St. Petersburg residents gather books for Baghdad University

In December the library of Baghdad University will receive several thousand books in St. Petersburg. On the initiative of the public organisation, Centre for Modern Literature and Books, they are gathered by St. Petersburg writers, library heads and local residents.

According to Dmitry Karalis, director of the centre, the action is organised to help restore the library of the Russian language and Russian literature faculty of Baghdad University hit by the US-led bombing of Iraq.

According to the director, over 1,500 books have been gathered so far. They will have to undergo careful selection because not all the books so kindly provided by St. Petersburg residents can be sent to Iraq, said Dmitry Karalis. Russian classical literature, dictionaries, textbooks and teaching aids are the ones to pass the selection.

The director has no doubt that the Iraqi collection will contain no less than several thousand copies to be sent to Baghdad in December by plane or by sea.

However the St. Petersburg centre of modern literature and books intends to continue the action further. "We will continue to collect editions and possibly contrive to restore the Russian library of Baghdad University that contained several dozen thousand books, the director of the centre said.