RIYADH: Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of the King Fahd National Library, on Sunday chaired the library’s first board of trustees meeting for 2026, attended by the distinguished board members.

He emphasized that, since its founding through King Salman’s initiative and support, the library has played a pivotal role in preserving and providing access to Saudi intellectual and cultural heritage, while promoting activities that advance the country’s transformation toward a knowledge-based society.

The board approved the formation of the supreme supervisory committee for the “Memory of a Nation” project, appointed a CEO and a committee secretary, and endorsed the project’s organizational structure and charter.

The “Memory of a Nation” project is a national, institutional, and participatory program. It aims to collect, preserve, organize, and provide access to Saudi Arabia’s cultural and knowledge heritage in both physical and digital formats through a unified national digital platform with governance ensuring institutional integration, sustainability, and asset protection.

The board also discussed the “Deposit Empowerment” program, designed to transform the library into an integrated national deposit center, build a reliable database of intellectual production, improve access to deposit services, and enhance the participation of relevant entities to ensure the sustainable and organized use of Saudi intellectual output.

The board approved rules for deposit violations and their investigation and agreed to establish a permanent specialized committee. It also endorsed the regulatory framework for manuscripts and rare books and ratified the previous fiscal year’s final accounts.

The meeting concluded with a review of reports on the library’s progress and the adoption of the necessary recommendations.