Presidential Library (Turkey)

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The Nation's Library of the Presidency
Cihannuma Hall
39°55′29″N 32°48′03″E / 39.924747575129935°N 32.800786001858526°E / 39.924747575129935; 32.800786001858526
Location	Presidential Complex, Ankara
Established	20 February 2020; 4 years ago (2020-02-20)[1]
Collection
Items collected	Books, academic journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, patents, databases, maps, postage stamps, prints, drawings, and manuscripts
Size	4 million+ books & printed materials 120 million articles & reports 550,000 e-books & rare collections 1.2 million audio files from TRT’s archive[2]
Legal deposit	Yes[3]
Access and use
Access requirements	Open 24/7 to anyone with Turkish ID or foreign passport[2]
Population served	up to 5,000 visitors at a time[2]
Other information
Director	Ayhan Tuğlu (director)[2]

The Nation's Library of the Presidency^[2] (Turkish: Cumhurbaşkanlığı Millet Kütüphanesi),^[4] also commonly referred to as the Presidential Library, is the largest library in Turkey, with a collection of over 4 million printed books^[2] and over 120 million electronic editions^[2] published in 134 languages.^[2] The Presidential Library was officially inaugurated by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on February 21, 2020.^[5] In addition to receiving a copy of materials printed in the country as a depository library, the Presidential Library also receives books from every country where Turkey has a diplomatic mission, in collaboration with the Foreign Ministry.^[3] It is home to the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled in 1072–74 by the Turkic scholar Mahmud Kashgari,^[6] among many other manuscripts and rare books.^[7]

Located inside the Presidential Complex at Ankara, the Library is 125,000 square meters and can accommodate up to 5,000 readers at a time.^[2] The library building is decorated with white and pink marble, designed with traditional Seljuk, Ottoman and contemporary motifs.^[3]

The Library project was led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2016 through the efforts of Turkish intellectuals, librarians, and NGOs, and inaugurated in February 2020.^[8]

The Presidential Library is the largest single library investment in the history of Turkish Republic.^[9] It also is the first library in Turkey to use integrated book conveyor system.^[9]

People who donated to the Library from their personal collection include:^[8]

• President Erdoğan,^[10]
• Ambassadors of Uzbekistan, India, Chile, China, France, and Belarus,
• Historian İlber Ortaylı,^[11]
• Literary critic and historian Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı,
• Oud master and composer Cinuçen Tanrıkorur,
• Author Şefik Can,
• Restaurateur Mehmet S. Tezcakin,^[12]
• Former Minister Hasan Celal Güzel,
• Author and journalist Mehmed Şevket Eygi,
• Art historian Mustafa Kamil Dürüst,
• Poet Mustafa Şerif Onaran,
• Director Muhsin Mete,
• Publisher Saman-Hatice Helvacıoğlu, and
• Sociologist Cemil Meriç.

In addition, French President Emmanuel Macron sent a special envoy to propose collaboration between the Presidential Library and his country's national library in the field of literature.^[8]

The Presidential Library is designed to be accessible with wheelchair, and the country's leading telecommunications companies, Turkcell and Türk Telekom, prepared technology rooms for visually- and hearing-impaired users.^[2]

The Cihannuma (World Atlas) Hall, decorated with 16 columns representing the 16 Great Turkic Empires, houses a collection of 200,000 books and has a seating capacity for 224 readers at a time in an area of 3,500 square meters.^[2] The dome of the Cihannuma Hall is 32 meters high and 27 meters wide.^[9]

Verses four and five of sura al-Alaq from the Quran, the first to be revealed to Muhammad, on the significance of reading and writing are inscribed on the dome of the hall: "O, kalemle yazmayı öğretendir, insana bilmediğini öğretendir" (He is the one who taught how to write with a pen, taught the human being what he did not know).^[8]

Books brought in collaboration with the Foreign Ministry on the culture and history of the countries where Turkey has a diplomatic mission are displayed in the World Library inside Cihannuma Hall.^[2]

The Rare Books Library contains 50 thousand books, including Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı manuscripts and Mehmet Şevket Eygi Collections.^[9]

The Research Library has a collection of nearly 20 thousand books and 20 group study rooms.^[9]

The Nasreddin Hodja Children's Library, named after the Seljuk satirist Nasreddin Hodja, is available for readers between the ages five and ten, with its collection of 25 thousand books and a multimedia section.^[9] The Children's Library provides activities related to traditional Turkish arts.^[2]

The Youth Library, which is available for readers between the ages ten and fifteen, has a collection of 12 thousand books, and contains individual and group study rooms.^[9]

The Multimedia Library contains 12 individual study rooms for four digital rooms that are equipped with touchscreen monitors and offer access to TRT archives and nearly 10 thousand audio-vision materials.^[9]

The Periodicals Hall has a collection of 1,550 magazines and newspapers and offers access to a 90-day archive of 7,000 dailies and magazines from 120 countries in 60 languages in full page on touchscreen monitors that also features catalog search.^[9]

The Reading Rooms have a collection of 300,000 books and 32 group study rooms and 8 lounges.^[9]

The Conference Hall, with its four simultaneous interpretation cabins, is designed to host international conferences and meetings.^[9]

The Presidential Library offers access to:^[9]

• 45 million documents from the State Archives,
• 300 thousand manuscripts within the Manuscripts Institution of Turkey,^[13] and
• 550 thousand e-books, 6.5 million e-dissertations, 120 million articles, 60 thousand e-magazines from 46 databases, to which the Turkish Academic Network and Information Center and the Presidency are subscribed.

• National Library of Turkey
• Presidential Complex
• List of national libraries
• List of libraries in Turkey
• List of libraries in Ankara
• List of largest libraries
• Turkish literature

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cumhurbaşkanlığı Millet Kütüphanesi.

• The Nation’s Library, Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye