Turkey: Nation's Library receives over 340,000 in 2020

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz

ANKARA (AA) - Despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, a grand library opened in Turkey's capital has received over 340,000 visitors over the past year since its launch.

Inaugurated in Ankara by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in February 2020, the Nation's Library received approximately 6,000 visitors daily until March 15, 2020, having to shut its doors due to emergence of COVID-19.

The library, which was visited by more than 15,000 people on the weekends, continues to provide over 4 million printed and 216 million electronic publications in a 125,000-square-meter (1.3 million square feet) area.

The Nation's Library stopped accepting visitors between March 15 and May 31, 2020 due to the pandemic, then limited its capacity to 1,000-people at a time between 9.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. as of June 1, 2020.

Prior to the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions, the library received an average of 2,000 visitors on weekdays and the number of visitors on the weekend was 3,200 people.

Turkey's grand library provides over 2 million books, more than 13,000 periodicals, and at least 18 private collections.

Inspired by Seljuk, Ottoman and contemporary architecture, the library has over 121,000 members.

Aside from its rich printed resources, the library also offers a variety of electronic resources, including 65 databases, 209 million accessible e-resources, over 665,000 e-books, 77,448 e-journals and more than 7 million e-theses.

*Writing by Merve Gul Aydogan