Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, has launched ‘Maktabat Al Arab,’ the first Arabic book portal designed to significantly increase access to printed material in the Arab world.

The launch ceremony was held as part of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2009 that opened on Tuesday at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec) and concludes on March 22.

Designed by software giant Microsoft, the ‘Maktabat Al Arab’ (Arab Book Portal) – www.maktabatalarab.com offers interactive user-friendly features including a search option, an Arabic dictionary and a discussion forum.

The portal comprises more than 1194 books for 4081 men of letter, 500 book reviews, and seven different dictionaries.

A unique feature of the portal is the Content Viewer facility that allows browsers to navigate to a particular page by number, or traverse to the previous or next pages for viewing the contents of a book or journal.

Yaser Hareb, vice president culture sector, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, said the launch of ‘Maktabat Al Arab’ is a significant step that will generate a region-wide significance.

'It comes as part of the Foundation’s strategy to offer easy access to important literary works for the benefit of the common Arabic reader,” he added.

Jamal Al Shehhi, CEO of Dubai International Children Book Fair: 'The Foundation is keen to launch relevant initiatives that will touch the lives of everyone in the Arab world.'

'In the culture sphere alone, we have implemented several programmes and it is our firm conviction that the new portal will open windows to a world full of books and literary works,' he noted.

The user friendly ‘Content Viewer’ option enables users of the portal to either zoom in or out, print and take a snapshot (print screen) of the content that can even be taken or stored in the ‘My Snapshots’ list.

The option also comprises various segments such as Books, Journals Book Reviews Bibliographies, and Reference Books.

The ‘Dictionary’ feature enables the online use of Ghani dictionary. Users can enter the word, or select the phrase from a list to obtain the exact meaning.

The critical ‘Search’ facility allows to quickly and easily locate relevant content distributed across books, journals, biographies, book reviews, blogs, discussion groups, and other sources.

It will also enable all content in the portal to be indexed and searched. Users will also have the option to conduct their online search through simple text search by entering one search term that may be a phrase or a single word or utilising advanced search tools that provide users with various methods for conducting specific and more focused searches.

The ‘Discussion Boards’ enable users to view and respond to existing topics. This segment is moderated to review and edit unsuitable topics and responses by filtering out trigger words that will be managed by the administrator.

A key feature of the portal will be ‘Streamline Tarjem’ that helps automate the end-to-end business process.

It will ensure publishing houses seeking to enter the programme satisfy the conditions and provide required details about books to be translated.

In addition, it will also allow the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation staff to review applications and manage or track workflow with board members.

The ‘Maktabat Al Arab’ represents a strategic vision of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation to provide a solid foundation for knowledge dissemination, Arab culture promotion and knowledge capital infrastructure through the Internet.

With the Internet serving as a major avenue for knowledge and information exchange, the portal will serve as a vital resource for meeting this latent demand.-