The American Library Association’s (ALA) largest international professional development event wrapped November 13 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with hundreds of librarians gathering at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) for the first SIBF/ALA Library Conference. Librarians from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE and other countries, attended the free two-day professional development and networking event; 425 pre-registered and around 400 signed up onsite.
SIBF Director Ahmed Al-Amiri welcomed the librarians saying, “People in this region love reading, and libraries should be used to promote cultural exchange. All libraries across the world need to work together and cooperate.” From ALA President Courtney Young’s opening keynote on the transformation of libraries through 15 sessions on a wide range of topics for all types of libraries, participants shared new ideas and benefited from the insights of high-profile international presenters.
Topics included new trends and technologies, information literacy, school libraries as integral to student success, community engagement, innovative spaces and services in academic libraries, open-access policies, e-resources and virtual libraries, implementing RDA, rebranding and proving the value of the library, makerspaces, assessment, staff and leadership development, and promoting the love of reading. (The full program, put together by ALA International Relations Office (IRO) Director Michael Dowling, and the list of presenters are listed here.) The conference was instituted by IRO and ALA marketing, SIBF, and Combined Book Exhibit, whose directors Jon Malinowski and Janet Fritsch facilitated the partnership, secured the sponsors, and helped run the event and manage the onsite volunteers.
During its 10-day run, more than one million visitors streamed through the fair and crowded the aisles, looking at and buying books, including 45,000 school girls who were shepherded through by their teachers one morning and encouraged to “Love the Written Word.” Located in the main lobby of the book fair itself, the lively Librarians’ Lounge, sponsored by several companies as well as SIBF, provided an ideal meeting point, conference base, and networking area: Even His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, enjoyed conversations there on the opening day of the fair.
The list of ideas for next year’s conference is already long, but for now, we’re just glad that the first event proved beneficial for participants. It’s been an exciting privilege to be part of it all.
For more about SIBF, visit sharjahbookfair.com. Photos are available on the ALA IRO Facebook page and on the event page. The hashtag is #SIBFALA.
MARY MACKAY is director of marketing for ALA.
