Presentation Foundation

King Abdul-Aziz Al Saoud Foundation for Islamic Studies and Human Science - Casablanca is a documentation, scientific and cultural institution inaugurated in 1985. It saw the light of day thanks to the initiative to the late King Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz Al Saoud.

This institution meets a need in terms of information and documentation which was strongly felt among the research community and the different actors in Casablanca, in particular, and in Morocco in general.

The Foundation is established as a Moroccan law partnership. It is a corporate body of public utility. It is managed by a board of directors made up of personalities belonging to diverse sectors.

The rational behind constituting this institution is stimulating the scientific research in social sciences, culture and development of expertise in the fields of documentation and information.
For so doing, it has been constituting, as time goes on, an efficient team and developing its action in three directions:

– Setting up a research library which encompasses, up to December, 2013, more than 665.900 volumes of documents. This library is home to one of the richest collections pertaining to Maghrebian Studies, let alone Arab Muslim Studies and theoretical references. The working languages are: Arabic, French, English and Spanish. This collection is the outcome of  an acquisition policy increasingly oriented towards a specialization in Maghrebian Studies. The library stores, in addition to studies in human and social sciences, the Maghrebian literary works. However, it stores neither textbooks nor publications for children.

– Establishing a documentation and bibliographical information center able to mobilize the Foundation’s bibliographical databases: Ibn Rushd, comprising more than 100.000 entries relative to Maghrebian Studies, and Mawsu’a. These two databases are available on the Foundation’s online catalog at: www.fondation.org.ma. Moreover, this center enables access to international databases, namely the databases of the main national libraries, by the means of Cd-roms or Internet. The users of the Foundation’s Library can also access, for free, to some bibliographical and textual databases, notably the Academic Search Premier of Ebsco. In order to acquaint its public with the collections of its library, the Foundation publishes thematic bibliographies in hardcopy and softcopy and catalogs. It also undertakes to digitize the periodicals’ tables of contents which are downloadable from the Foundation’s electronic portal at: http://www.fondation.org.ma/fondation_ang/revues.htm

– Establishing a space for cultural events, scientific debates and research where academics, researchers, economic and social actors can discuss diverse strategic topics. The Foundation’s Catalog of Publications and its electronic portal testify to the richness and seriousness of these debates. Furthermore, it has recently launched a project of publishing PhD theses as well as a project of collaboration with the University which consists in hosting research workshops and publishing their works.

Since its constitution, the Foundation has been aware of the importance of computerization and the contribution of the new information and communication technologies to the rationalization and optimization of the bibliotheconomic activity. The experience gained so far, enables the Foundation to embark on new projects: the targeted diffusion of bibliographical information, Net development, the digitization of valuable documents, the quality stake aiming at bettering information on the Maghreb and the continuous improvement of the services provided to readers and partners.

The Foundation is trying hard to take on the challenge  of professionalizing its activity and the quality of the services it provides. By extending its building recently, acquiring new materials and a new information system based on the library management system, Symphony, the Foundation aims at meeting the conditions for a better access to documents, information and knowledge.