The General Presidency for Library Affairs and Scientific Research of Makkah’s Grand Mosque has created a number of specialized fields in its administrative organization, upgrading the level of services, ensuring quality in performance, and careful selection of books and their availability in the library of the Holy Mosque, one of the most ancient and important libraries in the Islamic world, and a permanent destination for research students and scholars.
Considered a beacon of knowledge, the 1,000 square metre library is a treasure trove for bibliophiles with a collection of around 30,000 books and 5,600 titles. The library has 11 different departments including the library services department, researchers’ services department, newspapers and periodicals department, printing and archiving department, technical affairs department, private libraries and gifting department, translation department, smart digital library department, manuscript centre, etc. besides two learning halls. Other than digital, audio, and Internet services, the library also contains a collection of rare books dating back to the Hijri era.
The Department of Restoration and Binding has three units taking care of the maintenance, sterilization, restoration, and binding of old and obsolete manuscripts, books, newspapers, periodicals, and various library contents in order to preserve them permanently.
The department is equipped with the latest tools, especially in the sterilization process. Books are cleaned and disinfected using very modern and advanced technology. There is a special device that removes oxygen from the books and then converts it into ozone, a powerful oxidant that kills microorganisms and viruses. This device accommodates 100 books at a time and takes nearly eight hours to disinfect. Another is a steam-powered device for decoding old and fossilized books at a rate of 30 books per hour, in addition to packaging books and gifts provided by the library.
