Part-Time Employment

The American University of Kuwait will likely have an opening for a part-time librarian to work two evenings and Thursday each week. The normal working hours for part-time staff are 4 – 8 p.m. The Thursday open hours run from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. During Final Exam periods, hours are extended until 10 p.m. in the evenings.

If you are interested, please contact Dr. Harvey Varnet, AUK Library Director by e-mail at: hvarnet@auk.edu.kw or by phone at 224-8399 x 264.

عرض مسرحي في مكتبة البابطين المركزية للشعر العربي

تقدم

مكتبة البابطين المركزية للشعر العربي

من ضمن فعاليات موسم المكتبة الثقافي الثاني

مسرحية : ما قبل شكسبير

للفنان عبدالعزيز الحداد
وذلك يـــوم الأحــــــد 11/2/2007م في تمام السـاعــــة 6 مســـاءً
على مســـــــرح المكتبــــــة
مدة العرض 40 دقيقة

الدعوة عامة

هاتف: 2474012

Book Club

Dear LIS cafe~ members,
A book club has been established by Dr. Sajed Al-Abdally.
Members of the group gather every Saturday @ 6 o'clock.
You are welcome to join us.
Next book to be discussed: Thakerat Al-Jasad (Arabic Title) by Ahlam Mesteganmi
Address: Bnaid Al-Gar, Next to Al-Salam Hospital, Flex Building, 3rd Floor

How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci?

Today, I will introduce you to a book that has become one of my dearest friends. The book is "How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci?" by Michael Gelb.
This book takes you through an interesting journey with Da Vinchi. It teaches you 7 main Da Vinchian principles that where practiced by Leonardo and that - if used - would affect your life style positively.
Starting with Curiosita, where you will learn how to be curiose about every thing around you and how to develop continuous learning habits. this last step won't be done unless you practice Demostrazione & sensazione where you will use all of your senses to experience the whole universe and to reduce the amount of uncertainty.
Also, it teaches you the principle of whole brain thinking. when it matches between art and science and finds connections between different phenomena in this life.
of course, it won't ignore well being and fitness. The book gives you an idea about Da Vinchi's diet.
When you read this book , you'll have a free journey through renaissance time.
Dear LIS Cafe~ members, Join us in our reading trip and once you find an interesting book share your ideas about it with us.

Inauguration of LIAK's New Headquarters

"The Library and Information Association of Kuwait (LIAK) is inaugurating its new headquarters on Tuesday, January 9, 2007, at 6:00 pm. LIAK members, as well as library and information professionals and students interested in joining LIAK, are invited to attend the inauguration, which will take place at al-Madrassa al-Qibliya (the renovated Qibliya school), on Ali Al-Salem Street in Kuwait City.

Established in August, 2005, LIAK has an annual membership fee of 10 KD. LIAK president, Ferial al-Feraih will address the audience, after which light refreshments will be served.

For more information, call 242-0848, or 242-1751, or 242-0656 (LIAK secretary). " (Dr. Teresa Lesher)

تقيم جمعية المكتبات والمعلومات الكويتية احتفال بمناسبة الانتقال لمقرها الجديد في المدرسة القبلية وذلك يوم الثلاثاء 9/1/2007 في تمام الساعة الـ 6:00 مساء. وبهذه المناسبة تدعو الجمعية جميع المختصين والمهتمين من الطلبة والأساتذة في مجال المكتبات والمعلومات. علما بأنه سيتم تأبين الراحل أحمد العلي في بداية الاحتفال ومن ثم إلقاء كلمة للسيدة فريال الفريح رئيسة الجمعية يليها حفل استقبال على شرف الحضور. يرجى الحضور قبل الموعد المحدد. لمزيد من المعلومات, يرجى الاتصال على سكرتارية الجمعية: 2420656

Eid Mubarak and Happy New Year

i3 Conference - Information: Interactions and Impact

i3 is concerned with the quality and effectiveness of the interactionbetween people and information and how this interaction can bring aboutchange in individuals, organisations, communities and society. The conference will look beyond the issues of use and accessibility oftechnology to questions about the way interaction with the informationand knowledge content of today's systems and services can make adifference to people's lives.

We invite the submission of high quality papers that report originalresearch or critically discuss underlying methodological issuesassociated with the main themes of the conference. Papers may reflectongoing or completed research studies and should not have been previously published or currently being considered for publicationelsewhere. Preference will be given to papers which address two or moreof the following conference themes:
* the quality and effectiveness of user/information interactions (e.g. information literacy);
* patterns of information behaviour in different contexts;
* impact of information or information services on people,organisations, communities and society (e.g. social, learning, cultural and economic outcomes of engagement with information).

