#qnl

In my three years of stay in Qatar, I have only managed to visit the Qatar National Library a couple of times. It may have been a bit far from where I lived, and the fact that I don’t own a car, I had to make my trips to QNL worth while.

The Qatar National Library had its soft opening on November 2019. I remember the first time I stepped inside, it was just overwhelming. The fact that it is huge and spacious, it just overwhelmed me. In addition to their main selection of books (the ones in the shelves physically and digitally), QNL houses The Heritage Library. This area is located below the main floor, so it has a separate access that enables you to go down in the basement-like museum. In it are rare & antiquarian books and manuscripts, and other materials related to the Arab-Islamic culture/ civilization. 

I loved every bit of QNL. The books shelves are well illuminated. Almost every book shelf has an I-pad where you can search easily the locations of the book you want to borrow. The only down side for me is that because the library is huge, it is kinda tiring to go up and down between the aisles, although it is very good for burning those extra calories. They also have self-check out and return kiosks that are very easy to use. The whole library has enough comfy seating. Chairs and tables with sockets to charge your gadgets are readily available. They also have rooms you can book ahead of schedule if you want to use it for study groups or meetings. The library also boasts a good selection of kids books. This area is the most popular one as it is always filled with children and their parents. The young adult section is very good too, they even have a few Manga collection as well! If you’re a resident and have your Qatar ID card, you just go over the information desk and they will instantly process and give you your library card, it’s that easy. Over all, QNL is such a book heaven. It is just a pity I had to move to a different country and let QNL live in my memories.