i am working for three months at the
american university of afghanistan, where i am a consultant in the library, training the afghan staff in american library practice + getting the online catalog working properly. auaf holds its courses in english, so most of the collection at the library is in english + covers everything from basic esl books to traditional academic fare.
the university is currently in a series of temporary buildings, while it builds its new campus down the road, near the ruined
darul aman palace. for a transitional space, they've managed to make things look v. nice + have lavished particular attention on the gardens + the library.
this is definitely my favorite library space ever to have worked in. a lot of natural light, stone floors covered here + there with traditional afghan carpets, + best of all, hand-carved wall panels and doors from nuristan. here's one of the doors - the sun was so bright today that it was hard to get a good photo, but i will try again another day.
we have been working v. hard! the staff are eager to learn + have tremendously ambitious goals for the library, as they should. it has been such a wonderful experience for me to be with people so excited about library work. that has been my general impression of people's attitudes about libraries here in afghanistan -- there is such a push for literacy + the efforts of librarians are highly valued.
i've had the opportunity visit two other collections so far, those of the
afghan research + evaluation unit (with materials in many languages - their cataloging and access duties are quite complex) + the library of the
national assembly of afghanistan. the parliament library, like the auaf library, has had some support from usaid, which has enabled it to create a beautifully organized facility that serves the information needs of members of parliament, committees, and assembly staff.
i will be touring several other collections while here, including those that have not had much international funding (if any) and are really suffering. as you are, doubtless, aware, there was a tremendous amount of property destruction and looting here within the past 10 years, in particular. i would like to do what i can to help. while i'm more of an archivist by trade than a librarian, i haven't heard much at all about archival collections -- i fear that most are either out of the country by now or lost to the past 30 years of war-making.
[lunch at work, a home-cooked afghan meal (with fries!) for $1/day.]
on another note entirely, those interested in the expat scene here might want to check out the
article about french restaurant/international clubhouse l'atmosphere (referred to by most as "latmo") . . . if latmo is rick's, then it remains to be seen who on earth would be i. bergman, as there are still so few ladies around these parts currently! and rick? i await an introduction, please.
[auaf flora]
