To whom it may concern
From: Dr. Jere L. Bacharach
Former Director, American Research Center in Egypt
Professor Emeritus of Middle East History
Recommendations:
- Continue the work by the Egyptian National Library to preserve the material salvaged from the Institut d’Egypte Library.
- Do not determine which items should be restored and/or replaced until an Egyptian committee including appropriate Dar al-Kutub staff, Institut d’Egypte staff and scholars have set the priorities for a future Institut d’Egypte library. Non-Egyptian specialists in conservation and Egyptian history can always be included in such discussions.
- Consider the type of library needed by Egyptians for the 21st century and what type of electronic and printed material is appropriate rather than simply recreating the older library.
- Consider creating digital copies and only if funds are available hard copies of all Institut d’Egypte publications for a restored library.
Observations:
The burning of any library is a tragedy no matter when and where it takes place. A library symbolizes the collected wisdom of humanity and the loss of such an institution is always a sad event. In a few cases, out of these ashes the phoenix can arise and, based on the statements of the SCAF, the actions of the Egyptian National Library staff and the volunteers who have aided them and the generosity of donors this may be one of them. But, I urge my Egyptian colleagues, before you seek to recreate what once existed, think about what the Egypt of the 21st century needs. It may be something different from the former Institut d’Egypte.
As noted in the Al-Ahram Weekly, the Institut d’Egypte was first established during the Napoleonic occupation of Egypt but it was closed with their forced withdrawal. It was recreated in 1859 in Alexandria and named the Institut egyptien. The new institute was to deal with all aspects of human knowledge. In 1880 it moved to Cairo and the current building on Qasr al-Aini. It eventually changed its name to Institut d’Egypte evoking memories of the first Institute. Monthly meetings included talks on a wide range of scientific topics. For almost a century the Institut d’Egypte was an important center of Egyptian intellectual activity and a rare library for the breadth of its holdings, but with the 1952 Revolution, the shift in Egypt’s priorities, and the departure by 1956 of most of the foreign elite who had supported the Institute’s programs, the Institute remained as a monument to an earlier age whose library was used by fewer and fewer scholars, Egyptian and foreign.
While it is wonderful to sit in elegant high-ceiling rooms surrounded by beautifully bound books and journals as was the case in the old Institut d’Egypte’s library, today’s students, scholars and other library users are now seating at computers searching the web for the data they want. More and more journals and even books, long out of print, are now available on the web and can be downloaded and searched electronically including material in Arabic script.
All books from the original library which only need minimal restoration should be returned to a new Institut d’Egypte but is it the best use of limited resources to restock shelves with 19th and to mid-20th century books and journals on the widest range of topics, most of which will never be read? Egyptian students I observe at work are busy with electronic resources, so why not create a 21st century library in a restored Institut d’Egypte for Egyptians where as many computer terminals as possible with the fastest possible internet connections and printers are available? There is an important future for an Institut d’Egypte, but it should be one which reflects a free and independent Egypt and not one that was under the thumb of imperial powers and their priorities.