Dubai to develop giant book-shaped library
A giant book-shaped library housing more than one million books is set to open in Dubai next year (2017).
The 66,000-square-metre building, shaped like a large open book, will be called Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Library.
Located in the Al Jaddaf area of the Dubai, the library will offer a borrowing book section, internet services, several areas for open reading, plus a stage, cinema and a visual and auditory library. There will areas dedicated to children too.
The facility will also play host to live library presentations, documentaries and lectures.
Dubai is already a literary hub with the 2016 Emirates Airline Literary Festival taking place in less than a month, from March 1 to 12, bringing together 140 top authors from around the world.
The eighth edition of the annual gathering, which is the longest-running literary festival in the Middle East, will be staged at Dubai International Writers’ Centre and the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City.
The announcement of the new library also coincides with UAE President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s declaring 2016 the Year of Reading.
Dubai also plans to open eight book-lending kiosks at Kite Beach and Al Mamzar Beach.