Local Partnerships
As an active member of the Qatar community, the Library has many partnership agreements with local educational, governmental and cultural institutions. These collaborations facilitate knowledge exchange, education advancement, research, skills development, joint events and exhibitions, and cultural preservation.
Global Partnerships
At Qatar National Library, partnerships are at the heart of our mission to connect people, ideas, and cultures. We proudly collaborate with leading libraries, archives, and cultural institutions across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and beyond -building bridges that make knowledge accessible to all.
Our dynamic network of agreements opens doors to groundbreaking preservation and conservation related research, innovative digitization projects, and vibrant cultural exchanges. By working together, we help preserve documentary heritage, and champion the free flow of information by empower communities locally and internationally.
QNL is also an active participant in global initiatives for cultural diplomacy and heritage protection, reinforcing our role as a trusted leader on the world stage. Through joint projects, knowledge-sharing, and capacity-building programs, we create lasting impact and inspire new possibilities for learning and discovery.
Our partnerships reflect our commitment to making QNL a hub for international cooperation, where the world’s knowledge and heritage are celebrated and shared for generations to come.
Partnership with the British Library
The British Library-Qatar Foundation Partnership was launched in July 2012 to digitize the British Library's collections relating to the history of Qatar and the Gulf, and a selection of medieval Arabic scientific manuscripts.
The most visible outcome of the partnership is Qatar Digital Library, one of the world’s largest online repositories devoted to Middle Eastern history and culture. Qatar Digital Library provides free online access to a wealth of historical source materials on the politics, people, places, trade, culture and customs of the Gulf region and the wider Middle East. It includes archives, maps, manuscripts, sound recordings, visual arts and much more, complete with contextualized explanatory articles and links, in both English and Arabic.
The ongoing partnership has digitized almost 2.5 million pages, which are now freely accessible to users worldwide. Qatar Digital Library currently attracts an average of 200,000 unique users and more than 2 million page views a year.