Dubai Crown Prince launches world's largest Arabic audio library

Abu Dhabi, Dec 7 (IANS/WAM) Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has launched the largest Arabic audio library in the world.

The Dubai Audio Library, which targets seven million visually impaired people in the Arab world, was an initiative undertaken by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in collaboration with the website Bookshare.org.

The launch of the initiative on Thursday coincided with International Volunteers Day.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA attended the inauguration of the library along with Abdullah Al Basti, Secretary-General of the Executive Council of Dubai.

The Crown Prince marked the launch by uploading the first book to the Dubai Audio Library, Zayed Diwan, a collection of 87 poems written by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

The RTA was seeking to provide 300,000 books in Arabic. More than 10,000 volunteers will convert Arabic books into digital format and edit them before uploading them to the website.

--IANS/WAM

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