Culture heritage in time of conflict : the need for prevention plan

Abstract EN

The history of libraries and archives in Middle East goes back to the early history of civilization.

The recent history of the Middle East libraries and archives has featured events that have destroyed its collections of great importance.

In recent years, conflict in the Middle East has expanded in such a way that seriously jeopardizes the cultural heritage throughout the region.

In many cases, entire collections have been lost or displaced due to the devastating events taking place in the region.

Countries particularly affected by this violence include Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq, among others.

In other cases, political conflict has severely restricted researching from accessing the materials.

One key step in the preservation of the cultural history is to create a standardized disaster management plan and to work on the digitization of the collections, particularly those which are most at risk.

The questions I will address in this research are what should Middle Eastern libraries and archives do if they do not already have disaster management and recovery plans in place ? What is required in order to initiate a disaster management plan? What should be done to preserve these invaluable collections ?