University of Mosul Project
Program History
2014
ISIS destroys the Central Library. ISIS destroyed the Central Library at the University of Mosul in 2014. UNESCO called this barbaric act “one of the most devastating acts of destruction of library collections in human history.”
There is a reason why the library was among the first institutions destroyed by ISIS. A major center of learning, the Central Library was widely known and respected throughout the region as a place of knowledge, science, and pluralistic thinking. In destroying this institution, ISIS sent a powerful signal not only in Mosul, but throughout the Middle East.
The Destruction Continues. In a painful process drawn out over many months, more than one million books, rare manuscripts, and maps were ultimately destroyed. Even student textbooks were burned. The exceptions were the chemistry books, which ISIS used to build explosives.
2019
Reconstruction of the Central Library begins.
2021
Ideas Beyond Borders Rebuilds. We identify needs with the university’s librarians and provide thousands of textbooks & digital books, hundreds of computer programs and dozens of computers.
Reviving Knowledge
Rebuilding a Library Legacy
The destruction of the University of Mosul’s Central Library in 2014 was a signature moment for ISIS, and a moral and educational tragedy for Enlightenment values in the greater Middle East. More than one million books, rare manuscripts, and maps were lost.
In the years after the burning, the school struggled to rebuild both the physical plant and the library collections. At the time, it was common to find an entire class using a single book, and a number of well-intentioned book donation programs proved ineffective.
Rather than donating books we thought were essential, Ideas Beyond Borders decided to take a different approach. We asked for a list from the university’s central library and from each of the institution’s twenty colleges. As it turned out, pertinent physical textbooks and computer workstations were the highest priority.
“Your approach is the right one. We are receiving the books we actually need. While we deeply appreciate all the organizations and people that have sent us books, the problem has been that they are most often not the things we needed. IBB is actually solving the problem!”
Dr. Ghada Abdelkarim, University of Mosul
Enhancing learning
A New Ideas Era in Mosul
More than 3,600 textbooks, 5,000 digital books, 400 computer programs, and 20 computer workstations with printers were donated.
+28,000
students benefit every year from the textbooks and workstations we donated
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