Specialized lecture on Kazakhstan’s historical manuscripts in the seminar series coordinated by Imam Bukhari Research Center (Samarkand) and IRCICA

The series of online seminars conducted by the Imam Bukhari Research Center (Uzbekistan) and IRCICA has hosted Ms. Gulshat Abikova, Head of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Service at the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan, on 26 August 2026, for her lecture on “The Manuscript Collection in Eastern Languages of the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Formation, Composition, and Research”. The lecturer, a specialist in archival management and historical manuscripts, and PhD candidate in this field, described the collections and gave comprehensive information on the activities conducted for their management. The Rare Books and Manuscripts Service is in charge of 40000 books in Eastern languages, including Kazakh, classical Turkic, Arabic, and Persian, and 57 Qur’an copies, the oldest from the 12th century. Ms. Gulshat Abikova spoke of the catalogues of different language collections, digitization works, various preservation projects, and international cooperation for research, publications, training programs, and exchanges of expertise.