The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) is an Egyptian national project implemented through cooperation between the Egyptian government and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), for the benefit of Egypt and of the whole world. The project was inspired by the ancient great library of Alexandria which was a beacon of knowledge and a center of culture and civilization for the ancient world.
The location which the Egyptian Government made available for the Project is believed to be close to the historic site of the ancient library, which was built within the Royal district of ancient Alexandria , where the Ptolemaic royal palaces once existed. A large conference center, Planetarium , museums, and scientific centers are also located on the site: together with the new library, they constitute a coherent, multi functional cultural/research complex.
The BA is a research library open to the public with holdings designed to enrich scholarly research and public knowledge in all fields, especially on the cultural heritage of Alexandria , Egypt , the Arab World, the Mediterranean region and Africa . It is a national Egyptian project serving both national and international communities of scholars and researchers, as well as general library users from Egypt and from around the world. The BA provides a link to the world's major research libraries utilizing all modern forms of technology for the access, transfer, and dissemination of information. Visitors and users of the library will find not only collections of books and manuscripts but also large collections of audiovisual and electronic materials.