In brief
On 2 November, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library in Dubai hosted Timofey Shchegolkov, deputy director general of the Russian State Library, to discuss cultural cooperation. The meeting focused on digitisation, AI, manuscript restoration, and the exchange of literary works, underscoring the growing ties between the UAE and Russia.
On 2 November, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library in Dubai welcomed Timofey Shchegolkov, deputy director general of the Russian State Library, to discuss opportunities for cultural cooperation with the UAE.
Shchegolkov, who oversees operations, construction, and security at the Russian State Library, was received by Dr Mohammed Salem AlMazrooei, board member of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Library Foundation, and Ali Juma Al Tamimi, director of the Libraries Department.
Discussions focused on strengthening collaboration in library management, manuscript restoration, heritage preservation, and the use of advanced technologies to safeguard historical collections.
The two sides also explored cooperation in translation, publishing, and the exchange of literary works, highlighting cultural ties between the UAE and Russia and the global influence of Russian literary figures such as Pushkin, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
Shchegolkov outlined the Russian State Library’s digitisation initiative, which has made more than six million books and manuscripts available over five years in partnership with Russian federal libraries—a fact reported only by WAM.
During his visit, Shchegolkov toured the library’s specialised collections and the Treasures of the Library Exhibition, which houses over 300 rare manuscripts, maps and atlases, including rare editions of works by Russian authors.
The visit concluded with an exchange of publications: Shchegolkov presented “Facets of a Great Dream: The Architecture of the Russian State Library,” while Dr AlMazrooei presented “Treasures of Mohammed Bin Rashid Library.”
