Summer term is often a time for students to do something a little bit different than the rest of the year. Before I began at UCLA in the Information Studies department last year, I studied archaeology. So, this summer I spent most of my time working as registrar on an archaeological excavation in southern Turkey (an excellent way to combine a love of archaeology and information studies by the way)!
A second way that I combine my love of archaeology and libraries is as chair of the World Archaeological Congress’ Global Libraries Program. The program works to enhance the literary collections of archaeological and cultural heritage research institutions around the globe.
During the summer of 2009, I attended an archaeological conference in the Palestinian town of Ramallah in the West Bank. There, we began collaborating between the Global Libraries Program and the Institute of Archaeology at Birzeit University. While housed in a major university, the Institute has been plagued by a lack of funding, a lack of a full-time librarian, and a lack of new research materials for the last ten years.
Following my excavation this summer, I again visited the West Bank (and this time I brought my friend and archaeological colleague, Sarah Hawley). We spent a week this August volunteering in the Birzeit Institute of Archaeology library. We brought some archaeological journal donations in our suitcase, and we donated our time that week to help organize the materials in the library so that they can be accessible for students and professors to research.
As an MLIS student at UCLA, I have the skills to catalog and sort the books in the library (that were out of their boxes but not cataloged or in any useful order). Unfortunately, the computers were not working and therefore we were not able to access LCC for cataloging. Instead, Sarah and I (alongside Birzeit students who came and helped) took more of an archival approach.
We sorted through all of the libraries loose papers and organized all of the individual journal articles and off prints dispersed through many shelves and boxes. We organized the articles by author and year and they are now a resource for students and faculty.
I want to say thank you to the UCLA ALA Student Chapter for helping me defray part of the cost of traveling to Birzeit University this summer. Sarah and I were able to accomplish a lot in organizing the library. However, even more importantly, our presence was an encouragement to the faculty at the school who are working so hard to make the Institute succeed. In addition, some of the students in the program were not even aware that there was a specialized library available to them. We were an impetus for these students to take ownership of their Institute and a few now plan on volunteering this term to continue the work on the library. I’m just glad that we could help work together to transform the library into a valuable resource.
--Ashley Sands
UCLA ALA Student Group, Co-Treasurer
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2 comments:
"While housed in a major university, the Institute has been plagued by a lack of funding, a lack of a full-time librarian, and a lack of new research materials for the last ten years."
The last ten years happen to coincide with the intefada. Perhaps if the billions and billions of dollars in aid that have been given to us Palestinians in that time weren't a) embezzled by corrupt "leaders"; or b) used to procure tools of violence against the Jews (who--like us--just want to live in their homeland), there would be sufficient money to fund the university library and other such institutions that would allow us to build our state. Times were much better before the intefada. We need to stop blaming the Jews and start working on improving our own situation through education.
Amazing article. Ashley, how can people become involved with the Global Libraries committee?
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