Distributed eLibrary staff participate in regional information forum

Jane Ann Lindley, Director
of Distributed eLibrary

Five librarians, including Jane Ann Lindley, Director of the Distributed eLibrary of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar recently joined a diverse group of regional librarians at the 11th Annual Special Libraries Association Arabic Gulf Chapter meeting in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Special Libraries Association (SLA), founded in 1909, is a U.S.-based association of information professionals working in the corporate, academic and government fields in over 80 countries across the world.

The Arabian Gulf Chapter of the SLA was set up by expatriate librarians, and developed into a regional network of expatriate and national librarians. With members in all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, the Chapter includes professionals working in a variety of libraries, including those dedicated to the field of medicine.

Anas Ahmad, Anas Abou-Ismail, Professor of Physics Dr. Roger Hinrichs, Suzan Skef, Mazin Hussein and Senior Lecturer in Physics Dr. Marco Ameduri discuss their presentations at the first Qatar Physics Conference in December.

Known as the "Garden City of the Gulf", Al Ain has
numerous oases (above) and parks.

Participating in the conference theme, "Libraries Bridging the Gulf", Jan Weaver and Dianne Cmor presented a Health Resources Workshop for medical librarians, moderated by Karen Neves from the UAE National Medical Library. This workshop highlighted current trends in health information searching and management, with particular emphasis on publicly available sources and tools. With a focus on ‘train the trainers,’ topics provided a basis for other medical librarians to use in information literacy instruction at their home institutions or hospitals.

Other conference presentations focused on closer cooperation for information sharing and exchange. Of particular importance is the emerging interest in the opportunities for electronic document delivery, consortia-based collection development and the proactive role of libraries in partnership with faculty and technology groups. The conference, presented in both Arabic and English, was one of the first occasions for WCMC-Q librarians to meet peers from Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. These discussions complement and extend ongoing conversations regarding cooperation among libraries in Qatar.

Reported by Carole Thompson & the Distributed eLibrary Staff