São Paulo – The Consulate General of Lebanon in Rio de Janeiro is working on a virtual library of works relating to Arab and Lebanese culture in Brazil. Content created by the Arab community and by Brazilian authors covering Arab subjects will be available in the Brazil-Lebanon Virtual Cultural Library. The website will be up in November, and contributions are being accepted. The website address is yet to be disclosed.
The library will feature sections devoted to literature, music and history, with formats including text, image and video. The Consulate’s physical collection will also be available online.
Work by Arabs or descendants can cover any field of knowledge, from migration to current affairs. The project provides for interactive resources including advanced search, a notes tool, favoriting, printing of excerpts, and downloads.
The idea came from Lebanon’s consul general to Rio de Janeiro, Alejandro Bitar. “What my vast experience tells me is that Arab communities are losing touch with the countries they came from, because they are unaware of the creative side they have,” Bitar told ANBA over the phone. At first, the idea came up to create a study center to prevent these ties from fading.
However, since a brick-and-mortar facility is out of the question, the project migrated online. “The primary goals are, firstly, to highlight and upkeep cultural activity by Lebanese and Arab immigrants in Brazil. Secondly, to spread awareness of the whole community and its creativity. Everything needs to reach immigrants and Brazilians alike,” the consul said.
The move online enables the project to reach more people. “Books have always fascinated me. I own books by descendants from the Arab communities, from politics to literature and poetry, so I thought, ‘why don’t we build a library?’ So we pulled together everything that Arab and Lebanese descendants have done and are doing here in Brazil,” Bitar explained.
According to him, amassing works that will touch Brazilians and the Lebanese is only the first step. “The virtual library is a pilot project that will be extended, as far as possible, to every country in the world,” he said.
The consul also hopes to encourage the creation of new works. “We intend not only to highlight the works, but also for students to look into what Arabs have already accomplished in Brazil. And to get in touch with universities, to conduct studies,” said Bitar, revealing that the Consulate has already entered into a contract with the National Archive, an arm of Brazil’s Ministry of Justice. “We have spoken [with the Archive] so they will also collaborate with the library and provide us with information on everything that’s in the archives,” he said.
How to contribute?
Volunteers can help out by digitizing public domain works; providing works of their own authorship; partnering up to assign copyrights to work owned by their organizations; and translating public domain works not yet available in Brazilian Portuguese.
All volunteers can submit public domain or Creative Commons-licensed files to consuladolibanorj@gmail.com.
The project will be launched during the Brazil-Lebanon Tourism & Business Congress on November 28 and 20 in Rio de Janeiro.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
