Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre expands Digital Arabic Library to more than 42,000 titles
At ADIBF 2026 the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre unveils a major enlargement of its Digital Arabic Library, setting plans to add 20,000 more titles this year and target 100,000 within three years.
ALC broadens global reach of Arabic digital publishing
On 18 September 2026, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) announced a substantial expansion of its Digital Arabic Library during the 35th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF 2026). The catalogue of e‑books and audiobooks has risen from roughly 38,000 titles to in excess of 42,000, with the Centre committing to add a further 20,000 titles by the end of the year.
The project is evolving from a programme that primarily digitised books into an integrated digital publishing ecosystem aimed at increasing discoverability and sustaining Arabic publishing on global platforms. The ALC said the enlarged collection represents more than a 50% increase in available content compared with the initiative’s launch, and the long‑term ambition is to digitise 100,000 Arabic books within the next three years.
Beyond volume, the expansion stresses quality and publisher readiness. The Centre is working with publishers across the Arab world to improve digital publishing standards through training in metadata preparation, content classification and the crafting of title descriptions. Those measures are designed to make books easier to locate on international marketplaces and to broaden readership outside traditional regional boundaries.
Central to the initiative are partnerships with Amazon and Arabookverse, a leading distributor of Arabic audiobooks and e‑books. According to the ALC, these collaborations go beyond platform access and technology: they aim to help build a sustainable ecosystem that maintains Arabic titles’ presence in the digital landscape and enhances their global reach.
The expansion was announced as part of the ALC’s ‘8:00 PM’ initiative, a wider campaign launched at ADIBF to boost the profile of Arabic literature in digital markets. The Centre framed the move as supporting both cultural objectives — increasing the standing and use of Arabic online — and the strategic aims of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.
For Abu Dhabi, the project reinforces the emirate’s role as a regional hub for culture, publishing and digital innovation. By combining technical partnerships, publisher capacity building and significant digitisation targets, the Digital Arabic Library seeks to place Arabic-language content on an equal footing with global digital collections and to connect authors and publishers to readers worldwide.
Source: WAM