Any news of the saving of books from the looting and destruction in the
Iraqi National Library following the U.S. occupation is certainly very
welcome. Nevertheless, this report should be read with a considerable
degree of scepticism.
Firstly, the figures are suspect. Prevous reference sources gave figures
of less than 500,000 volumes, rather than 2 million. While part of the
discrepancy may lie in the distinction between "works" and "volumes"
(which the report ignores throughout), this can hardly account for all
of it. If we take one million as a compromise figure, then 60% would be
600,000: are we really to believe that this number, or anything like it,
was taken off the shelves and "hidden at the Library and elsewhere" in
the space of a few days, in addition to the 400,000 said to be in one
room at the Al-Haqq mosque? To anyone who has ever been involved in
moving books, this really does strain credulity.
Secondly, the report mentions manuscripts, but without drawing any clear
distinction between them and printed materials. But according to good
information the National Library was not a significant repository of
MSS.
Thirdly the somewhat over-excited journalist does not distinguish
between the age of the books (printed or MSS) and the age of the texts
contained in them ("including some from the Abbasid Empire", etc.).
Still it is good to know that at least some "biographies, religious
works, and graduate-school theses" may have been saved.
What is needed, however, is a thorough survey by experts of the losses
and salvage at this and all the other major Iraqi libraries. This will
be discussed at the MELCOM-International conference in Beirut on 26 May,
which will be attended by representatives of IFLA and maybe the Iraqi
library community, as well as other European and Arab librarians.
Meanwhile, an excellent interim report on the state of Iraqi libraries
has been made available by the French scholar Edouard Méténier, under
the title "Aperçu sur l'état des bibliothèques et dépôts d'archives
irakiens au term de la guerre d'avril 2003". It exists only as a Word
document, so I cannot forward it to LIS-Middle-East, but if anybody
wants it, please request it either from me or from the author at
[log in to unmask]
Geoffrey Roper
Islamic Bibliography Unit
Cambridge University Library
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