Muscat: The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth convened a dialogue session titled ‘Culture, Library Science, and Sustainable Development’ as part of the Civilisational Horizons programme. The session explored the challenges libraries face amid the digital revolution and Internet expansion, focusing on how they adapt to provide reliable information.
Discussions highlighted libraries’ crucial roles in supporting education, scientific research, and innovation. The dialogue examined the connection between culture and Library and Information Science (LIS), emphasizing libraries as cultural institutions that have historically enriched human culture and promoted pluralism, tolerance, and freedom of expression.
The session underscored libraries’ contributions toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals by organizing knowledge and managing intellectual output through smart, technologically advanced systems. It also addressed libraries’ roles in enhancing artificial intelligence via vast databases and training users to utilize these technologies for producing reliable, knowledge-based content.
Further topics included the state of LIS in Oman, the nation’s information strategy and digital transformation aligned with Oman Vision 2040, challenges confronting the library sector, investment opportunities in cultural and creative industries, and libraries’ involvement in these fields.
