Mohammed Jassim Al Eraidi, Head of Public Libraries Section, said that this pioneering step comes part of the municipality's move towards strengthening setting up of electronic services that are provided by the public libraries and also for strengthening the e-Government services by offering new service for lending in place of the traditional methods.

He said that the new equipment is linked with a database of the members of the library, and enables them to lend books for themselves, and print receipts on lent books at the time of return. Mr Al Eraidi said the municipality is the first government department in the country that will provide self checkout service in its public libraries and this initiative is aimed at speeding up the process of providing the public with advanced library services.

It is to be mentioned that the municipality is currently setting up the electronic library, a new idea in the field of information and libraries. This will be the first comprehensive digital electronic library in the Arab world and Middle East region.

The Electronic Library, Mr Al Eraidi explained, is a concept on digital library developed on the European and American models to provide easy access to information. The project includes electronic books and periodicals, digital maps, documentary photographs and films, electronic database and digital materials on local history.

A host of advanced information technology applications and networks will be used in this project aimed at digitisation, organising, distributing and transmitting information sources to the public who include researchers and others who will benefit electronically using information technology.

In spite of the availability of a number of definitions for electronic library the integration of digital libraries is known to be set up to provide huge information sources that contain scientific and cultural materials and documents, all set up digitally or released in non-digital forms and then later converted into digital format. Specialised employees are appointed for this purpose.

Links will be provided to its contents ensuring constant integration of all the digital operations and these services would be provided at an affordable and economic rate so that the society and the municipality are benefited.

It is worth mentioning that the electronic library is considered to be the cornerstone of today's "Information Society" and the futuristic "Society of Knowledge".

People would be able to access electronic materials such as books, documents, electronic periodicals, information database, photos and documentary films through the electronic library. The electronic library, which will be integrated with the rest of the public libraries, could be ready to provide its services to nationals and residents of Dubai and other emirates.

It will also provide access to the members of public libraries who are in distant areas. The project is also aimed at realising the fast changes that are occurring in the communication methods and the speed of information transfer. "We should try to cope with these changes and prepare means for making the system here in harmony with the rest of the world in this field and contribute in preserving the memory of the emirate through digitising its local history," Mr Al Eraidi said.

The technical infrastructure of the project include integration of electronic library sources with the public library sources, connecting the library with the main network of the municipality, Internal wireless network for internet, modern programming for information management, and equipment, tools and digital areas for transferring text, picture, films and maps to digital format.    

Mr Al Eraidi said the electronic library would be established in the Umm Suqeim Public Library and the project is to be completed by May later this year. He said the area was chosen for its proximity to the Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village.