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The American University of Armenia this month celebrates its 20th anniversary with a program of events at AUA, in Yerevan, and in the U.S.: A Celebration of EducationSeptember 26-October 1

Cendrella Habre (Riyad Nassar Library Director, Lebanese American University) was recently named to the OCLC EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Regional Council as Executive Committee Member without Portfolio to represent the interests of OCLC member libraries in the Middle East and India. Her role will involve: Participation in Regional Council and Executive Committee meetingsPlanning the EMEA Regional Council Annual Meeting and meetings for OCLC members in the Middle EastParticipation in the EMEA Regional Council Nominating Committee (for delegates to represent the region at OCLC Global Council) and election processPromotion of OCLC membership to libraries in the Middle East / India The Regional Councils provide a means for member libraries to make their voices heard in the governance of OCLC, through the Delegates that they elect to represent them at OCLC’s Global Council, but also through the Regional Council committees that help to ensure that OCLC is in touch with its members’ interests. AMICAL is proud to have one of its most active library leaders representing OCLC members from the EMEA region.

Elisabetta Morani (Head Librarian at John Cabot University) and Berj Gatrjian (Director, Information Technologies and Communication Services at American University of Armenia) have been elected Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively, of AMICAL’s Coordinating Committee for the two-year period 2011-2013. The Coordinating Committee provides operational oversight, approving policies and directions for the consortium’s activities throughout the year. Morani was the subject of a related news article on the JCU website, where she noted “AMICAL has been instrumental in creating a networking framework for the Frohring Library, essential for keeping it up with academic library standards. Along the years it has become a lively, well integrated group of people (about 90 librarians, information technologists, and faculty attended its last meeting in Beirut) enthusiastic and committed to sharing their experiences to build academic excellence, innovation and collaboration.”

Looking for a robust, usable, standards-compliant system for managing your institution’s collections of images and other digital objects? Webinars have been scheduled specifically for AMICAL members on 7, 8 and 16 June to learn more about two leading systems, CONTENTdm and Insight+LUNA. For details and to sign up, see the email distributed 30 May on AMICAList, or contact Jeff Gima (jgima@aup.edu).

The AMICAL Conference just held in Beirut at the Lebanese American University is covered in a substantial article in LAU News. Photos capture highlights from the conference.

The full conference program for the 2011 AMICAL Conference at LAU has now been posted on the AMICAL Conference web site.

Taking place 16-17 May 2011 at the American University of Paris. Are you a new instruction librarian? Do you have limited access to professional development opportunities? Would you benefit from information literacy training? AMICAL and the American University of Paris (AUP) are pleased to announce an information literacy workshop led by Library Director Susan Barnes Whyte (ACRL IIL Immersion faculty member), and Reference and Instruction Librarian Jean Caspers, of Linfield College. The two day workshop will take place on the AUP campus, on the 16th (full-day) and 17th (morning) of May 2011. Susan and Jean will cover topics such as assessing instruction methods, developing active learning activities, building an IL curriculum, evaluating instruction session content, and cultivating relationships with faculty.

The Lebanese American University is proud to host the 8th annual AMICAL Meeting and Conference, to be held 27 - 30 April 2011, at both the Beirut and Byblos LAU campuses. AMICAL members are invited to attend, learn, participate, and share with colleagues at this year’s conference, which promises engaging presentations and a highly interactive format. Under the theme of “e-Content: Collecting, Managing, Promoting, Teaching,” AMICAL members and invited guests will be exploring ways that the library and information services need to evolve, and perhaps revolutionize, the way they bring scholarly content to the academic communities they serve. A major sub-theme of the conference will be IT - library collaboration, the focus of a major joint workshop with the AAICU group of presidents and chief academic officers. Save the date, and join us in Lebanon!

The American University in Cairo is hosting a conference on “Fostering Academic Integrity,” December 4-6, 2010. The conference “will address a number of timely topics, foremost among which are means of preventing violations of academic integrity; intellectual property rights; research ethics; business ethics, academic integrity and culture; as well as academic integrity for pre-K—12 schools.” Participants from American University - Central Asia and American University of Paris are being sponsored through the AMICAL Small Grant program. For more information, visit the conference site.

Thanks in part to support from the American University of Armenia and AUA Library Director, Bella Avakian, Yerevan was recentlynamed World Book Capital 2012 by UNESCO. In her letter on behalf of AUA supporting Yerevan’s bid, Bella notes that “2012…marks the 500th anniversary of first Armenian printed work by the first Armenian publisher, Hakob Meghapart.” According to UNESCO, the award is an “acknowledgement of the best programme dedicated to books and reading.”