The Women's Library: The Challenge in Times of Crisis.

The entire world is witnessing accelerated developments as a result of the global pandemic (Covid-19), and remedying its challenges requires intensifying efforts with realistic and practical solutions to adapt to it away from theoretical frameworks that are far from reality, and this is what the Women library adopted from cultural strategies and gradual steps in dealing with the Corona pandemic, which are compatible with it from its early days, through the days of preventive quarantine.



(Knowledge management):

(Community solidarity has adopted a national guarantee for its protection) as a program for a series of educational activities consistent with the reality of what the individual is witnessing and needs in responding to the crisis, as (the citizen is primarily responsible for maintaining national health security from covid-19), which was a title to a health symposium held by the library in cooperation with the Medical Division at the Kafeel Specialized Hospital and the Crisis Cell, to sensitize thirty individuals working in the library about the virus and its transmission methods, and the special preventive measures in preparation for making them essential participants in future awareness-raising processes for society in the first round of the battle to face the crisis .



(Moving from crisis to opportunity):

The exceptional stage did not limit the library's awareness of its responsibility in the renaissance of society and discuss its issues and problems. With the country witnessing a curfew and quarantine to prevent the outbreak of the pandemic, it was necessary to consider the views of specialists essentials surrounding the crisis in all aspects, so it went to the Internet as a means of communication and interaction, and a window of progress through which it presents a number of virtual dialogues via its website on Facebook.



(Knowledge of the aspects of the crisis is the shortest way to overcome it):

In its first electronic symposium, the library based its work on (social solidarity, safety valve for the nation in times of adversity) as a social dimension of the crisis, which was followed up by (161) followers, and discussed axes that included introducing the Corona virus, and determining who is responsible for maintaining safety after God Almighty: Is it the citizen or the Iraqi Ministry of Health, and what are the health measures taken by the al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine for the prevention of the Corona pandemic. The symposium witnessed a wide interaction. And on the level of ideological and spiritual dimension, it had organized a second virtual cultural symposium marked with (The Mahdawi's belief and its role in shaping and building the modern balance in the time of occultation), the scientific side of it was managed by Assistant Professor (Dr. Azhar Zayer Jassem) responsible for scientific affairs in the Faculty of Arts at Al-Mustansiriya University, and on the educational side, Professor (Marwa Al-Fadhli) is responsible for the Department of Educational Guidance and Counseling at the College of Medicine at the Ameed University. As well as the importance of the media role in the crisis, the library held a third online symposium entitled: (Media and building community awareness during crises) that included the following themes:

- The media's role in shaping public opinion trends during the Corona crisis.

- The media of the Holy Shrines: a responsible presence and health, psychological and social awareness during the Corona crisis.

- Community awareness in dealing with the crisis through social media.



(Gateway to the Future):

To break the isolation of readers and researchers from books and research sources, while libraries suspended their work on quarantine days until after the end of the epidemic, the library opened an electronic window to provide researchers and readers with sources and books in electronic (pdf) format through electronic communication mechanisms, via the library's email and mobile number through WhatsApp and Telegram services.



(Sustainable development tools):

The library also prepared a number of awareness-raising films in the pandemic, and produced them in cooperation with the Health Department of Karbala / Crisis Cell, to audit the scientific material it contains, and in some of them relied on children as an important social and media value from which social awareness is launched, in addition to preparing a number of posters for the same purpose, which were displayed through the library's website on the al-Kafeel network and its page on Facebook.



(By the hands of creativity our generations build the homeland):

Home isolation is a precious time that the library has invested in through the contest (creativity talents), to develop female creativity and literary capabilities and skills in different art classes, such as filmmaking and essay writing within targeted scientific spaces, including various articles on the pandemic and the global crisis that were published electronically.



(The needs of the present remove time dust from the originality of heritage sciences):

There was also a search for the pandemic from an Islamic historical perspective drawn from the heritage of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), in how to deal with diseases and epidemics, based on a photocopy of a valuable manuscript in the center of manuscript imaging and indexing in the al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine, belonging to Sayed. Mahdi Bahr al-Ulum (1212 AH) titled: (a message regarding the rule of plague and epidemic)).



As the reality of the crisis intensified, the library was a bridge to bridge the chasm, present from the consciousness and knowledge nucleus of Iraq.