Background and Context:
What is a digital library? a digital library is a managed collection of information, books, articles, with associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and accessible over a network for the readers. In the light of the Digital Library definition, KCIL is envisioning to set up a range of high-quality digitized and networked resources for scholars and students in Kurdistan Region of Iraq and elsewhere through a resource sharing platform. Clearly, digital libraries are the future of academic and research institutions. Due to the changing nature of librarianship resulting from the increasing amount of information available in digital format, the need for a digital library is becoming vital and imminent for students, researchers, and scholars in Kurdistan region .

Many decades of chronic conflict in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq resulted in the loss of traditional libraries, including historical books, legal resources, and others. Historians and legal scholars believe that  it was very crucial for the present generation to build on the existing knowledge and information, a massive number of books disappeared or taken by individuals as part of Kurdish ethnic cleansing. 

COVID-19 crisis has made institutions and universities to look for alternative models for traditional libraries. In the wake of unprecedented situations in the region and the lack of digital platform for legal resources online, the instructors and scholars have voiced the need for a Digital Library in Kurdistan, no concrete effort has been made yet due to the economic crisis and lack of funding from institutional donors in the country. 

Kurdistan has many universities; most of them do not have a digital library especially relating to international law. Access to information and knowledge are fundamental for education and development as well as being an essential requirement for improving the quality of life for people living in Kurdistan region where the population has not yet reached a high level of economic and social development. E-Library can play an important role in the educational and researching process. Legal resources in KRI are dispersed overall, there is a lack of digital E-library as a reliable platforms in Kurdistan to provide access to many of the knowledge networks around the world, which is a necessary component of any research experience. 

Solution:
By establishing a digital library by our academics, the students in Kurdistan and around the world will have a platform for accessing resources for their research. A library section  currently being set up on KCIL  website, and will be more enhanced in the coming year(s). The digital library will be created both in Kurdish and English to put together as many resources as possible in line with the Center’s objectives and principles. The E-libraries will be an important component for exposing researchers to not only a local perspective regarding the status of implementing the fundamental principles of international human rights, humanitarian, and criminal laws in Kurdistan, but also access to the global knowledge about these three vital subjects or legal fields.

The proposed intervention aims at a sustainable and longer-term solution for students and researcher to gain easy and free access to the locally owned E-library in KRI. The main objectives of the project are:-
1. To introduce the researchers to more digital and long-term research-based legal literature about international law with regard to Kurdistan communities, as well as the status of implementing standards of the three above-mentioned international laws within the Kurdistan communities
2. Provide robust and sustainable online access for digital resources. 
3. To enable researchers from inside or outside KCIL to easily access more resources about the linkages between Kurdistan communities and international law. Also, it would be a platform for the Kurdistan policymakers to have more understanding about the international legal issues.
4. To provide multilingual (English and Kurdish) resources that will serve as a means for many purposes, including linguistic and cultural exchanges.
5. The E-library will be an online archive for preserving, collecting the textual materials  on international law issues relating to Kurdistan communities.
6. The E-library would be a catalyst for nationalizing the fundamental principles of international law in the Kurdistan laws by providing them with systematic, well-established, and academic resources.

The E-Library can be reached on the Kurdish and English version of the KCIL's website 

For the Kurdish Books please click here
For the English Books please click here

For the English laws and judgments please click here

For the English reports please click here