At a major celebration held at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Sharm El-Sheikh last week, Dar Almandumah launched its two new databases:
1. Islamic and Legal Studies Database.
2. Language, Literature, and Humanities Database.
The company invited deans and directors of library affairs from Gulf and Arab universities to participate in this occasion, which represents one of the most significant pioneering achievements at the Arab level and a new pillar added to the company’s portfolio of databases, which has become the leading destination for researchers, scholars, and the Arab academic community in general.
The launch ceremony was also attended by representatives of Arab library consortiums:
1. The Saudi Consortium (Saudi Digital Library)
2. The Iraqi Consortium (Ministry of Higher Education)
3. The Omani Consortium (Ministry of Higher Education)
4. The Palestinian Consortium.
5. The Jordanian Consortium.
The launch of these two databases comes after the major success achieved by the company’s current databases, the Educational Database EduSearch and the Economics and Management Database EcoLink, at both the Gulf and Arab levels.
During the launch ceremony, the company’s General Manager, Dr. Ali Al-Shuwaish, stated that Dar Almandumah’s databases ranked second this year among the most-used databases in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to the official statistics of the Saudi Digital Library. He added that more than 1,100,000 research papers and studies were downloaded during 2011 and the first ten months of the current year, which prompted the company to expand its internet servers to serve these large numbers of users.
Several deans and representatives of library consortiums also spoke during the ceremony, expressing their thanks and appreciation to the company for this distinguished system of databases, which has filled a major gap long faced by the Arab library sector and Arab researchers.
The launch of these databases coincides with the company’s tenth year of serving the Arab scientific and academic community. On this occasion, the company’s General Manager announced that all universities and entities subscribed to the company’s current databases would receive a trial subscription to the two new databases until the end of this year.
It is worth noting that the company is currently participating in the 23rd Arab Federation for Libraries and Information Conference, held in Doha from November 18 to 20, 2012.