Two Moroccan libraries, Al-Karaouine Library (Fes, 889) and The Mohommed VI Library (Al-Akhawayn Univ., Ifrane, 1995)

The University of al-Karaouine in Fes, Morocco is one of the oldest schools of higher education in the world. Started in roughtly 859, the university is associated with the mosque and has had a number of famous scholars through the years (e.g. Maimonides, Leo Africanus). But we're hear to talk about its library.

Located a few "blocks" (not that this term means anything in terms of the medieval streets of Old Fes) from university is the Al-Karaouine Library. I was fortunate to get to peek inside the doors of the library. There amidst the manuscripts, manuscript card catalog, and marvelous tile floor, was a site not too often seen these days, the library cat. Comfortably curled into a chair in the reading room, s/he didn't seem too upset by my visit.

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In stark contrast to the ancient university of al-Karaouine is the Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, an almost two hour ride from Fes. Al-Akhawayn University ("The Two Brothers") is a modern university (founded in only 1995 -- over 1,000 years (!) after al_Karouine) located in the Atlas Mountains. With an architecture that looks more like a Swiss village than an Berber village, the university as up-to-date as one would want. Likewise, the library (The Mohommed VI Library, cat-less sadly) is nearly indistinguishable from any typical university library in the world.

More new adventures in academic housing, from Ifrane (Morocco) to Front Royal (Virginia)

Al Akhawayn University

I, it seems, travel more than the average bear (or librarian) and have had the luxury of spending time in some very nice places. I've also had the even more fun of spending nights in quirky hostels (The Nunnery, Melbourne), B&B's (Irving House in Cambridge, MA and the late lamented Edward II in San Francisco). But some of the best places have been academic housing where one can relive those carefree undergrad days (but without the negatives of all night next door keg parties).

In the past few weeks I've had two curiously congruent stays in academic housing, one in Ifrane, Morocco and the other in Front Royal, Virginia at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

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In Morocco, I was a guest at the Al Akhawayn University. Attending the ICADLA conference at the end of May 2013, I had the pleasure of academic housing for a couple of days. Situated in the Atlas Mountains, the campus was a lovely "Swiss" village. The dorms rooms themselves were in a complex of small buildings, 2-3 stories tall (no elevators!). The rooms were very nice and functional and had desks with what seems to be the current trend in academic housing of wooden chairs with rockers. The single beds were comfy and all was nice and clean (plus a bonus super fast wired Internet connection!).

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After being home for a week or two, the Advisory Board of Smithsonian Libraries was holding a retreat at the Smithsonian's Conservation Biology Institute in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Front Royal, Virginia. The SCBI is an animal breeding center and hosts a joint program with George Mason University in Conservation Biology. Rooms were functional and had the obligatory (it seems) rocker desk chairs; there were single beds that could convert to bunk beds (!). Only finished in late 2012, the rooms still had that fresh dorm smell!



For past academic housing adventures see:

• Academic housing/Field station comparisons (2012) 
• Academic Housing Smackdown (2009)

Jump, jump, jump, jump to it: Moroccan style!

Team Global BHL doing the "Jump to It" thing around Morocco!

  
Global BHL Jump! Fes, Morocco, Rug store overlooking the University of Al-Karaouine

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Global BHL Jump! Ifrane, Morocco, near the centerville, Ifrane

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BHL'ers doing a jump shot in Volubilis, Morocco

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BHL'ers doing a jump shot in Volubilis, Morocco

YAGP: Yet another group photo! The Global Biodiversity Heritage Library in Morocco

Yes, what is a meeting without the chance to take a GROUP PHOTO! Now, group photos are very important for many reasons: they show we really were there; they show that we really were doing work (I suppose) and well, they show us as a group!

The most famous group photo (and, perhaps outside of the Biodiversity Heritage Library collection, the only one reused on a regular basis) is the famed 1927 Fifth Solvay International Conference on Electrons and Photons. Now that's a group photo! The men and women in that group photo were, well, quite a group and included such household names as E. Schrödinger, W. Heisenberg, M. Born, N. Bohr; M. Planck, M. Skłodowska-Curie, and A. Einstein.

On our recent trip to Morocco, the Biodiversity Heritage Library will make no such claims to international notoriety, but will add to the stock of GROUP PHOTOS:



Global BHL: J. Cui, A. Fourie, J. Frank, N. Gwinn, M. Kalfatovic, E. Wallis, W. Ulate, M. Najib (Dar Fes Medina, Fes, Morocco, May 2013)

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Global BHL plus the Library of Congress: J. Cui, J. Cole, M. Kalfatovic, E. Wallis, W. Ulate, A. Fourie, N. Gwinn, M. Najib, J. Frank (Royal Palace, Fes, Morocco, May 2013)

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Participants of the 3rd International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives, Ifrane, Morocco, May 2013 (that's me under the "IF" in Ifrane on the banner).

Recap of the 3rd International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives #ICADLA3

We had a very good 3rd ICADLA meeting in Ifrane, Morocco. As part of the Advisory Committee, I was very pleased with the over all program (though disappointed that there was so much confusion in having a representative from the Google Cultural Institute and then the person ended up not attending).

