Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has given a fillip to book borrowing through its partnership with US-based OverDrive – one of the largest international companies in the field of digital books – providing a digital library with a valuable collection of e-books, audiobooks, and streaming video titles.
The new partnership is in line with the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in transforming Dubai into a smart city, and in implementation of the directives of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, through the Hamdan bin Mohammed Program for Government Services (HBMPGS), which lays down the foundation for a smart government.
The initiative stems from the two main objectives of the Dubai Model Centre (DMC) – to encourage government entities to improve the quality of their services by utilizing the methodologies and tools in the Dubai Model, and secondly, to encourage cooperation and exchange of knowledge between government entities. Incidentally public libraries in Dubai are on the route to get their digital library collection compatible with smart phones, tablets, and computers, and also include a plethora of reading materials, be they recreational, professional, and educational, in addition to linguistic and scientific subjects, as well as constantly upgrading the site by adding new content. Currently there are over 3,700 books and titles stored as e-books, audiobooks, and videos.
Says Dr. Saeed Mubarak bin Kharbash Al Marri, CEO – Arts & Literature at Dubai Culture, “This initiative comes as part of the authority’s commitment to provide a continuous improvement in services provided by Dubai Public Libraries, which contributes to achieving customer satisfaction and enhancing community well-being as a top priority in Dubai and the UAE, as well as being in line with its corporate strategy of achieving institutional excellence and improving the happiness of its customers.”
“We seek to facilitate access to knowledge, and allow the beneficiaries of library services, whether students, researchers, or readers, to access a sea of knowledge sourced from all around the world, and enable them to view wider collections of books in various fields of their interests. This new initiative is an additional step in this framework, as it provides a valuable collection of e-books and audiobooks in addition to videos,” he elaborates.
Al Marri also pointed out that the authority has taken steps to make the services of the digital library an easy-to-access, hassle-free experience, and in line with the needs of customers to make all the services to be accessed through the website. Members can reserve up to five e-books or audiobooks for a single period of seven days, and up to five video titles for a period of five days.
The digital library can be accessed only with a valid membership in Dubai Public Libraries. A variety of data can also be accessed through their customer accounts such as material borrowing limit, borrowed titles, booking limit, and wish list items available.
Dubai Culture operates the Dubai Public Libraries with a network of branches, all of them linked to each other and to other modern libraries through the latest connectivity and networking technologies, allowing easy access to a gamut of books covering a wide range of topics, in both Arabic and English.
