Naoura Bldg., Mohammad el-Hout street, Ras el Nabeh, Beirut
Beirut 1106
Lebanon
- Others
1- ASSABIL is a nongovernmental organization that is managed by a seven-member Administrative Committee. It has a three-person paid staff : a director and two assistants. 2- The 2005-06 budget is approx 250 million Lebanese Pounds. 3- Regional Council of Ile de France (CRIF), Heinrich Böll Foundation, Open Society Institute, Ford Foundation, Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), etc. 4- We manage Beirut’s two municipal public libraries; organize training sessions; distribute books; host cultural and educational activites; provide consultancy services; etc 5- We work with public libraries, schools, NGOs, governments, private individuals, funders, etc.
Assabil is a Lebanese nongovernmental organization (NGO) that has been working since January 1997 to promote the development of public libraries in Lebanon. Our mission is to establish public libraries; organize events around books; write and publish reader guides, children’s books, and educational games; produce audio-visual materials to encourage an appreciation of books and reading among parents and children; and set up mobile libraries in schools. In addition to providing access to information, we seek to establish public spaces—places where people from different socioeconomic, religious, and sectarian groups are encouraged to come together.
Assabil opened Beirut’s first municipal public library in February 2001, established Beirut’s second municipal public library in November 2004, has distributed more than 100,000 books to public libraries and schools throughout Lebanon, organizes activities at libraries, conducts training sessions for those who work in libraries, and has been asked by the Municipality of Beirut to establish an additional ten municipal public libraries in Beirut. Assabil also coordinates a network of more than 25 public libraries in Lebanon that includes a library for the blind and an association that brings the benefits of a public library to children in hospitals.