Criteria for acceptance
Criteria for acceptance will be based on the following elements:
* the relevance of the paper/poster to the conference themes;
* the extent to which the paper/poster demonstrates awareness ofthe current state of knowledge in the field (i.e. in relation to theoryor practice);
* the originality and significance of the arguments and results presented (i.e. based on new findings and addressing a new problem orfocusing on a novel synthesis and in-depth discussion of existingresearch, which provides a new perspective);
* the appropriateness, validity and robustness of the methodology chosen displaying awareness of limitations;
* the contribution to knowledge and understanding of the issuessurrounding information interactions and impact;
* the quality of the written abstract (e.g. organisation and clarity).

Submissions will be anonymously reviewed by two members of aninternational programme committee specialising in one or more of theconference research streams. Notification of acceptance will be emailed to authors and will also include the comments of the reviewers. A listof titles of accepted papers and posters will be published on the i3website.

Types of submissions
Submissions are invited for full papers, short papers, posters and round table discussions. The conference language will be English

Full papers
Full papers will be allocated 40 minutes (35 minutes for presentationand 5 minutes for questions). Presenters of full papers should submit an extended abstract of 1000 words. Authors who are accepted to give fullpapers at i3 are also invited to submit a full paper for publication ina special issue for Libri ( http://www.librijournal.org).

Short papers
Short papers will be allocated 10 minutes for presentation withopportunities for questions at the end of each session. Presenters ofshort papers should submit an abstract of 300-500 words.

Posters
Poster presenters will be allocated space for a poster, which should beno bigger than A1 size (594 x 841 mm). The poster should include thetitle, the author(s) name and affiliation(s) and a description of the research findings. The size of lettering should be legible from adistance and the inclusion of excessive amounts of information should beavoided. Printed copies detailing the main elements of the research maybe prepared for distribution. Posters will be displayed throughout theconference (although a specific poster presentation session will beallocated). Presenters of posters should submit an abstract of 300-500words.

Round Table Discussion
Proposals are welcome from persons interested in chairing a round tablediscussion (of between 60 and 80 minutes) centred on the majorconference themes. Chairpersons should submit an abstract of 300-500 words, explaining the background and goals of their discussion.

How to submit a paper
Contributors should submit abstracts electronically using the onlinesubmissions form, located at: http://www.i3conference.org.uk/call/abstractsubmission.htm . Paperswill not be accepted via email or by post.

Important Deadlines
* All abstracts should be submitted by 22nd January 2007.
* Notification of acceptance will be emailed in early March.
* The final copy of full papers for Libri should be received by1st August 2007.
Acceptance of a paper for the conference does notnecessarily mean acceptance of the full paper for publication.

Further details about the conference are available from http://www.i3conference.org.uk
Dept of Information Management
Aberdeen Business School
Robert Gordon University
Garthdee Road
ABERDEEN AB10 7QE
Tel. +44 1224 263967
Fax + 44 1224 263553

InfoBiz - IT and Telecom Trade Exhibition

Today is the official opening of INFOBIZ ‘06 exhibition.

Description
INFOBIZ is Kuwait’s 3rd IT & Telecom Trade Exhibition that gives global IT & Telecom industry leaders to present and demonstrate their latest technology based business solutions that meets SMEs in Kuwait and its neighboring countries. The event is held under the patronage of Ministry of Communications and sponsored by local leading firms in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry. Last year the event attracted 58 direct exhibitors including local, regional and international. For the first time in Kuwait 22 ministries launched their e-government services through INFOBIZ.
There will be built-in conference/seminar hall for presenting and demonstrating product launches and services during the exhibition.

Date
18 December 2006 - 21 December 2006

Organizer
Global Connection for Exhibitions, Conferences & Marketing Services
P. O. Box 26626,Safat, Kuwait.
Tel: +(965)-(965)-2455855
Fax: +(965)-(965)-2465553

Venue
Kuwait International Fair Ground, Mishref - Hall No.8

LIS Cafe's Mailbox

Hi Asma,
I'm Simona, Italian teacher and librarian in Catania and Siracusa; I always see your blog and I have written a paper published in may 2006 (BiblioWeblog - p. 55 LIS Café: un weblog dal mondo arabo) on "Biblioteche Oggi" (translation: libraries today) an Italian magazin on librarianship (www.bibliotecheoggi.it).
On my blog you can find a link to lIS cafè!
I'm interested on librarianship in arabic world, my husband studies arabic and he teaches Arabic language at the University in Catania!

