TBIH2023 AUC Libraries Rare Books and Special Collections Library

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foreign [Music]   Heritage my name is Kevin McLean speaking to  you from Blackfoot territory in Southern Alberta   Canada my guests are instructor and digital  collections archivist Irina Schmidt and wallet   temra's officer of Research Services of rare books  special collections from the American University   in Cairo sometimes known as AUC today they will  be sharing on the Decades of preservation work   carried out by their institutions rare books  and special collections Library RB scl work   which was recently recognized by UNESCO as  the recipient of its hickey memory of the   world prize congratulations to you both on this  career high achievement welcome Irene and Walla   I want to see how grateful I am to you and AUC  because we all benefit so much to be exposed   to passionate folks like you you inspire  us every day thank you so very much hello thank you very much for the invitation and we're  very happy to be here can you briefly describe   auc's libraries and the learning Technologies  rare books and special collection Library is a learning technical Library both libraries provide the access to  a tools and content and Research Services of   course to advance learning teaching and research  the American University in Cairo began developing   its academic Library within two years of its  foundation in 1919. so the AUC Library can   claim a century-long legacy of contribution to  the university and to the uh research service   worldwide so the rare books and special  collections Library also known as rbsel for   short supports research and teaching by collecting  preserving and disseminating primary sources about   ancient medieval and modern Egypt and The Wider  region about the collections are the collections   focused on egyptology Coptic studies Islamic art  and architecture travel literature and many more   and of course materials come in all  formats books manuscripts postcards   photographs old magazines the historical Maps  architectural drawings and of course oral history   so um as for the rbscl Departments uh  the rbscl houses a digitization center   and of course a conservation lab uh  responsible for the conservation uh   treatment and preservation of the Treasures  of the rare books library in all formats   so this was in brief about the AC libraries  and its foundation and collections is historical information about our University which   is 100 years older we have materials that  food cultural accreditation improve them   and they have a modern material who tells story  about the present and from some ideas about the   fashion thank you so what was the history  of the award-winning rare books and special   collections Library project it's rationale its  objectives its aims yeah I'm so our collection   how much effort was given to preserve  to repair it and I thought we have to we have to celebrate another time the  library or inside the University or   inside the issue if you have to tell  the people outside the country United mail thank you for Publications and and I  said well this is a great chance I spoke   with my team with my collection and we  decided to go for it because [Music] collection Library putting  information about them materials about collecting this material repairing this  material upon the providing digital preservation and wait and last year in August  2022 we were 95 we won the prize   so I would like also to add that the GT price  certainly puts AUC and its Library uh specifically   the rare books and special collections library  in the Limelight helping to make the many   special collections uh better known and to attract  researchers and make it more visible to the public who 6 or who are interested in  cultural heritage in general um also with five with 55 nominations from 41  countries the international jury of experts   unanimously recognized the expertise and the  outstanding work of the rare books and special   collections library in preserving and enabling  access to Egyptian Heritage or the documented   Heritage of Egypt um so it was a great honor that  the AUC libraries received this price and the   in a prestigious ceremony held in the South  South Korea last year it's it's hard to talk   this this honor and recognition so yeah I'm really  excited for you what parts of your practice bring   you the greatest joy maybe things that have you  excited to show up at work every day everything I think I see him my colleague  collaboration teamwork I'm having the   knowledge the digital material in the  right way reaching the midline creating the our current resolution images provided access to  the material having emails from researchers or   academics students or giving them co-creating  this material physical material into digital   and provided by Digital Collection well for me  being in direct contact with the researchers   from all over the world is what I like the most  but what really brings me joy and pride of course   me and my team is the recognition we receive from  these researchers or students after serving them   and contributing to their academic outcome so  the recognition is simply a translation of how   happy and proud We are being part of any  academic product or outcome uh in the world   so on the opposite side to Joy what  what would be something that you would   find difficult and challenging about  your day-to-day life your work life well if you don't have them sometimes we must have  the flu it depends on the profit it depends on the   material some of our material might have come and  shape that we do have