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Qatar University (QU) has organised the 20th Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Special Libraries Association. The event began with a ribbon-cutting by the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari in the presence of QU president Prof Sheikha Abdulla al-Misnad, other senior officials, and local and regional representatives of libraries and information |
The SLA-Arabian Gulf Chapter (SLA-AGC) is sponsored by QU Library. The three-day conference titled “Promoting Digital Knowledge Community with Information” discussed several issues related to libraries, and shared information on ways to take
advantage of digital content.
It included a number of sessions devoted to issues such as Arabic content enrichment on the Internet, the role of librarians in building knowledge-based societies, and open
access publishing.
The exhibition included 57 exhibitors representing international major publishers, e-content developers, information-solution providers for libraries, and information
centres.
Prof al-Misnad stated that the academic event is very important to any information-based community to highlight the role played by specialised libraries in supporting
scientific research.
“The style and role of today’s libraries are totally different from what they were in the past as a result of the digital revolution and the possibility to produce and exchange knowledge and information,” she
observed.
A welcome speech by SLA-AGC president Mohamed Ghali Mubarak was followed by remarks from QU ITS department section head Asma al-Buainain who was named to the presidency of the
Association for two years.
“Qatar University is proud to host this important forum which discusses many issues related to digital information and the role of information in creating a knowledge-based economy,” she said.
Q-science CEO Arend Kuster discussed the publication of SLA-AGC proceedings in Q-science and the development of a new app for the conference delegates, while Press Reader president Mark Ritchel talked about the evolution in the world of information and the applications developed by Press Reader which contain the world largest online
newspapers platform.
Prior to the conference, the library hosted a 3-day workshop programme organised by Knowledge E that addressed different themed related to working in library and
information centres.
The workshops were presented by well-known specialists in the field and served to promote and develop the capacities of QU library staff and other participants from Qatar and abroad.
