My name is Ali Abu Rmeileh, I am a Palestinian man from Jerusalem. I have developed a passion for manuscripts and early books since a young age. I entered the field of libraries and humanities in 2014, while i was working as a receptionist at a hotel in Jerusalem. I began volunteering in a manuscripts digitizing project at Al-Budeiri library which was a life changer for me. I felt that I found the future career that suits me and decided to study Library Science at the David Yellin college of education. I was also lucky enough to find a job at the national library of Israel in the Arabic department in that same year.
I decided to develop myself further in the field by pursuing a master’s degree in Rare Book and Digital Humanities at the Université de Franche-Comté in Besançon, France.
The Rare Book and Digital Humanities master aims at providing high level competence in rare and early books while also providing the capacity to work in the book trade or in rare book conservation and digitization. This degree will help me achieve my intention to learn the most new methods to maintain and digitize manuscripts. This will help provide an easy access to rare books for scholars and students from all over the globe, plus preserving the treasures of the past to build a better future, as the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan once said: “He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present and future, for it is from the past that we learn.”
*Biblichor (bib-li-chor) is the word that describes the particular smell that belongs to old books. Biblichor is a newly created word that combines the Greek words biblio (book) with ichor (the fluid that flows like blood in the veins of the gods), biblichor describes a very distinct fragrance that somehow inhabits one’s very soul when they encounter it.
