My research into ‘Rebuilding the Libraries of Afghanistan’ will focus on the work that has taken place largely in the last 10 years to reclaim the libraries and literary collections of the country, much of which was destroyed and dispersed during nearly 30 years of war, poverty and political insecurity.
Research into relevant personalities, institutions and organizations involved will enable me to present findings that will convey how, by whom and what progress has been made to date in the rebuilding of Afghan libraries and library infrastructure.
Areas to be researched:
Ideally my research will bring up some background statistics regarding the extent of the destruction of the previous libraries and infrastructure in order to put any rebuilding developments into the context of ‘what progress.'
In order to present findings of ‘how and by whom’ progress has been made I’ll start by researching Nancy Hatch Dupree founder of ‘The Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree Foundation for the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University’ in order to find what her role and significance is within the context of this brief. The Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University (ACKU) and the collection it houses. ABLE (ACKU Boxed Library Extension) an outreach program for school and community libraries.
Collaborative librarianship projects such as the American University of Afghanistan and Qatar and the Greenstone Open Source database used at ACKU.
Atifa Rawan of the University of Arizona and their work in the Afghanistan digital libraries project and training of library staff.
Research into the fate of specific institutions such as the Afghan National Archives and the National Library of Afghanistan; have they or are they to be rebuilt? Has their role been taken up by institutes such as the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University?
I’ll be describing my research findings, processes and strategies used in 6 weekly blogs culminating in a final report that will present all my research findings in relation to the scope of this research plan. This final report will be posted as a blog due on the 26th October.
