Category: Alumni

[Originally posted on 1/28/2015]

IEEE Group As the Chief Librarian of Bahria University Islamabad Campus, Sher Afzal Khan (2014 Associate) helped to oversee an expanded search collaboration project among constituent libraries with the launch of a Union Catalog encompassing the collections of seven BU libraries. Khan led a 5-day workshop for university librarians on the software platform for the catalog entitled, “Integrated Library System: KOHA and Dspace.” Sher Afzal also won Second Prize and was the only library professional in Pakistan to receive the prize on the basis of TOP Institutional ATTEMPTS for the subject quiz in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Quiz for Engineering and Technology 2013-14.

Read more about the BU Library’s other awards and accomplishments in the University’s Annual Report.

[Originally posted on 1/14/2015]

Mortenson Center alumna Anargul Essenaliyeva (2014 Associate, pictured at right) has conducted two presentations since her return home. One focused on her time at the Center and the other on cataloguing. She is currently writing an article on “Subject Headings” in Russian for the Kazakhstani Association of Libraries publication.

[Originally posted on 1/7/2015]

Deborah Eddy-Ugorji attended the 2012 Associates Program as the chief library officer at the National Library of Nigeria, Lagos. Since then, she wrote a book about her Mortenson Center experience and single-handedly set up a new, internet-based library at Peaklane College Akute, Ogun State, Nigeria.

[Originally posted on 12/15/2014]

Graduate Dinner Gimena Campos Cervera Bustos (pictured far right), Senior Researcher at the U.S. Embassy to Italy, has written prodigiously since her Mortenson Center program in 2011. Her articles have appeared on the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Europe and the Italian Library Association websites.

She has organized a series of annual events on the future of libraries in the 21st century: Modern Leonardos. In 2013, she coordinated the opening of the first digital maker space in an Italian library: YouLab Pistoia at the library of San Giorgio di Pistoia (Tuscany). In fact, Cervera recently gave a presentation on her experience with YouLab Pistoia at this year’s Internet Library International (ILI) conference.

Read More about Gimena’s work in Italy

TAG: 2011 Associates Graduation

[Originally posted on 11/26/2014]

2013 Associates Raja Muhammad Ibrahim (pictured) and Muhammad Idrees from the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) in Islamabad, Pakistan have updated their library’s website to include a live chat service for providing real time assistance. They are also in the planning stages of adding a remote storage facility and gift shop to their library at CIIT. More recently, Raja Muhammad was elected as President of the Pakistan Library Association (HQ).

CIIT Library Website

[Originally posted on 11/12/2014]

Young Adult Library Space 2012 Associate Christelle Lubbe returned to the City of Cape Town Library in South Africa and implemented many new services for her patrons. The library now has a takeaway service for quick check-outs and returns, an updated young adult section with new programming and collections, and a variety of outreach endeavors to underserved groups. Christelle has also kept busy presenting papers at Library and Information Association of South Africa ( LIASA ) conferences and taking on leadership roles within the organization’s Western Cape Public and Community Library Interest Group (PACLIG).

View “The B-Zone” Young Adult library space upgrade PowerPoint

[Originally posted on 11/05/2014]

2013 Associate Erica Saito moved from Brazil to the United States, where she still works as a librarian in Washington, D.C. After her Mortenson Center program, she gave a presentation about her experience to colleagues at Sao Paulo University. She also published a paper on cloud computing in Brazilian libraries in the IFLA July 2014 newsletter, TILT .

(Picture on left: Erica Saito gives a presentation at Sao Paolo University about her Mortenson Center Program.)

[Originally posted on 10/29/2014]

Heba Mohamed Ismail (2011 Associate) presented a poster session with her colleague Rasha Essmat entitled, “ICS: A Success Story” at the 2011 American Library Association annual conference about their work with the Integrated Care Society (ICS) and the damage to its libraries during the Egyptian revolution. Since then she has continued her studies and in 2013 won the Honor Award from the Arab Federation for Libraries and Information (AFLI) in recognition of her accomplishments. She won yet another award this year from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo in recognition of her ongoing civic engagement (pictured on left).