Libraries as Social Change Engines Working Together with NGOs in Asia and Africa : A Two-Part Series

Libraries as Social Change Engines

Working Together with NGOs in Asia and Africa : A Two-Part Series

The ALA International Relations Roundtable Ad Hoc Webinar Committee would like to announce an upcoming free two-part webinar series this November highlighting international library partnerships and projects between libraries and non-governmental organizations in Asia and Africa. In this series, we will present the Asia Foundation/Myanmar Library Association partnership and the Lubuto Library Partners in Zambia. Both are international development organizations that aim to address social, political and economic issues to enrich lives and build a thriving community through libraries.

 November 13 @ 10AM Central – Asia Foundation & Myanmar Library Association

 November 21 @ 10AM Central – Lubuto Library Partners in Zambia, Africa

PART 1|

November 13 – Asia Foundation & Myanmar Library Association

Time: 10 AM Central

Time: 11 AM Eastern

Zoom Registration Link

Speakers:

Mi Ki Kyaw Myint |Manager of the Special Projects Unit at the Asia Foundation

MyatSann Nyein |Librarian, Vice President of Myanmar Library Association & Local Coordinator of the eLibrary Myanmar Project

More about our speakers...

Mi Ki Kyaw Myint is manager of the Special Projects Unit at The Asia Foundation’s Myanmar office. Under the Special Projects Unit, she manages and implements a wide range of dynamic activities to support Myanmar’s transition towards democracy, peace, stability, economic development, and social justice. Over the past six years she has led on implementing impactful program activities including the Books for Asia and Let’s Read programs, support to school and public libraries, engagement and capacity building for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Union Parliament, children’s literacy, mobile and digital information literacy, and multiple fellowships and exchanges.

 

MyatSann Nyein has served as a librarian since 1985 because she believes in the power of information to improve and transform the lives of the fellow citizens. The recent changes in Myanmar have opened up new possibilities. MyatSann works as Local Coordinator of eLibrary Myanmar Project, Electronic Information For Libraries (EIFL) for four universities in Myanmar: University of Yangon, East Yangon University, West Yangon University, Yangon University of Economics since 2014. She conducted the workshops, trainings and lecture programs with diverse groups such as Public librarians, Academic Librarians, community librarians, and political party members. She is an Executive member of Myanmar Library Association as Vice President since 2014. 

PART 2|

November 21 – Lubuto Library Partners in Zambia, Africa

Time: 10:00 AM Central

Time: 11:00 AM Eastern

Zoom Registration Link

Speakers:

Jane Kinney Meyers | Founder & President of Lubuto Library Partners, Washington D.C.

Elizabeth Giles | Director of Library Services, Lusaka, Zambia

Given Besa | Library Manager, Lubuto Model Library, Lusaka, Zambia

More about our speakers ...

Jane Kinney Meyers

Jane’s experience in library development and implementation spans four decades. She has organized libraries for USAID’s Office of Women in Development, Sahel Development Program, Asia Bureau and other offices to coordinate them with the USAID Library. At the World Bank, in the early 1980s, she established and marketed library and information services in the Bank’s central agricultural advisory department. In the mid- to late-1980s, under a World Bank-financed project in Malawi, Jane managed the establishment of the government’s network of agricultural research libraries and was cited in Science magazine for her innovation in bringing the first CD-ROM to Africa. From the early 1990s through 2001, she served as a consultant to the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development, the FAO, the U.S. National Agricultural Library, the USIA’s MLK Jr. Library and Information Resource Center in Zambia, and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs. She has given invited presentations at conferences of the ALA, SLA, Pennsylvania and New Jersey Library Associations, library schools at the University of Alabama, University of South Carolina, University of Pittsburgh, Drexel University, Simmons College, the D-Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Brooklyn Public Library and the Library of Congress.

Jane, who received her B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona and her Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Maryland, has been widely recognized for her professional achievements. In 2007, she was awarded the Dow Jones Factiva Leadership Award by the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and, in 2008, was recognized by the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies as its Distinguished Alumna of the year. In 2012, the American Library Association (ALA) awarded Jane the John Ames Humphrey/OCLC/Forest Press Award for International Librarianship, its highest honor in international librarianship. The U.K. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals recognized her with its 2010 International Award and, in 2013, the Washington, DC Library Association recognized her outstanding achievements in the development or improvement of library and information services with its Rand Spofford President’s Award.

Elizabeth Giles

Elizabeth began volunteering with Lubuto in 2011 and was subsequently hired to work as the Program Associate for Lubuto in Washington, DC. She spent two years in that position before returning to her hometown of Milwaukee to complete an MLIS at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Elizabeth also holds a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies from Marlboro College (VT). Before coming to work for Lubuto in Zambia, she worked as a children’s librarian, the operations manager for an international high school program, and a teacher of English as a Second Language. She has previously lived in Ghana, China, and Germany. Her first experience in Zambia was leading a research project evaluating Lubuto’s book collections in 2014, and she is thrilled to be back in Zambia long-term as Lubuto’s Director of Library Services.

Given Besa

Given Besa joined Lubuto in September 2013, overseeing daily operations in two Lubuto libraries operational in Lusaka at the time, and training library staff and volunteers. In 2017, she was selected as one of 19 African librarians to participate in the first IYALI (Initiative Young African Library Innovators) learning experience, where she was able to see good library services in action in many countries. She now is the manager of the Lubuto Model Library at the Ngwerere School in Lusaka.  She has a double major degree in Library & Information Science and Public Administration from the University of Zambia. Prior to her work with Lubuto, Besa held positions with the Professional Teachers Union of Zambia and the Post Newspapers. Her passion is to see an increase in literacy levels among Zambian citizens and to protect children’s rights. She hopes to change the negative perception the general public has about libraries in Africa by showing the outcomes of highly professional children and youth library services, and to remove colonial tendencies by making sure that people understand the benefits and accessibility of libraries through the provision of quality customer service, publishing products, facilities and easy information access.

We hope you can join us for the wonderful webinar on libraries working together with NGOs around the world!

- ALA IRRT Webinar Ad Hoc Committee