Riyadh Hosts Arab Conference to Promote Investments in Libraries

The Saudi capital hosts an Arab conference that looks into the future of innovative and cultural industries and promotes the role of libraries and information institutions in the culture-based economy.

The Saudi Libraries Commission hosts the 34th edition of the Arab Federation for Libraries and Information (AFLI) Conference, which focuses on the role libraries and Arab information institutions play in supporting the economy and cultural entrepreneurship, in addition to discussing investment opportunities in the cultural economy and the promising pioneering projects in the libraries and information sector.

The attendees and participants in the conference were greeted by Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Asem, CEO of the kingdom’s Libraries Commission. Held at the King Fahd National Library, AFLI Conference discusses the future of cultural economy in the Arab world and the contribution of libraries and information institutions to entrepreneurship. It is organized in partnership with the Arab Federation for Libraries and Information between November 14 and 16.

The three-day conference sheds light on the “purple economy”, which is based on investing in culture, as well as the cultural and civilizational role of libraries and information institutions in building society and defining its identity.

The conference’s program is packed with topics that will be discussed in several panels led by a group of speakers from different Arab countries. The topics include studying the revenues of investments in libraries and information institutions, entrepreneurship in the sector of libraries and information institutions, aspirations of the libraries and information institutions and their pioneering role in the purple economy, in addition to the funding channels and financial resources management of libraries during crises.

Various economic and cultural horizons

The Saudi Libraries Commission announced the event’s program, which covers an array of subjects distributed on 12 panels discussing the importance of libraries in enabling entrepreneurship, showcasing a variety of innovative entrepreneurship models in the libraries sector and highlighting the modern trends in managing and promoting the role and work of national libraries.

Among the discussed topics is also the purple economy and its use as a tool to emphasize the horizons of sustainable development and humanize globalization and economy. The third day of the conference covers topics such as promoting innovative and cultural industries and knowledge-based economy; deploying an innovative economy in academic libraries; the purple economy and its application in the libraries sector and developing the information products as a knowledge-based economic resource.

Developing civilizational and cultural role of libraries

Hosting this event on libraries comes as part of the Saudi Libraries Commission’s strategy to grow the national, regional and global partnerships, develop the libraries sector, boost its efficiency and encourage innovation and investment in the sector in line with the cultural role libraries have played throughout the human history.

The anticipated discussions are expected to reflect on the cultural and civilizational role of libraries, the adoption of modern tools that enable the integration of culture in the economy, boosting the cultural and innovative industries and promotion of innovative economy.

The Arab Federation for Libraries and Information hopes that the Riyadh conference will help prompt a major transformation of libraries and information institutions into active education and learning centers that interact with their surroundings in an innovative way, access all community members, acknowledge their needs and provide them with the tools and means for an advanced social and human growth.

Australia moved Saturday to ban mining at one of the world's largest high-grade uranium deposits, highlighting the site's "enduring connection" to Indigenous Australians.

The Jabiluka deposit in northern Australia is surrounded by the heritage-listed Kakadu national park, a tropical expanse of gorges and waterfalls featured in the first "Crocodile Dundee" film.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the national park would be extended to include the Jabiluka site -- which has never been mined -- honoring the decades-long desires of the Mirrar people.

"They were seeking a guarantee that there would never be uranium mining on their land," Albanese told a crowd of Labor Party supporters in Sydney.

"This means there will never be mining at Jabiluka," he added.

Archaeologists discovered a buried trove of stone axes and tools near the Jabiluka site in 2017, which they dated at tens of thousands of years old.

The find was "proof of the extraordinary and enduring connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have had with our land", Albanese said.

"The Mirrar people have loved and cared for their land for more than 60,000 years.

"That beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world," he added.

Discovered in the early 1970s, efforts to exploit the Jabiluka deposit have for decades been tied-up in legal wrangling between Indigenous custodians and mining companies.

It is one of the world's largest unexploited high-grade uranium deposits, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Rio Tinto-controlled company Energy Resources of Australia previously held mining leases at Jabiluka.

The conservation of Indigenous sites has come under intense scrutiny in Australia after mining company Rio Tinto blew up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020.

Australia's conservative opposition has vowed to build nuclear power plants across the country if it wins the next election, overturning a 26-year nuclear ban.

Riyadh Hosts Arab Conference to Promote Investments in Libraries