The opening keynote, by Misako Ito (UNESCO Office for Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia) provided a good kick off to the meeting.

Next up was a special panel presentation by members of the Global Biodiversity Heritage Library community. I moderated the panel and the presenters included Nancy Gwinn (Smithsonian Libraries/BHL), Ely Wallis (Museum Victoria/BHL Australia), Anne-Lsse Fourie (SANBI/BHL Africa), Magdy Nagi (Bib. Alex/BHL Egypt), Jiri Frank (National Museum, Prague/BHL Europe), and William Ulate (Missouri Botanical Garden/BHL).

Here's the abstract for the panel:

Creating a Global Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), originally formed in 2006 with twelve U.S. and U.K. museum and botanical garden libraries, has grown to incorporate regionally-based global nodes in Europe, Australia, South America, Egypt, China, and most recently Africa. BHL now globally aggregates nearly 40 million pages of biodiversity literature representing over 110,000 volumes. Including both pre-Linnean (> 1753) and contemporary volumes, the BHL allows life-science researchers to find important references to the planet's biodiversity. Created to provide open and free access to the published literature of biodiversity, the BHL serves as a model for a large-scale curated digital library collection. Coordinating content selection, digitization, and post-digitization service to a world-wide audience. Recent projects have started to identify illustrations that have a user-base beyond the core-science community of BHL to a wider audience of school children and life-long learners. Topics to be discussed in this panel include strategies for creating and maintaining a multinational digital library program; digitization platforms and services; creating value-added features for discipline-specific digital libraries; use of social media and outreach to increase use and build new audiences; and migration of projects to sustainable programs. This session will include participation from BHL global partners from Africa, Egypt, the United States, and Australia. A one hour time slot would be preferable for this session. Presenter from the BHL Africa project will be finalized shortly.

Here's my presentation (thanks to Bianca Crowley for suggesting that title).

The first day was then filled with breakout sessions on the topics of "Policy and Skills Development," "National and Collaborative Projects", and "Institutional Experiences". The day concluded with a gala dinner and local Berber music and dancing at the Al Akhawayne University Faculty Club.

Day two began with an excellent presentation by Driss Khrouz, Director of the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco. Mr. Khrouz covered the development of the Moroccan Digital Library, particularly in relation to manuscripts. He also discussed relations between Morocco and other national libraries as well as issues around theft and black market sales of Moroccan manuscripts. Mr. Khrouz is a passionate advocate for libraries and made a passionate plea for increasing library services in Morocco to promote overall literacy. Too many children do not have a place to read and too many universities are not devoting resources to libraries.

I then participated in the panel discussion on "A Roadmap for Digitization i Africa". The topics generated out of that panel (and the roadmap document) fed three breakout sessions that discussed the topics in more depth and which were then presented in a plenary reporting session.

The meeting ended with a final statement by Felix Ubogu and Abraham Azubuike, representing the ICADLA Standing Committee.

Thank you to Felix Ubogu, Michelle Pickover and Gabriele (Wits) and the rest of the ICADLA steering committee. And also a special thanks to our hosts at the Al Akhawayn University Library for wonderful local logistics: Abdelhamid Lotfi, Hanane Karkour, and the other staff of the library.

#ICADLA3 meeting is wrapping up ; good meeting and many ideas

Congratulations to Felix Ugobu, Abraham Azubuike, Abdelhamid Lotfi and all the organizers and presenters. So long to old and new friends and to the interesting town of Ifrane, Morocco.

Driss Khrouz, Director, Nat. Library of the Kingdom of Morocco on their digital initiatives @ #icadla3

Said Ennahid of Al Akhawayn U. On the topic of digital library MSS collections in Morocco @ #icadla3

In the national and collaborative projects breakout session,

16 African nations are represented at #ICADLA-3

Felix Ubogu, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa thanking the staff and organizing committee of ICADLA-3.

Welcome and opening of the #ICADLA-3 meeting in Ifrane, Morocco

First keynote address by Misako Ito, UNESCO Office for Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

To Ito's left is Al Akhawayn University librarian Abdelhamid Lotfi.

Ito spoke on the opportunities for digital libraries in Africa. She also noted that the economic benefits of widely available digital resources have been underestimated. At the same time, the challenges of developing sustainable project (as well as those that meet rigorous digital preservation standards) are great.

Collaboration can assist with these issues. UNESCO also has a number of programs underway that can help.

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Martin R. Kalfatovic

Find me: UDCMRK | Travel.Leisure.Pursuits: UDC793 | Twitter: @udcmrk | Skype: martin.kalfatovic | Flickr Fotos | VIAF ID: 32094717 (Personal)

Good morning Ifrane

Good night Ifrane, from my room at Al Akhawayn University

Wrapping up work on preparation for the BHL panel at the 3rd International Conference on African Digital Libraries in Ifrane, Morocco

Greetings from Ifrane, the Switzerland of Morocco

Here for ICADLA-3