radical equipment Edition and three-dimensional objects you have to  improvise you have to use a perfect scan   but they look no different specific equipment  for that one example is making a small Studio   to digital painting canvas this thing can  come with the frame and then the bigger   than a one entire and we have a look  for solution finding a red light jingle   um working this together with the contribution  lab creating a black background [Music] and looking online [Music] um how you have  to do and what Uncle will have to put light   in here so the painting will be will evenly and  the outcome is that we create high quality images   and this part will have a specific Studio so you  buy improvising he actually achieved the goal   that look impossible and now this material  has been used by University Administration   to give an access to the relationships well the  challenge is to always maintain the high standards   of research on Library Services provided to the  AC community and to all researchers of course uh   also to be able to reach out  to the new generations who are   mainly attracted to technology and  social networks which makes us uh more Avid to find uh the most updated ways to serve the AUC  Community or the academic community in general   and those always require resources that yeah  yeah human and funding resources so do you   recognize creativity as part of your problem  solving approach to digitization or providing   access services and if so do you have examples  of how that creativity was applied in its results   um this is what I mentioned before the  challenges the creativity is the how   you actually apply creativity  in your daily tasks solution but creativity actually they make you work better  let's say the appointment data and you can do that   giving the standard information all the conference  more time reading online and describing in that   way that I use I will find it easily that way  the creativities come I have an amazing team   of catalog limited data teams cool using the old  knowledge to find a new notice if you understand   what I mean I've learned what they learn in  the past to create something new and that would   we do and in the Bible for myself I'm looking  after digital preservation or aligning the   creating policies or creating extra documents  again I have to apply creativity how to make it successful how to make the long living document is there  an Institutional or Community user result of   RB scl's work that inspires you to do more  and if yes what was the result and why um [Music] what they do um I have a team  of the deduction people team [Music] when they come together I'm sure we   because this knowledge was built  we have two types of Technology it's really amazing to see how one  member is Progressive [Music] better if we make our process better  if you're achieving good results   and this team work cooperation and  important not just to make us Brown actually the library plan the university um and that it is that inspired about doing  that and and getting thank you it's bad as   to do more a well throughout the years the rbscl  has participated in big and important exhibitions   either nationally or internationally and its  collections were the base of many important books   and Publications as well but of course receiving  the UNESCO Dixie memory of the world prize is   the biggest motivation to always give more and do  more sometimes I say we stand on the shoulders of   giants and our success in in the moment right now  is the result of other equally passionate people   who either we work with we get to stand beside or  people that we never even knew that came before us   and and did you know the work that we were doing  before them or before us in that I'm going off but   in the museum environment I think you know it's  like collections management archives operations   um what we do in the day during our day is is  based on work that happened you know maybe in   your case maybe it was 100 years ago or in our  case it was 60 years ago or something you know   and every day we we owe um what what we're doing  to to people that we didn't even know so okay I   have a couple more questions um this is what I'm  really interested in if there was a part of your   practice or work philosophy you wanted others  to adopt or consider what would that be and why   um I would say don't be afraid to make me part of our morning it's about what's up and then the milk mixed in better and another  philosophy would be don't avoid for the right   moment to do something perfect you never know  if what we created right now I love to say   uh a school for this process sometimes with  the nose with perfect or not once you start   doing just having this outline of the process  during of doing the profit you don't know   are we doing in the relative of wrong  way and then you shape but as we go along   and after that we reached  the goal that has to be done you progress if you wait until  something perfect program they will never stop but having that we have  now we have the biggest fan to achieve the long   and fair to reach the goal and make the whole  urbanization drop so for me I would say three   things commitments positive attitudes and constant  training I see that these three philosophies or   strategies always lead to a good and professional  outcome and also for always being efficient during   any time of the year all right thank you so  very much for your time today um you really   are an inspiration to us all and so just thank you  for what you're doing thank you so amazing [Music]

2023-06-20

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