Restoring Mosul University Library

ISIS has been driven out, and the Mosul university library has re-opened. Iraqis, with volunteers from Europe and North America, have begun to restore the devastated book collection.

After the occupation by Islamic State in 2014 of the Iraqi city of Mosul, the university there immediately closed. When classes resumed, the study of literature and philosophy was banned, and many feared the chemistry laboratories would be used to develop weapons. The university library lay in ruins.

Mosul residents now recall the years of ISIS control as a “dark age.” The militants and the forces who liberated the city, including Americans, Turkish and French, left behind an urban wasteland of rubble that will take years and require billions of dollars to repair.

ISIS has been driven out, and the Mosul university library has re-opened, though it resembles “a chunk of charcoal.” Iraqis, with volunteers from Europe and North America, have begun to restore the devastated book collection. At the London Book Fair in March, leaders of that effort shared an update of progress. Olivia Snaije, a contributing editor to Publishing Perspectives who often reports on cultural subjects concerning the Middle East, attended the panel presentation and recently shared details of what she learned with CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

Importantly, even in the Digital Age, “having physical books is so important because [access to] the Internet is still spotty,” Snaije said. She also emphasized the need for donations of new and current books. “Someone once donated a book on electronics from the 1980s. This is something that can’t be emphasized enough – they need current books” to restore the library’s collection effectively.

In the US, publishers and others who wish to contribute to the library restoration project should contact Mosul Book Bridge. In the UK, the contact for Book Aid is harry.boughton@bookaid.org. From France, “Mosul Eye” blogger Omar Mohammed is also leading a book collection campaign.