Directorate of Religious Affairs Library: History, functioning, and organization

Libraries are the institutions that bear the footprints and history of civilizations and preserve the accumulation of written culture. Throughout the history of Islam, significant value has been attributed to science, to the groups that occupy themselves with knowledge, and to the books which have a distinct role in the process of preserving and transmitting the knowledge from generation to generation in regions where Muslims established their authority. Numerous libraries have been built and supported by waqfs in order to preserve the books under appropriate conditions and make the necessary classification before presenting the books to the service of people in pursuit of knowledge. The inherited values and experiences from the special attention attributed to the books in the Islamic civilization and the institutionalization process of libraries in the history of Islam are tried to be combined with the opportunities of modern librarianship. This study discusses such an endeavor, the Directorate of Religious Affairs Library and its history, functioning, and organization. In the study, the history of the Directorate of Religious Affairs Library is examined from the humble and precious library of the Consultation Committee during the formation of the Directorate of Religious Affairs to the period when the library turned into a separate, modern and complex institution. In addition, the extensive and valuable collection of the library, especially the collections of manuscripts, lithographs, and donations, are introduced together with the process of their formation and contents. This study aims to present the administrative organization and functioning of the Directorate of Religious Affairs Library that became one of the distinguished research libraries, particularly in the field of Islamic studies, and together with the opportunities and services that it offered to the researchers.