About the Cairo Office
The Library of Congress Office, Cairo, Egypt, established in 1963, functions as a regional center for processing materials acquired from countries in the region of the Middle East and North Africa. Countries covered are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Gaza, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Yemen.
The office acquires newly published books and revised editions of earlier works on all subjects as well as some materials in other formats, such as maps, DVDs, and CDs. Works are selected for the quality of scholarship, importance of subject and the extent to which the title adds to the knowledge of a subject or an event.
The office also places subscriptions for 3,815 serials and newspapers published in the region.
The bulk of materials acquired are in Arabic, followed by Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, French, English and other regional languages and dialects spoken in the countries. Materials are published, issued or distributed by commercial publishers; academic and research institutions; central and state government organizations; cultural, political, social, religious and scientific non-government organizations; and international and regional organizations.
More information about the Cairo Office
Mission of the Cairo Office
The mission of the Cairo office is to acquire and process commercial materials and government documents in six languages from twenty-one countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Sudan and Turkey. It thereby contributes to the mission of the Library of Congress, viz., "to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations."
The office uses as its guidelines the Library's Collections Policy Statements. It keeps abreast of the current needs of the collections by communicating regularly with the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division as well as the Law Library, the Congressional Research Service, and other custodial divisions.
The secondary mission of the Cairo office is the management of the Middle East Cooperative Acquisitions Program (MECAP) on behalf of libraries and other research institutions to which the office supplies monographs and serials from commercial sources.
Last Updated: January 19, 2011
