Qatar National Library (QNL)

Qatar National Library (QNL) is a non-profit organization under the umbrella of Qatar Foundation. The plans for the new national library were announced by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation, on 19 November 2012, during a ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Dar Al Kutub Al Qatariyya, in Doha, Qatar, one of the first public libraries in the Persian Gulf region (founded on 29 December 1962), which had until then been regarded as the national library of Qatar.

QNL aims to serve a three-fold function: as a national library, a research-level university library, and a central metropolitan public library equipped for the digital age.[1][2] In its capacity as a national library as defined by UNESCO, it collects and provides access to global knowledge, including heritage content and materials relevant to Qatar and the region; as a university and research library, it supports education and research at all levels; and as a modern central public library, it provides library services and resources to meet the reading interests and foster the information literacy of the general public. In addition, with the opening of the new building, it also serves as a community meeting place. The building was designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas of OMA and opened in April 2018 alongside events, seminars and exhibitions. Claudia Lux, a German scholar and library professional, was appointed by the Qatar Foundation to be the director of the library project in April 2012, and initially oversaw the launch of QNL as a digital library. Meanwhile, construction began on a new building for the library in Education City, a district in Doha that was developed by Qatar Foundation as a center of higher education, and now includes branch campuses of six American universities, as well as other educational and research institutions. Visit for more detailed information.