The Endangered Libraries and Archives Committee is charged with raising awareness, providing education about, and advocating for shared standards and disaster preparedness for libraries and archives in the Middle East. The Committee will seek out cooperative and collaborative arrangements with librarians, scholarly groups, and libraries in the Middle East to encourage training, the building of region-wide library and expert networks, the designing of prevention plans, and the formation of immediate response projects.
ELA committee members 2024:
- Guy Burak (New York University, 2021-)
- Iman Dagher (UCLA, 2023-)
- Matt Saba (MIT, 2021-)
- Deborah Schlein (Princeton, 2022-)
- Fatme Charafeddine (AUB, 2023-)
- Sean Swanick (Duke University, 2021-, Chair)
ELA committee documentation:
Possible outcomes:
- Increased awareness among librarians and archivist in the middle east of workshops, webinars, and conferences concerning risk assessment and disaster management planning through the collection and sharing of information and resources on the topic.
- Increased awareness of preservation needs and basic preservation policies and procedures.
- The design of a toolkit, including a disaster management template, shared standards, list of expert resources, and directors off libraries and archives in the Middle East
- The building of network among libraries, archives, and professional organizations for responding in times of difficulty and emergency.
- Promoting the importance of digitizing world and important archives and connecting experts with libraries and archives to consult and train on digitization and preservation.
- Overall: the protection, preservation, and celebration of libraries and archives through the Middle East.