Iraq National Library and Archive - History

History

The origins of the National Library lie in the foundation of the Baghdad Peace Library, the Maktabat al-Salam, sometimes called the General Library, which was established in Baghdad in 1920, with the assistance of Gertrude Bell, then Oriental Secretary to the British High Commissioner. Initially it was a private, subscription library, supported by donated money and books. A Catholic priest and school teacher in a monastery in Baghdad, Al-Kermal (1866-1947) became the first librarian of the ‘Al Salam’ library. Bell devoted some of her time and energy to the management committee and to fund-raising for the Library, but it struggled financially and in 1923 discussions about transferring it to the government commenced. The Library was taken over by or given to the Ministry of Education in 1924 and, in 1929, its collection of 4,283 books was shifted to the al-Mamooria school where it was renamed as al-Maktabatil Aammah or the Public Library.

In the early 1950s, the Baghdad Public Library was situated on Imam al-Adham Street at the north-west corner of the present day Bab al-Mu’azzam Square, where the North Gate of the old walled city used to stand. By that time, it was being referred to informally as the ‘National Library.’ Some discussions between the Iraqi authorities and the British Embassy about a possible exchange of land as a site for a National Library, and with the British Council about the design of the building, were terminated by the 1958 Revolution. Subsequently the new government designated the former Baghdad Public Library as the National Library by a Law (No. 51) passed in 1961.

Although archival collections had accumulated over the centuries, there appears to have been no organisation responsible for them in recent times until action was taken by the University of Baghdad, following a study carried out by an ad hoc committee in 1963. Legislation was passed in 1963 and the National Documents Centre was established by the University in 1964 to collect and conserve official documents. Responsibility for the Centre remained with the University until 1969, when further legislation established the status, aims and objectives of the renamed National Record Office, which became the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and Information.

By the early 1970s, the National Library building was overcrowded, but it was 1977 before it finally moved into a new purpose-built building. However, the original intentions were frustrated when the government allocated a complete floor to the National Record Office or, as it came to be called, the National Centre for Archives. The National Library and the National Centre for Archives were formally amalgamated in 1987.

As Saddam Hussein came into power in 1979, the INLA began to weaken. One of the causes came from Hussein directing the country’s money towards the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1989). “Political appointees and Ba’ath loyalists directed the INLA under Saddam Hussein, and a budget freeze in 1980 ended all new material acquisitions for the remaining years of Saddam’s regime”. Through the next two decades, many of the notable institutions of Iraq, including INLA, continued to falter, especially in the wake of the 2003 Iraq war.