I thought this report originally sent to Melanet worth passing on.

Paul Auchterlonie.

Israeli authorities to demolish a Palestinian library in Jerusalem
Ma'an News 13 / 05 / 2007 Jerusalem --

The Israeli authorities have handed a warrant to the owner of the
Al-Ansari Library on Saint George street, in Jerusalem, asking him
to evacuate the building because it is to be demolished for the
enlargement of the street and the construction of a train station.

The library comprises 45,000 books, which have been collected over
47 years. It is one of the most important libraries in Jerusalem.
It has a variety of books on subjects such as ancient history and
politics, as well as literary novels. The library also contains all the 
periodicals and local newspapers that were issued in Jerusalem and the 
Arab world since 1967 and even before that.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=21996
background article on the Al Ansari library....
http://www.jerusalemquarterly.org/details.php?cat=10&id=53
Libraries and Archives Bayt al-Maqdas: The Fahmi al-Ansari Library

Jerusalem has a long and rich history of private family libraries.
As a divided city with practically no governmental institutions
catering to its Palestinian residents, the city lacks some of the
basic cultural services available in most other cities. One area
in particular in which such deficiency can be felt is that of
public libraries. In a city filled with research centers and
historical archives, few, if any, libraries can be found that
cater to the Palestinian general public. In such a context, family
libraries and book collectors have often offered an important
alternative to the general readership.

The Bayt al-Maqdas - located at 7 Omar Ibn al-As Street between
Nablus Road and Salah al-Din Street - is one such private library.
In 1957 its founder and owner, Fahmi al-Ansari, placed his
collection of books at the disposal of the general readers of
Arabic in Jerusalem. His library came to replace an older family
library that had had been burnt in 1938.

The library contains a collection of over thirty thousand books in
Arabic on a variety of topics. Most of them were printed sometime
between 1950 and 1980, with a few of them dating back to the
1930s. Of special interest is Mr. Ansari*s collection of books on
Jerusalem that, according to him, includes all the books that have
been printed in Arabic on the city since the founding of the
library. Al-Ansari library does not contain any archival
materials, except for an impressive collection of Palestinian
newspapers that date back to as early as 1948. According to Mr. Al-
Ansari the collection contains all daily papers published in
Palestine since 1967. And, as he maintains, the goal of the
library is to collect all periodicals that have been published in
Arabic since the nineteenth century. Mr. Al-Ansari is proud of his
collection of 1876 copies of the Beirut based periodical al-Jinan.

The library does not possess a cataloguing system. In order to
find a book, the visitor must ask Mr. Al-Ansari or look through a
long roster of titles. Titles are not organized alphabetically or
by subject but are listed following the order in which the books
are kept on the shelves. Thus, there is a list with all 2693 books
on shelf number one, another one with the 5166 titles on shelf
number two and so forth. As one can easily imagine, it is rather
difficult to depend on the listing. Due to lack of space, Mr. Al-
Ansari*s collection of newspapers is no longer accessible to the
general public but is rather kept in a storage room.

The patrons of the library are mostly students - especially from
the schools of Jerusalem. However, specialized scholars may find this 
place useful for its collection of newspapers and of books on Jerusalem. 
Despite its modest collection, this library has something very special to
offer to book lovers in general. It is Mr. Al-Ansari*s obvious
pride in his collection.

In this rapidly changing country, which is nowadays filled with
billboards advertising all kinds of merchandise, book collectors
are becoming a rarity. Mr. Al-Ansari*s face shows that same
profound enchantment expressed by all book lovers when they
display their precious collection to a passerby. He knows exactly where 
each one of his books is and is able to offer the most detailed 
information about the content of most of them.

This retired educator serves as the library*s on line computer or
card catalogue. At the mention of a subject, he goes from one
shelf to the next and brings out all relevant books in his
collection. Indeed, Mr. al-Ansari, knows each of one of the more than 
thirty thousand titles that constitute his personal collection.

Al-Ansari library opens from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. every day except
Fridays. Patrons can photocopy any material they might need, but,
unfortunately, can not borrow books.