Article: “Library of Congress: the Unexpected Diplomat”
From The Hill:
One doesn’t typically expect terrorism to become a topic of discussion at hearing about library funding.
But that’s exactly what happened on March 17, as the Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee assessed the budget requests of the Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol.
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“How has the library’s overseas operation been impacted, if at all, by any kind of ongoing terrorist activities in the Middle East?” the West Virginia Republican [Sen. Shelley Moore Capito] then asked. Billington went on to describe how the library provides expertise on salvaging and protecting materials. Mark Sweeney, the associate librarian for library services, noted increased security costs for protecting its overseas offices.
All of the LOC’s six overseas offices are in often unstable regions, but that’s by design. The offices serve areas that may not have systems in place to archive and catalog books, publications, newspapers, maps, etc.
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The Cairo office acquires materials from 23 countries in the surrounding region, including Iraq, Syria and Yemen. In 2011, the office temporarily closed as nonessential U.S. personnel left the country during the Egyptian revolution. Beacher Wiggins, the acting chief of the LOC’s overseas operations division, said in a phone interview that Cairo is one of two offices with the highest security risk. The other is in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The remaining offices are located in Jakarta, Indonesia; Nairobi, Kenya; New Dehli, India; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For lawmakers, these offices play a vital role in understanding the tumultuous developments in Middle East.
Read the Complete Article (1094 Words)
See Also: A Video Recording of the Hearing Discussed in the Article Above is Available Here
Filed under: Funding, Interviews, Libraries, Maps, Profiles, Public Libraries, Video Recordings
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.