More than 200,000 readers visit Sharjah Public Libraries annually

SHARJAH / WAM

Each year, more than 200,000 knowledge seekers and learners visit Sharjah Public Libraries (SPL). These visitors and members of SPL, who represent different nationalities and age groups and come in with diverse curiosities and interests, demonstrate the SPL’s increasingly important role in promoting literacy, cultural appreciation, and academic and scientific research in the UAE.
The impressive visitor numbers also testify to the fun, modern, innovative, and people-centric environment that the SPL has offered its guests over the years to enjoy their engagement with books and other pursuits of knowledge.
A key reason for its growing popularity and outstanding success is its rich programmatic agenda that features more than 500 events annually.
With seminars, lectures, reading competitions, exhibitions, and workshops led by experts, it goes beyond the traditional offerings of a library to encompass a more holistic programme that enriches and empowers the community, particularly young college graduates who attend insightful sessions that enable them to explore the right career opportunities.
The six branches of the SPL feature more than six million digital sources, boasting one of the largest e-book collections in the world to meet the needs of modern-day readers, researchers, students, and academics. The SPL’s massive online collection has surpassed some of the world’s most prestigious online libraries, including ProQuest Ebook Central, which contains one million digital resources.
The library offers around 742,000 reading materials, including books and references and 15,000 periodicals.
The libraries serve the multicultural demographic of Sharjah and beyond by offering readers books, online materials, and other knowledge sources in 33 international languages.
From literature to history, philosophy, arts, sciences, technology, and more, the library is a treasure trove of creative and intellectual contributions by the global human civilisation through the ages.
Realising Sharjah’s leadership’s vision to establish the library as the cornerstone of a vibrant community and the beating heart of a knowledge economy, the SPL has built a robust network of six branches across the emirate. Starting with the main branch at the Cultural Square in Sharjah city, the other branches are in Al Dhaid, Dibba Al Hisn, Kalba, Khor Fakkan, and Wadi Al Helo.
The six branches were established in line with the Sharjah population distribution to ensure readers’ ease of access to sources of knowledge and that they benefit from the annually held activities and events by the SPL.