Türkiye to Open 10 New-Generation Libraries in 2027
The 2027 programme also targets 20,000 digitised and 1,100 restored manuscripts.
Türkiye plans to open 10 new-generation libraries in 2027 and to digitise 20,000 manuscripts and rare printed works. It also plans to restore 1,100 of them, according to a compilation from the 2027 Presidential Annual Programme reported by Anadolu Agency (AA) and TRT Haber on 27 October 2026.
The plan joins two goals: wider library services and better protection of written heritage. For readers who follow Ottoman and Turkish history, the manuscript targets are the more notable part.
What the new-generation libraries plan includes
The report says the aim is to turn libraries into places where knowledge is produced and shared, and where people socialise. They would no longer be only places to store and lend books.
For 2027, the programme lists three library targets:
- Open 10 new-generation libraries.
- Complete construction of 12 libraries.
- Restructure 12 libraries functionally.
The programme also expects two cultural centres to be finished and opened.
The report gives the following figures for work already done. Since 2018, 29 new-generation library buildings have been completed. A further 616 libraries were rebuilt with modern equipment and reopened.
More than 1,300 public libraries now serve the country. Together they have capacity for 160,000 people and over 777,000 square metres of indoor space. By 2025, their collections reached 26.1 million books, with 7.2 million members and 39.2 million users.
Manuscript digitisation and restoration targets for 2027
The Turkish Manuscripts Institution (Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı) holds 811,527 manuscripts and rare printed works. The report describes the collection as the intellectual memory of Islamic and Turkish-Islamic history. A manuscript here means a handwritten work, as opposed to a printed book.
Since 2012, the institution has bought 27,201 manuscripts and rare printed works for its collections. The digitisation rate in manuscript libraries has reached 93 percent.
The 2027 targets are:
- Digitise 20,000 works and build digital archives for them.
- Restore 1,100 manuscripts and rare works.
- Acquire 4,000 more works from public and private collections, at home and abroad, through purchase and donation.
- Publish 45 classic Turkish-Islamic manuscripts.
- Prepare detailed bibliographic records for 27,000 works.
- Hold 251 national and international cultural and scientific events.
Why the plan matters to history readers
Digital archives can help researchers reach rare texts without handling fragile originals. Restoration, in turn, addresses the physical condition of the works themselves. Those are the stated goals of the plan, and its real effect will show only as the targets are carried out.
The figures are planned targets from a government programme, not completed results. The next measure will be how many of the 2027 goals are reported as met.
Source: TRT Haber (AA)
Featured image: Modern primat / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
