Oman’s first Children’s Public Library was officially inaugurated

Oman’s first Children’s Public Library was officially inaugurated under the auspices of H H Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture on Monday. Located in Qurm, the library is spread over an area of about 9,000sq m. The building with five floors has a varied collection of books including topics such as technology.

The building also has one floor dedicated to workshops. Sultan al Salmi, board member of children’s library said, “We operate from 10am to 3pm on weekdays, but we are planning to extend the time in future to host more visitors. We are also planning to expand our link with the public through programmes, membership, mutual cooperation and resource exchange. We want children to benefit from the library.”

The library caters to children in the age group of three to 17 years. There are six trained staff too. Speaking at the event, Dr Sayyida Muna bint Fahd bin Mahmoud al Said, said, “Today is the official opening and we are delighted as a lot of hard work has gone in to make this project a success. We currently have 10,000 titles and we will be increasing it by 10,000 more in 2018. We intend to increase the collection to 50,000 in future. Plans are also afoot to double the staff to accommodate evening sessions and weekends as well. Besides the books, the library has the best in technology, keeping in mind the interests of children today.

“Currently, we have been receiving visitors from schools. We would like to see children coming with their families after school hours. This is what we intend to promote.”

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