His Excellency the President of Umm Al-Qura University, Prof. Abdullah Bafail, in King Faisal Hall today, launched the 19th meeting for the Committee of the Deans and Officials Responsible for Library Affairs in Universities, Higher Education Institutions, and Research Centers in the GCC Countries. The meeting was attended by Umm Al-Qura Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, Prof. Abdul-Wahhab Al-Resini, the Dean of Library Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Al-Lihaibi, and a number of the deans and officials of the libraries in the GCC countries.

The meeting included a total of 31 members from the deans and officials of the library affairs from the different GCC countries. The discussions reviewed a number of international experiences and initiatives which allow open access to science and knowledge in a creative way via electronic platforms, and also explained the importance of the organizational structure and the adoption of open source systems to provide open access source services in line with international standards.

The meeting, which will conclude on Thursday, discussed mechanisms of joint work, following up the implementation of the recommendations that emanated from the previous committee's meetings. The meeting also shed light on the example of the library of Khalifa University of Science and Technology in integrating higher education institutions, the cooperative training for the specialists at the level of the GCC countries, and the experience of the deanship of library affairs in the Islamic University in activating the central library and updating its work mechanism.