Over the past five years, the pace of dependence on digital platforms has increased in reading and learning, as it has not happened before; The global e -learning market, which was estimated at 399.3 billion dollars in 2022, is running at a compound annual growth rate of 14% to exceed the trillion dollar barrier by 2033. This shift is also reflected in libraries; The reports of 2024 increased by 11% in the use of electronic platforms between 2022 and 2023, i.e. a jump of 40% than pre -pandemic levels, so that the virtual library today becomes a first gateway for knowledge that is no less than attending the shelves of traditional books.
Amid this scene, Sharjah’s public libraries emerged as a leading Arab example in the adoption of digitization. During the closure imposed by Kofid -19, its virtual doors were opened to the public through more than 15 million digital sources, and in 2021 launched the “Smart Knowledge Library” platform to provide free courses in professional development and digital skills, stressing that the library’s role goes beyond the loan to building the capabilities of society.
This move was not isolated from the global trend towards self -learning, and the UNESCO sees in digital innovation as a speedy goal of “education for all”, while the numbers of “open groups open online” show that millions of scholars are determining their learning rhythm away from traditional study seats. In this context, Sharjah libraries continued to organize workshops and virtual meetings, expanding the scope of their audiences from visitors to the screen surfaces around the world.
Today, the updated version of the “Smart Knowledge Library” platform, which offers professional and remote technical courses, is presented by a group of the most prominent experts and specialists, with a smoother design that supports browsing via phones, and provides short educational paths in both Arabic and English with interactive tests and immediate certificates. In addition to its varying content in programming, entrepreneurship and languages, the platform allows a one -step registration, and a brief guiding video shows the mechanism of affiliation and benefit from the courses.
* A comprehensive vision
The platform of the “Smart Knowledge Library” is inseparable from the comprehensive cultural vision of the Emirate of Sharjah, but rather a natural extension of it, as it translates in practice the emirate is directed towards consolidating its position as a global cultural center that celebrates the book and reading and reproduces knowledge and developed it digitally. By providing flexible training content available in both languages, the platform contributes to encouraging the habit of reading and self -learning in different age groups, and enhances the presence of digital culture as a crane for building a knowledge society.
The platform also supports cultural industries by enabling individuals to acquire the skills that qualify them to produce high -quality cognitive content, whether in publication, translation or digital media, which makes it a strategic tool in deepening the impact of the Sharjah Cultural Project locally and globally, and achieving its vision that culture is part of the daily human life and not just a seasonal or elitist act.
Correcting a hundred years of its founding, Sharjah libraries run six branches distributed geographically to cover the coastal, central and mountainous cities, providing resources in 33 languages for 200,000 readers annually, in a mixture that collects the traditional structure with smart solutions to formulate a role model in the region.
Through this smooth integration between paper and the screen, and from the material presence to “clicking and passing”, Sharjah General libraries confirm that the future of knowledge begins from the ability of the digital platform to transform individual curiosity to continuous learning, and that when the library embraces technology it becomes more than a place to read, and becomes a permanent partner in the journey of self -building and society.
