International Initiatives

Since its founding in 1902, Simmons GSLIS has trained more than 600 international students from more than 80 countries around the world. Approximately 30 international students representing nearly as many countries study at GSLIS each year. At the same time, GSLIS students, faculty and staff travel around the globe on a variety of global initiatives; many of their experiences are chronicled in GSLIS's "Dispatches from the Field" blog.

Many of our international alumni have become major leaders in library and information science. Some even have been cultural pioneers, founding the first libraries and library schools in their countries, or establishing important professional organizations. All have furthered international librarianship and been agents of change.

Some of our most recent initiatives:

Iraq | Kosovo | Nicaraqua | Vietnam

Iraq

Simmons College and Harvard University received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant as part of the NEH initiative to Preserve and Document Iraq's Cultural Heritage. The purpose of the grant was to provide training for Iraqi librarians and archivists that would allow them to modernize Iraq's libraries.

The training sessions were organized in two-week blocks in the summers of 2005 and 2006. Each summer, thirty Iraqi librarians met Simmons faculty and Harvard librarians for intensive training sessions on topics ranging from digital libraries to preservation and archives. The first session was held in Amman, Jordan in collaboration with the American Center on Oriental Research, and the second session was hosted by the University of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE trip included site visits to area academic and public libraries, which gave the Iraqis an opportunity to see successful, thriving institutions.

Read more about this project:

Kosovo

In fall of 2005, the Institute for Training and Development (ITD) and Simmons College GSLIS jointly conducted a 17-week training and academic program for nine Kosovars employed at the National and University Library of Kosovo. Training was held at the GSLIS Mount Holyoke campus and consisted of coursework in core library science topics and internships at university libraries.

Assistant Dean Terry Plum has visited the library in Pristina on numerous occasions to provide additional training and on-site support. During the summer of 2006 he brought a team of American librarians to Pristina to assist with the set-up and organization of the new university library space, and in January of 2007 Plum returned to Pristina with a reserves specialist to help organize the academic reserves system.

All of the Kosovar participants' expenses and the follow up visits by Assistant Dean Plum were paid for by a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

Read more about this project:

November 2005 InfoLink feature, "Kosova—From the Ashes Arising."
Dispatches from the Field

Nicaragua

Beginning in August 2005, Assistant Dean Denise Davis and GSLIS students have regularly traveled to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua to volunteer at the San Juan del Sur Biblioteca Movil. Jane Mirandette formed this lending library five years ago, hoping to provide unprecedented access to books for this small community; she is now working towards the establishment of a national system of lending libraries in Nicaragua.

Simmons volunteers have delivered books to outlying villages, trained library staff, and translated library policies into Spanish. One student is developing a website that staff in Nicaragua will be able to easily update.

Read more about this project:

Dispatches from the Field

Vietnam

In October of 2005, Simmons College received a $1.8 million grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to train a new generation of Vietnamese librarians for leadership roles. Professor Pat Oyler, who oversees the grant, has been working with Vietnamese librarians for over 12 years.

Students spend a semester taking core GSLIS classes, visit the Library of Congress, attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting, and spend time at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Simmons-educated librarians now fill influential positions at libraries across Vietnam. Among the graduates are the deputy director of the National Library, and the director of the General Science Library in Ho Chi Minh City.

Read more about this project: