The (Report on the Cultural State in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2020: Digitizing Culture) revealed the impact of Saudi libraries and the basic services they provide due to the Corona pandemic and the exceptional circumstances it imposed during the year 2020. 

Most of the basic services in libraries were affected, which are represented in receiving visitors, providing reading rooms, and borrowing books, among other services. All libraries stopped receiving visitors and patrons since mid-March 2020, and their closure continued for varying periods. After lifting the ban and allowing public places to practice their activities, some libraries began to open their doors and receive visitors with the application of precautionary measures.

The pandemic did not prevent libraries from exercising their cultural role by relying on digital media, as some libraries showed speed in adapting to the new reality, and continued their activity through virtual space, which varied between general programs, scientific meetings, and programs and events dedicated to children and youth. Likewise, many libraries sought to provide various electronic services in a new way, which allowed those interested and researchers the opportunity to benefit from the library's contents electronically, and this contributed to mitigating the consequences of the pandemic on the sector.

The year 2020 witnessed the establishment of the Libraries Commission to be the reference in organizing and supporting the library sector in the Kingdom. The first initiatives of the Commission to develop libraries were represented in the announcement by His Highness the Minister of Culture of the establishment of 153 new libraries in various regions of the Kingdom by the year 2030, with the first 13 of them to be completed by 2020.

The report on the cultural state derived its data from about 70 entities ranging from ministries, vernment bodies, cultural foundations, public libraries, and art galleries, in addition to the second cultural participation survey, which was a poll in which 3112 individuals from all regions of the Kingdom participated. The report also relied on qualitative data completed from 18 discussion sessions in which more than 130 practitioners, experts, and officials connected to cultural affairs in the Kingdom participated, alongside surveys of samples from private museums and art galleries, and a range of published reports and media sources.   

The report included a message from His Excellency the Minister of Culture, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud, in which he said: The Saudi cultural sector shared with the world the facing of massive challenges, believing that ambitious visions bear fruit regardless of circumstances, and confident of its ability to make distancing a space for coming closer, and on adapting virtual space with its tools, channels, and platforms in its favor, and proceeded with the culture of this nation towards broader horizons under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his trustworthy Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - may d protect them. 

His Excellency added that the Kingdom's Vision 2030 was reflected in an original way on the cultural sectors. We see an active societal movement around modern sectors such as culinary arts, fashion, natural heritage, and visual arts, and an increasing economic impact for architecture, design, films, and music, and unparalleled ambition to introduce local heritage and cultural events, and a momentum in publishing, translation, and language.

His Excellency the Minister of Culture described the report saying: We place in your hands the report on the cultural state in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2020: Digitizing Culture in its second edition with a presentation characterized by transparency, proud of the efforts, and highlighting the features of Saudi cultural work through creativity and production, documenting the most important initiatives, projects, programs, and events, while tracing and monitoring opportunities and challenges.

His Excellency pointed out that although the path of digital transformation preceded the crisis, digitizing culture has the lion's share in the various pages of the report. We learn through it the reality of numbers and approach events experienced by culture makers in our country, in a stage where the level of threat rose as did the volume of achievement, with a precise description of the local digital experience. The following reader will find in the report, which is renewed every year, an eye that studies the reality, helps in development, and monitors the cultural state with its successes and challenges. We take pride together in our cultural journey and what is coming is always more beautiful.