By Aimen Eljali and Muhammad Elosta.
Tripoli, 17 September 2013:
On Sunday, the University of Tripoli hosted an academic book fair which drew . . .[restrict]in book distributors as well as universities from all over Libya. Eight universities participated as well as 22 book sellers.
“The most popular books bought are usually for Arabic studies,” said Salah Keylani from Sebha University. However, he pointed out that his university also offered other African language classes.
Arabic studies are popular with many Libyan students, but not at all universities. At the University of Khoms, “students tend to go for engineering majors, anything from IT management to electrical engineering”, said university spokesman Muneer Nam.
English studies and courses in English are growing in Libya’s universities and schools. However, the publications being used in Libya tend to come from the Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. These are the most used in private schools.
“Our shop deals with more than 18 different publishers”, said Ahmed Sarheat from Ali Salaeh Bookshop. Book sold cover everything from medicine to graphic design – a growing field in Libya, he noted.
Most students seemed happy with this year’s Academic Book Fair, but some wanted to see more literary works on offer. Third-year medical student Zachary Boukhari complained that “the majority of the books here are either medical or about grammar. There aren’t really any books that involve you in the culture of the languages, just of the grammatical content.” [/restrict]
