Rare American honour for Sharjah

The American Library Association annual conference in Chicago this year was for the first time addressed by a non-American, and this fell to Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) CEO Ahmed Bin Rakkad Al Ameri.

The privilege was accorded to Sharjah in recognition of its programme, “Library for Every Home”. The initiative resulted in 42,000 Emirati families receiving 2.1 million books. It is an idea driven by the vision of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and supported and led by Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qassimi, chairperson of SBA.

The vision of books in every home is a radical one in any time and age. But it addresses a particular menace in our own day. The menace is that of the growing illiteracy in the digital age we are living in. It will be said that the present age is one of excessive information, and illiteracy is an impossibility. But the fact that is emerging is that young and old who are getting addicted to social media have no interest in knowledge of any kind.

The aim of knowledge is to make an individual cultured, humane. But the digital explosion all around is turning individuals into isolated people, who are losing the ability to connect with other people. Many governments like that of Australia have passed radical legislation banning the use of social media for people below the age of 16. The leaders hope that the ban will help children to commct wthfamily members and friends, and to books. The return to books and society is not going to happen automatically once social media is switched off, What is needed is a movement like that in Sharjah, “Library for Every Home”. Library in a mechanical sense is a place where lot many books about lot many subjects and in lot many languages are there for the picking. But it would require a movement, spurred by a vision of a cultured and humane society. One can have the means to achieve many things, but it does not get done without a vision of the kind of society that pone wants.

With the threatening growth of AI, the fear has grown, and justifiably so, that human beings would become redundant in the workplace, and they will be replaced by AI-driven systems.

The issue is not as simple as that. Human beings cannot be replaced so easily, and it is being shown in many experiments involving the work processes and also issues involving human discernment, that the AI is inferior in its reasoning powers. Things are bound to change in a positive manner too if AI continues to evolve.

There is not going to be an easy and early solution to the AI and digitisation challenge. So it can only be countered only through the tested methods like bringing books to people and people to books. This is not an issue confined to developing countries. It is something that haunts the rich and developed countries. In America, libraries are trying to get people of all ages to get back to books and read. And Americans have the wherewithal to push for libraries and books. But there is need for leadership, and there is need for someone to drive the movements towards books.

It is not surprising then that the American Library Association (ALA) is impressed by Sharjah’s “Library for Every Home”. That is to encourage that every home should have a library of its own, and people of different generations living in a home can share the joys they discover in reading books.