Jordan: "Amman Library Looks to Open New Chapter in Storied History"
Over a half-century since opening its doors to the public, the capital’s oldest library is now overlooked by most residents, according to citizens and library staff, and is struggling to find its role in the digital age.
With a new modernisation plan designed to win back Amman residents, library curators hope to revive the library’s glory days and open a new chapter in its position in the capital.
[Clip]
Samiha Khreis, editor-in-chief of Hatem magazine, claimed that the Kingdom has never been home to a large reading culture, adding that modern distractions have taken the small portion of regular readers who would normally come to the library.
All agreed that the library struggles to attract the younger generation, which largely views libraries as “antiquated”, museums of the life and time of their parents and grandparents rather than a gateway to knowledge.
Filed under: Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.