of Egypt, in collaboration with the international community, has built a library, research and meeting complex in the city of Alexandria, Egypt - called the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It is a non-profit center for learning and research at the national, regional and international levels, and intends to revive the glory of the ancient Library of Alexandria, which for six centuries was the center of world learning, and promoted universal knowledge. It was a beacon of science, rationality, tolerance and philosophical diversity in a world of bigotry and superstition.

The enterprise was launched as a national project of world significance with an appeal by the Director-general of UNESCO in 1987, and was elaborated during the World Decade for Cultural Development. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is open to researchers not only from the Mediterranean countries, but from all over the world. The complex is situated on a site of over 40,000 mē overlooking the Mediterranean. The library proper covers a total floor area of 69,000 mē, and the complex includes: a conference center (3200 seats), science museum, planetarium, the International School of Information Studies (ISIS), and a calligraphy institute and museum. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) complex is now virtually completed, and the splendid facility is next to the campus of the University of Alexandria with 50,000 students on one side and looks on the water where the old palace of Cleopatra is being excavated on the other.

But beyond the building, there is a need for a functioning institution that would be true to the spirit of the old Library of Alexandria, and that would address the challenges of the 21st century. Such an institution will need to be integrated into the emerging global knowledge infrastructure, and must be managed with nimbleness, flexibility and independence.

World's Window on Egypt:

Egypt, the longest continuously living civilization on Earth, is a source of continuing inspiration and interest for the world. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is to become the world's window on the civilization of Egypt; a gateway for the world to access the information they need about the multi-layered, incredibly rich civilization of Egypt. The BA will ensure that the best collection of materials is accessible to all visitors, whether they come in person or through virtual means. To organize all of this information in a user-friendly manner, will be one of the BA's biggest challenges.

Egypt's window on the world:

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina will be the natural gateway for Egyptians wishing to know about the world. Through this gateway, the marvels of Europe, the Mediterranean cultures and the whole world will be accessible and understandable. How much should be devoted to Homer, Goethe, Dante, Shakespeare, Racine and Ibsen, and how much to molecular genetics and to atomic physics? How much to Scandinavia and how much to Japan and the US or Brazil and China or sub-Saharan Africa or the Mediterranean?

A library for the new digital age:

The digital revolution and new Information and Communications Technology (ICT), will offer enormous opportunities for countries such as Egypt to both modernize the manner in which investment in human resources is being made, and open new opportunities for its university students. The BA would help enormously in this area, by ensuring a center of excellence for dealing with the challenges of ICTs. Its influence will be felt not only in the University of Alexandria, but throughout the higher education and research institutions of Egypt and the entire region. It will also be a major instrument for promoting new ways of collaborating with international agencies and other nations in innovative and mutually profitable ventures in the areas of education and research.

A center of learning and dialogue:

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is going to become a thriving center of intellectual thought - a place for debate and discussion, lively and imaginative thinking, as well as mindful scholarship and critical analysis. The BA aspires to become the meeting place of north and south, of east and west; to promote the dialogue of civilizations rather than the clash of cultures. It will be the meeting place where new ideas will be explored and shaped, and where international consensus can be forged on complex ventures (e.g. overcoming the digital divide; intellectual property rights in the age of the internet; identity and homogeneity in the age of global communications; the management of water resources; the structures and forms of developmental governance; forms of collaboration between countries; and the use of GMOs in agriculture in developing countries; etc.).

Why hold the Summit in Bibliotheca Alexandrina?

Since its inauguration 2300 years ago, Bibliotheca Alexandrina has been a beacon of light for knowledge and civilization. Today, the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina stands on the brink of a new millennium awaiting to reassume its position as a portal for knowledge and progress in our new world.

This endeavor of linking the old and the new, the past and the future is no easy task. It is one that requires a vision that can capture the immense possibilities presented for our future today by encompassing the knowledge and abilities that the human race has gathered in the past generations.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina offers the Youth Employment Summit 2002 a bright future for generations to come. A billion young people, eighty-five percent in developing countries, are entering the labor market with few skills and even fewer opportunities for productive work. With the knowledge base we have amassed and the communication and connectivity we have developed in this new era, we now have the ability to create opportunities for sustainable livelihoods for years to come.

This is why, to celebrate its inauguration as the New Library of Alexandria, Bibliotheca Alexandrina has decided to take up the challenge and partner with YES2002, and host the Alexandria Summit that will be held September 7 to 11, 2002. The Library will also partner with YES2002 in the Decade Campaign to create an additional 500 million sustainable livelihoods for youth by the year 2012.

So many challenges lie ahead of humanity in this new millenium, so many obstacles to overcome and so many borders to cross. But what challenge is more important and what mission has greater purpose than the challenge of creating sustainable livelihoods for tomorrow's generation, today's youth?