Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), in partnership with Abu Dhabi City Municipality has launched a series of Public Libraries Summer 2014 events at Khalifa Park Library and Al Bahia Park in the U.A.E. capital.
Running throughout August, the events will include a comprehensive, diverse educational and entertainment programme for children aged between 6 – 12 years, with Thursdays dedicated to motivational activities related to explaining the importance of healthy food, conducting basic scientific activities and impersonating stories and group discussing them.
The events will also include charitable book contributions to support the libraries of some private schools, while Community Police will offer various educational programmes and competitions for children.
The Public Libraries Summer 2014 also features a series of awareness workshops organised on Saturdays, in cooperation with a group of social responsibility institutions including the Centre of Waste Management – Abu Dhabi, Environment Friends Society and Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority. In the workshops, children will learn about the importance of waste recycling and then re-using it in the best way possible, how to recycle newspapers to make paper, how to create artwork from coloured scrap paper, the importance of healthy food, the food pyramid, and how to distinguish healthy beverages in the market.
"Public libraries are vibrant centres of knowledge, curiosity and exploration of new things for the next generations. Thus, through our network of Public Library branches across all Abu Dhabi's communities and neighbourhoods, we always seek to bring parents and their children closer together to burrow into the library's boundless world which is widely open to the future," said Juma Al Qubaisi, Executive Director of the National Library of TCA Abu Dhabi.
"This summer we are focusing on children to encourage them to make use of their spare time and participate in social development more consciously and effectively by benefiting from the ever-present public library resources, in partnership with social institutions that offer indispensable social services," added Al Qubaisi.
The National Library launched its branch in Al Bahia Park in November 2012 as part of its strategy to set up a public library in every Abu Dhabi neighbourhood. The library contains more than 17-thousand titles of all sciences and general knowledge areas, a large dedicated section for children and younger generations, as well as specialised periodicals in both Arabic and in English languages and audio-visual content.
TCA Abu Dhabi is also present with a pavilion dedicated to the Authority's publications by the National Library, the "Kalima" project and the "Qalam" initiative which supports emerging, young Emirati writers.
The Khalifa Pak Library was established in March 2013 and has about 30-thousand titles that come under various categories including general knowledge, specialised serials, databases and the U.A.E. and Gulf Group, which encompasses more than 21-thousand titles covering every matter related to the U.A.E. and the Arabian Gulf region. These also include university theses and rare types of books.
Source: WAM