Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the conception of the library in February 2016, the "Year of Reading" in Dubai.[5] Designed in the shape of an open book on a lectern, the seven-story library will cover 650,000 square feet of property and is expected to facilitate 9 million visitors annually.[6] The Mohammed Bin Rashid Library will house over 4.5 million printed, digital, and audio books.[5] The AED1 billion contract for the construction for the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library is the largest cultural project in Dubai.[5] Construction began on September 2016, to be completed by mid-2018.[5] As of December 2017, the construction of the library was 22% completed.[7] In 2018 it was 72% complete.[4]