ASSISTANCE TO IRAQI LIBRARIES

The American Library Association (ALA) has received a $20,000 grant from the Working Assets Grantmaking Fund of the Tides Foundation to provide children's books to public libraries in Iraq.  The Near East and South Asia Subcommittee of the ALA International Relations Committee (IRC) will oversee the project, connecting with Iraqi librarians to select children's books in Arabic, Kurdish and other languages. Press Release

The American Library Association is working with other organizations and institutions around the world, including IFLA, to help coordinate responses with Iraqi librarians to help rebuild their libraries and library services. A number of other projects are now underway including efforts by the Library of Congress to restore the Iraqi National Library and Archives, Stony Brook University to provide training and resource support to Iraqi universty libraries, and Simmons University and Harvard University to re-establish library education. Information on these efforts of IFLA and others are linked here.

PROJECTS

Cultural Emergency Response (CER) helps refurbish the Reading Room of the Central Library of the University in Baghdad

Simmons and Harvard University team to help devastated Iraqi libraries

The USAID-Iraq HEAD-Stony Brook University Program in Archaeology and Environmental Health Libraries Assessment

The Library of Congress and the Cultural Property Office of the U.S. Department of State Mission to Baghdad Report on the National Library and the House of Manuscript

ALA RESOLUTIONS ON IRAQ

Resolution for an Exemption from Sanctions From the U.S. Department

Resolution on Libraries and Cultural Resources in Iraq

Resolution on the Connection Between the Iraq War and Libraries  (Word document)

OTHER SITES

Middle East Librarians Association Committee on Iraqi Libraries

IraqCrisis Discussion List

 

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