Dr. Saad Eskander, amazing man...

Last night I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Saad Eskander speak at Simmons. He is the Director of the Iraqi National Library and Archives in Baghdad. The library was looted and burned in the early days of this Iraq war and still sits in a treacherous area where he and his dedicated staff literally risk their lives to preserve a nation's cultural heritage. If you are interested in reading about it in Dr. Eskander's own words, you can read his diary here. I found it hard to read at times. I went from moments of amazement at the dedication of everyone who works there, to horror at some of the events and back again. I'm proud to say that Simmons and Harvard have both been involved in helping to train some of the librarians on staff there, you can read more about that here and here and here. It also makes me proud to be part of this profession that is more than story hour and cataloging slides. Put in this context, the true value of libraries as institutions of cultural importance becomes apparent.

A podcast of this talk is available here. I encourage you to listen if you have the time. This event, and the reading that I did leading up to it, have really helped me to understand just one little story of the Iraqi people who choose to stay in Baghdad. There are many patrons who still come to this library to do research! It is alive and well amid the horror of war. To me, this is amazing.