ciao!
Simona Inserra,Università di Catania - Facoltà di Lettere
simona.inserra@unict.it - simoins@libero.it
http://www.simonainserra.splinder.com
http://www.bisiblog.splinder.com



LIS Cafe is a *wonderful* blog--great content, good graphics, good coveage of events. Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary.You may want to link to my blog, OPL Plus--check it out at http://opls.blogspot.com

Judith Siess
Judith A. Siess, B.A., M.A., M.S.L.I.S.
Cleveland, Ohio,USA
Email: jsiess@ibi-opl.com,
On the web at http://www.ibi-opl.com blogging at http://opls.blogspot.com/
Publisher and Editor of :

• One-Person Library: A Newsletter for Librarians and Management
• The New OPL Sourcebook: A Guide for Solo and Small Libraries, Information Today, Inc., 2006, ISBN 1-57387-241-5
• The Essential OPL, 1998-2004: The Best of Seven Years of The One-Person Library: A Newsletter for Librarians and Management, Scarecrow Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8108-5429-5
• The Visible Librarian: Asserting Your Value With Marketing and Advocacy, ALA Editions, 2003, ISBN 0-8389-0848-9
• Time Management, Planning and Prioritization for Librarians, Scarecrow Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8108-4438-9

Dear Asma and friends in Kuwait:
Thank you for sharing the information and the SLA photos. I am glad you continue to be active professionally and socially and I wish all the very best. All is well her, just finished my paper on Libraries and Democracy to e presented at the Standing Conference on African Libraries to be held in dare s Salaam, from July 10 to 14, 2006, as well as finishing editing volume 15. no. 2 of the Digest of Middle East Studies (DOMES). This issue includes four articles written by Kuwaiti professors in the College of Arts and Sciences and Education. They are excellent articles based on funded research from KU or KFAS, and more will be published in the next issue. I continue to enjoy my daily swim and will be going to Minnesota to visit my two grandchildren there. Best wishes to all of you and keep in touch.

Mohammed M. Aman, Ph.D.
Dean Emeritus and Professor
Editor-in-Chief, DOMES
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
School of Information Studies
P.O. Box 413
Milwaukee Wisconsin 53201

Good job and I wish you the best
Hassan A. Alsereihy, Professor
Vice Dean of Library Affairs (KAU)
P.O. Box 80202Jeddah, 21589

thanks for this - you are actually the first "media" outside the Netherlands (my home country) to dedicate an article to my book. Much appreciated!
I browsed the blog and learned a lot about LIS in Kuwait. Seeing the community you have gathered, there is a lot going on. Do librarians in Kuwait work in "traditional" libraries, or do they also work in related areas like web-design, taxonomy design, etc. I was just curious how this is in your country.
Best Regards,
Dennie Heye

Hello
I have just visited your blog - congratulations - it is an impressive outcome of a group activity. As Editor of the LIS journal Program I clicked on that link - and found that the link led to the previous publisher (Aslib). The journal is now published by Emerald - and the link should be http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/prog/prog.jsp
Good luck!
Lucy Tedd, Lecturer, Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth and Editor of Program: electronic library and information systems.

As-Salamu Alaikum
Thanks for inviting me to join this blog. I hope to see more and more librarians and information specialists from the GCC libraries participate in this informative blog. My best wishes to each and every member of the blog.

Sincerely yours,
SYED SAJJAD AHMED
Senior Cataloger
Box 1910, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Kuwaiti-British Poetry Evening in Al-Babtain Central Library

Al-Babtain Central Library for Arabic Poetry has organized a collaborative poetry evening with the British Embassy in Kuwait. The groups were hosted in the diwaniya in the library building and mixed and shared a love of their language and poetry. Both groups wanted to learn from each other the poetic heritage they share. In fact the evening showed that we have more in common than that which divides us.

Kuwaiti Poets who participated in the event were: famous poet Mr. Yaqoub Al-Rushaid, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Khaldi, Mrs Thuraya Al-Baqsami, Mr. Mohammad Al-Moghrabi, Miss Hawraa Al-Habib and the talented 13 years old Al-Zaina Shams. Performers from the British side were Miss Stephanie Fayerman who has been a professional actress since the early 1980’s. She trained at the London Academy of Dramatic Art and has appeared in many Theatrical and screen roles since, the wife of the British Ambassador Mrs. Sibella laing, Mrs. Joanne de Lange, Mr. Matthew van Grutten, Mr. Paul Harradine, Mr. Des Norton, Mr. Tom Harradine.
Guests have performed poems on six themes– Love, Children, War, Britain (country), Death and Comedy.

