CSA Library

The CSA Book Library has a membership fee of 120LE annually, after which you do not have to pay anything extra for the books that you borrow. You can pick up quite a few books for this membership fee and keep them for a week.

The Library operates from 9am to 8pm from Sun-Wed and 9am-5pm on Thursdays.

Supriya the librarian is quite helpful. The library is quite well stocked for a community library in Egypt. It has a good selection of books on Egypt and the Middle East, a large selection of children's books and pretty recent copies of magazines from the Americas and Europe.

There is also a book club which meets once a month on the premises.

There is also a movie library. Membership for this too is 120LE annually. Same timings as the book library. This library operates out of the Village Gift shop at the CSA.

Call them at 33585284 or 3358 for more details.

They are currently offering 2 free rentals on renewed and new memberships. They have an after hour drop off slot too, if you can't make it in time.

Current titles in stock are viewable by clicking here

The CSA is located at
Building 4, Road 21
Maadi, Cairo

BCA Library

The BCA in Mohandaseen and Heliopolis have a decent sized library of books at both locations.

Membership to the club automatically gives you membership to the book library. The library works on an honor system and depends on members donating books to the collection.

More details on other benefits of being a BCA member are here : http://whazzupegypt.blogspot.com/2007/07/bca-south-african-braii-night.html

There is also a Video (Casette and DVD) library at Mohandaseen which stocks the latest movies and tele series. BCA membership gives you automatic membership to the Video Library, but you have to pay 10LE rental per movie, which you can keep for a week.

The video library operates on certain days at fixed timings only. Contact the BCA for more details.

Dar al-Kutub (Egyptian National Library)

This was a message, I received some time ago from the Deputy Head of Projects at the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation and the Director of the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation - Dar al-Kutub Manuscript Conservation Project.

The goal of this long-term project is the cataloguing, conservation, and digitization of Dar al-Kutub's important manuscript collection.

As someone who works almost daily with the collection I can tell you that as far as manuscripts go, readers can consult microfilms in the manuscript division on the fourth floor of Dar al-Kutub's Corniche premises in the Bulaq neighborhood (next to the Conrad Hotel and not too far from Tahrir Square), but access to the original manuscripts is not permitted: the manuscripts are being prepared for relocation to Dar al-Kutub's newly renovated (and currently closed to the public) premises in the Bab al-Khalq neighborhood.

The head of the Corniche branch of Dar al-Kutub is Prof. Dr. Sharif Shaheen. If you wish to obtain CDs of a manuscript in the collection you can write to him directly with your request.

I cannot advise on the use of the archives or modern library divisions.

Good luck with your work.

Yours sincerely,
Davidson MacLaren
Deputy Head of Projects
Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation
c/o Tradigital-Cairo
21 Misr Helwan Al-Ziraa'i St.
Al-Ma'adi, Cairo
Egypt

Tel.: +20-(0)2-2380-1764
Fax: +20-(0)2-2380-2171

All Saints Cathedral Library

Membership :
30LE annual for 6 books at a time.
15LE for 2 books at a time

Books may be borrowed for one month and renewed once

Overdue books are charged at 25p per book per week

The library operates with a volunteer staff and is supported entirely through membership fees and donations of books form the community.

Library Hours :
Sunday : 11:45 - 13:00
Monday : 10:00 - 12:00 & 17:00 - 18:30
Tuesday : 10:00 - 12:00
Wednesday : 10:00 - 12:00
Thursday : 10:00 - 12:00
Friday : Closed
Saturday : 10:00 - 12:00