The Al-Qattan Centre for Educational Research and Development has set its priorities in accordance with the needs of the Palestinian education sector. These priorities aim to empower the education sector to meet the challenges of the future. A library specializing in education in social and cultural contexts, necessary both for the research interests of the Centre and the academic community in general, is among the top of these priorities.

To reach its goals, the Centre has acquired a rich collection of cutting-edge resources and publications in international educational thought. The library also has online access to the most vital and extensive educational databases currently available.

Specifically, the library’s holdings consist of the following:

• All aspects of educational thought and development at Palestinian, Arab and international levels
• Educational research in theory and application
• Cultural, social and economic research related to educational development
• The historical development of scientific and analytical knowledge and thought
• An extensive range of educational materials for teachers of all subjects, including local, Arab and international school textbooks, supplementary videos, CDs and educational kits
• Electronic versions of educational materials available in international journals and educational databases

The Centre believes that the Palestinian public in and more specifically the educational community, should have access to the most progressive and up-to-date resources in education. The Centre also believes in the necessity of interaction between Palestinian and international educational thought. To achieve such interaction, the library offers many services to both the Palestinian educational community and to teachers, university and college students, and researchers.

Library services:

• Consulting and reference services: library users will be advised on how to obtain resources relevant to their research
• Study: library users can view and make use of all library acquisitions, including the specialized databases listed below
• Photocopying services: materials can be copied for 20 agora per page
• Free PC and internet usage: for research-related websites only
• Lending: The Centre’s library in Ramallah library limits its lending services to the Centre’s employees and researchers. The Gaza library provides such services to all users. Lending is limited two books, for a renewable period of one week.
• Downloading documents and articles from databases: materials can be downloaded in any form. For printed materials, there will be a charge of 20 agora per page
• Sending documents via email: library users can have electronic documents and articles sent to their email account, providing there is enough storage space. Such requests are processed according to the library’s work priorities and will be answered accordingly

Classification and computerization:

The library uses the Dewy Decimal system of classification, the Libsys system to store and retrieve classification and accessing information.