The evening started with a heartfelt welcome from the library director Mrs Suad Al Ateeqi and then Asma Jamal the information specialist in the library has presented the poets and launched the evening.

Short Course on Knowledge Management. Register Now

Dear colleague

As you know that Department of Library and Information Science is conducting a 3-day short course on Knowledge Management Competencies for Information Professionals on 28-30 November 2006. The course will be held in the College of Social Sciences, Al-Shuwaikh, Room 113 (Training room), ground floor. There will be two sessions every day; one in the morning 9-12, and the second one in the afternoon from 1 to 4 pm.

We have adequate registration for the course. However, some colleagues have been keen to find out if they can attend the course for one or two days. Since we have some openings, we have reached an agreement with the Training Unit that we may prorate the registration charge and it will be KD 50.000 for one day and100.000 for two days.

The payment is only accepted in the name of Kuwait University. Cash payments are not accepted. If someone has approval of the department, one may bring it along and the university may bill the organization later.

I would like to give you short course program, which may help you in planning your attendance of selective session/s.

1. 28 Nov. (morning) Fundamental concepts, technological support and roles and responsibilities of information professionals Sajjad

2. 28 Nov. (afternoon) Knowledge sharing concepts and applications Dr. Laila Marouf

3. 29 Nov. (morning) KM implementation, organizational readiness assessment Dr. Abdus Sattar Chaudhry

4. 29 Nov. (afternoon) Identifying knowledge assets in organizations Dr. Shaheen Majid

5. 30th Nov. ( morning) Environmental scanning for surveying external knowledge Dr. Shaeen Majid

6. 30th Nov (afternoon) Knowledge architecture for storing and organizing knowledge Dr. Abdus Sattar Chaudhry

If any of you is interested, please contact me. Sajjad

ShortCourse.pdf

Hosted by eSnips

--
Sajjad ur Rehman, Ph.D.
Professor & Director, MLIS Program
Department of Library and Information Science, College of Social Sciences
P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait

Phone: +965 498 4242
Fax: +965 484 0718
email: rehman05@gmail.com

Digital Pics 'Read' by Computer

Digital Pics 'Read' by Computer
Tracy Staedter, Discovery News

Nov. 9, 2006

"A computer able to label digital images in real time, as they are uploaded to the Internet, could greatly improve a photographer's ability to share, organize and retrieve images....."

to read full story click Here

Upcoming Events by DLIS

Dear colleagues

As part of our 10th Anniversary Celebration Program, we are organizing two major events of a short course on KM competencies for information professionals (November 28-30) and a symposium on information education in the Arabain Gulf region (14 March 2007). Brochures of the two programs are provided below. I personally encourage that each of you spreads a word about these events among your friends and any organizations that might be interested in them. At the same time, I expect that each of you actively participates in these events in whatever capacity it is possible.

Wishing you all the best

Sajjad ur Rehman, Ph.D.

Professor & Director, MLIS Program

Department of Library and Information Science, College of Social Sciences

ShortCourse.pdf

Hosted by eSnips

Symposium Brochure...

Hosted by eSnips

DLIS Opening Ceremony

The department of Library and Information Science at Kuwait University has celebrated 10 years of its MLIS program last Tuesday. The celebration started with speeches by

• Dr. Yaqoub Al-Kandari, Dean for the College of Social Sciences
• Dr. Samir Hamade, Chairman of the Department
• Prof. Sajjad ur Rehman, Program Director
• Dr. Taghreed Al-Qudsi, Founding Program Director and Founding Chairperson

Awards were distributed to deans, professors, administrative staff, contributing institutions and newspapers, and to everybody contributed toward the success of the event and the development of this program. A short movie showing some department events and memories was viewed. At the end, guests were invited to a reception were they had the opportunity to communicate and share their ideas in a social and friendly atmosphere.

Check the news in the local newspapers

• Al-Watan
• Al-Qabas
• Al-Seyassah

DLIS 10th Anniversary Celebration

You are Invited !

Date: 31 October 2006
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: University Club -Shuwaikh Campus

The Department of Library and Information Science at Kuwait University is organizing an opening ceremony to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It will be a social event and the faculty, students and alumni are expected to have a colorful event with many ideas. Deans, Administrative staff and information professionals willl be among the guests. The event will take place on Tuesday 31st October 2006 at 7:30 PM in the University Club. Don't miss it!

