After the first training course that took place in the Suleymaniye Library from 29th August to 30th September 1994, the Foundation organised its second training course in cataloguing manuscripts at Suleymaniye Library, from 13th to 29th September 2010, in co-operation with IRCICA (Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture) and the Suleymaniye Library.
The training course was attended by 54 participants. After the selection process, 14 of them were selected as cataloguers. Various criteria were taken into account in the selection process, such as their experience in the cataloguing field and their level of proficiency in Arabic.
The Al-Furqan Standard Cataloguing Card was adopted as a basis for cataloguing the Library’s manuscripts and its subsidiary libraries. The Foundation also provided the cataloguers with training and tools for electronic/online cataloguing, a process that was used for the first time by the Foundation.
After the training course, the selected cataloguers were asked to be part of the enthusiastic project undertaken by Al-Furqan in collaboration with Suleymaniye Library and IRCICA which aims to catalogue the Arabic and Persian manuscripts in the Suleymaniye Library, starting with the first phase, the cataloguing of the Ayasofya Collection.