Workshop by SLA-AGC

The Special Libraries Association-Arabian Gulf Chapter is organizing a workshop entitled "Skills for Using Library of Congress Classification Web" in cooperation with Libraries Deanship-United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ein in from 6 to 8 November 2006. For subscribtions, please contact Dr. Naeema Jabr , SLA/AGC Professional Development Chair
Tel. +968 24142024, Fax. 24141802, Email. mnjaburh@hotmail.com.

To recieve an electronic copy of the workshop's brochure, send an email to MLIS_Cafe@hotmail.com

تنظم جمعية المكتبات المتخصصة -فرع الخليج العربي ورشة عمل حول "مهارات استخدام تصنيف مكتبة الكونغرس على الويب" بالتعاون مع عمادة المكتبات الجامعية - جامعة الامارات العربية المتحدة - العين. في الفترة ما بين 6 إلى 8 نوفمبر 2006. للتسجيل والاشتراك، يرجى مخاطبة د. نعيمة جابر ، رئيسة لجنة التطوير المهني لجمعية المكتبات المتخصصة - فرع الخليج العربي على العناوين التالية

mnjaburh@hotmail.com هاتف: 96824142024 + ف: 97824141802 + ايميل

للحصول على نسخة الكترونية من البروشور الخاص بورشة العمل ، يرجى ارسال بريد الكتروني الى

MLIS_Cafe@hotmail.com

G. Robert Vincent Voice Library

The G. Robert Vincent Voice Library is a collection of over 40,000 hours of spoken word recordings, dating back to 1888. The collection includes the voices of over 100,000 persons from all walks of life. Political and cultural leaders and minor players in the human drama are captured and cataloged to serve the research needs of a local, national and international user base. Clients include students and faculty of Michigan State University, other scholars and researchers, broadcasting networks, news agencies and film, video, and Web production companies.

Visit the VVL library at http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/index.cfm .
A nice video about the library can be seen at http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/media/vincent.ram

New Look.. Happy Ramadan!

Its been a year! Yeah it's been a year since this blog was created. I'm pleased to celebrate with you virtually LIS Cafe's First Anniversary. I hope it helped you in a way or another to communicate your ideas, share your latest news, or find a good resource for your study or work. In this occasion I would like to thank all members whose existence was essential in setting up such a web tool.

Since its establishment, LIS Cafe offered the following:

• Open Area for discussion
• Links to libraries, librarians and library resources
• Photo Gallery consists of several albums
• Chatroom to allow live discussions
• Yahoo search engine

As a start, this seems quite good, But we could do more! So don't hesitate to submit your suggestions and comments.

Numbers:

• Members: 52
• Posts: 82
• Page viewed: 8171 times

Finally I'd Like to thank the Department of Library & Information Science for their support and encouragement, and special thanks go to:

• Alyaa, for her support and passion to work
• Hayat, for providing her own collection of SLA-Kuwait photos
• Dr. Taghreed for providing a great collection of SLA past and current conferences photos
• My youngest sister Eman for offering her best shots of Kuwait

SLA-AGC Calls for Papers

SLA-AGC invites you to participate in its 13th annual conference that will be held in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain on April 2007. The conference theme is: Information and Knowledge Management in the Arabian Gulf Society. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Spetember 25. If you would like to read more about the conference sub-themes, guidelines, and deadlines, check the conference page.

RFID and Libraries

RFID (Radio Frequency identification) is one of the latest technologies used in library security systems. it is based on placing special microchips which stores about 2,000 bytes of data, known as RFID tags, to be read using radio frequency technology. the system consists of RFID tags, readers, software and server. This technology has already been implemented in around 300 libraries in the United States. It is a promising yet controversial technology. It have proved many advantages such as rapid check-outs, high reliability, long tag life, inventory efficiency and automated materials handling. A large group of specialists suggests that this technology have many advantages over the traditional barcodes. they hold more data than barcodes, thus they can be used for tracking individual items. The item can be individually tracked as it moves from one place to another, ending up in the reader's hand. But do the advantages of RFID outweigh its deficits? The high cost and pivacy issues constitute the main problems of this technology. Imagine that the tag placed on a single item costs 0,500 K.D. In this case, implementing the system in a large library that contains 100,00 books for example would be very costy. However, the price of the RFID tags is falling gradually and might be more reasonable in the coming years. Also, there is a perception that RFID represents a threat to patron privacy.