Simmons GSLIS: Dispatches from the Field

9:30 a.m. We had a meeting yesterday here at AUK with two of my in-
country colleagues regarding interlibrary borrowing. Dr. Yaser is
from PAAET and Shobhita is from GUST. We have talked a bit about
this before, but now we are all able to cross-search each other’s
catalogs (we are all on Horizon), so getting the borrowing/lending
part organized has new meaning… We also plan to invite other
libraries to join us, but in this part of the world cooperation is
not always relished – we are optimistic but not naïve about this.
Anyway, this is off to a good start and we will implement borrowing/
lending in the Fall.

In the “what the heck” category: we learned that Virgin Megastore
in the Marina Mall was shut down by the authorities. Apparently they
had two problems: some “interesting DVDs” and a number of banned
books, mostly about Wahhabism (ultra-conservative Islam) and other
religious-related areas. Why not just confiscate the offending
materials, you ask? Hmm, then you would be having a “rational
moment” – way too logical. And, shutting them down sends a pretty
strong message to everyone – big brother IS watching! The red-
banded message plastered on the doors and windows states: “this
shop is closed by the authorities for disobeying the rules and guides
of the Ministry of Information and will not be open until it obeys
and complies with the law.” (a loose translation) It is never dull
here - crazy – oh, yeah, but dull – never!!



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28 April 2007 – Saturday

Yours truly had a quiet weekend. As usual, cleaned up the apartment Thursday morning – cleaning to the music of Alissa (Lebanese) and the BeeGees – talk about eclectic! I took Bill & Elaine Wadden out to Midas for some furniture shopping, then to the souk in Kuwait City – Mubarakiyya. They really enjoyed the souk, and as you FOHers know, so do I. We finished the evening with Thai take-out food – all very pleasant.

Yesterday, I took Marjorie out to Ikea. There is a new, huge mall now, called The Avenues. It is mostly the same shops as everywhere else, and it has attracted crowds – lots of folks hanging out – there are 3 Starbucks in this mall, plus two other coffee shops. Kuwait – caffeinated – oh, yeah!! In the evening, I shared pizza and a movie with Kurt & Abby. We watched a smalzy Disney movie about pack dogs in the Antarctic.

One of the challenges in working overseas is being able to deal with lots of “quiet time.” Each person has to find her/his own rhythm, what they like to do – read, write, shop, eat, whatever. Kuwait is pretty boring physically, so just wandering about has its limitations. There are still a few museums and crafts places that I have yet to find, so I’ll pursue these as the weather gets hotter and hotter.

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25 April 2007 - Wednesday

The weather here has taken an ugly turn with heavy dust in the air the past couple of days – all very gray and breezy. The temperatures, though, rise steadily – welcome to the desert and the Middle East.

On Monday evening, Abby’s “leadership” class put on a huge Fashion Show here on campus. There was very serious political pressure to quash it – the conservative elements had a hard time envisioning a show that had both men and women at it and both as models. Our own president refused to attend – what kind of moral/supportive leadership is that? Abby persisted, the class did what it had to do (set the auditorium as a runway, got sponsors, sold tickets, organized seating etc.) and the place was packed. The models did a great job, and the sponsors came through with cool clothing for this generation (we squares would never wear the stuff – ah, old age creeps in…). This was an excellent example for the students as to what is possible when the common goal is the focus and not one’s own self-interest. It also is an example of pushing the envelope a bit, which is what universities are supposed to do – thank god some here aren’t afraid to push…even though we in the west would consider what goes on here incredibly tame.

Last night Nizar had a few folks over as we celebrated Conerly’s birthday. As I’ve noted before, we are an amazingly diverse lot – American, Lebanese, Iraqi, Hungarian – all enjoying adult beverages and each other’s company. It is always a pleasure to hear what academic plans people have, even under challenging and difficult circumstances. Good faculty are worth their weight in gold – hard-working, caring, focused, pushing students, writing. I am always amazed at how inept administrations can be in dealing with faculty – universities are indeed curious animals.

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Posted on behalf of Harvey Varnet

14 April 2007 – Saturday

Well, classes are back in session and everyone seems to have benefited from the week off for Spring Break. All four of us are in the office – me, Amna, Hana, Reham. One of our evening colleagues, Ajitha, has yet to return from India where she organized a wedding for her daughter – otherwise, all on track. The classes end on May 30th, so not all that long before the semester is over.

One odd weather-related thing to report: On Thursday, we had an actual hail storm here! Go figure!! The sky was a white-out and for about 15 minutes it hailed liked hell – very odd and very surprising. Apparently this has happened before, though it is rare. We have had rain almost every day for a week.

Terrie got into a cooking frenzy and made an enormous amount of food for our Friday brunch. She can cook, that is for sure, and she loves to entertain. Joining us was Shoma and her mother Ruma and father Anil, Margaret Combs, Ralph and two of the Kostopoulos kids, Lydia and Andi. On Friday evening we trekked up to floor 11 and had dinner with Larry & Barbara Dawson. They also had another Canadian couple over, Bernie and Ellen – we do manage to eat well here.

Tonight I will try to find the site that LIAK (Library & Information Association of Kuwait) has in Kuwait City. It is in an old school building – with no street addresses or numbers; this will be a challenge. (However, it is near the souk, I am told, and I am a “souk maven” and know this area fairly well.) I have convinced the US Embassy here and in the UAE to send up Helmi Noman from Abu Dhabi who will talk to LIAK on Tuesday evening about “intellectual property and copyright and the internet.” Helmi is very dynamic, of Yemeni origin, and he knows his stuff. Working with LIAK has been a challenge – very laid back group – let’s hope we have an audience for Helmi… Ah, the ol’ inshallah spirit reigns supreme!!

15 April 2007 – Sunday

Well, it was a good thing to hunt out the site for Tuesday’s speech. With no street signs or addresses, this proved to be quite the challenge. The school is very close to the souk – it is a nice, old renovated place and LIAK is lucky to have some office space there.

One spin-off benefit of traveling to the souk often (Mubarakyia) is to find new areas of it. T & I discovered a whole new underground section we had never seen before – a series of many shops under ground level. Now I’m even more curious to go a-hunting to see what else I’ve missed.

17 April 2007 – Tuesday

Yesterday afternoon we had one of our most successful American Corner events. Dr. Andy Terrill of the U.S. Army War College spoke on Iraq and Iran and US foreign policy. Andy is brilliant! His position is the General Douglas MacArthur Professor of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. He knows his stuff cold, and he has been involved in discussions about this part of the world at the highest levels (he was an advisor to the Iraq Study group).

We emptied the main floor of the Library and had him stand in the center with students on 3 sides. The session went extremely well, as Andy has both an ability to present a balanced point of view regarding US foreign policy and interests and then present his own thoughtful and thought-provoking viewpoints. If I were to sum up his presentation, it would be “pragmatic” in the Teddy Roosevelt don’t let ideology get in the way of international relations approach (his patience for ideologues in foreign policy was extremely thin – you guess the rest…). Some times things just work well and this one certainly did!

18 April 2007 – Wednesday

Last night I was at LIAK (Library & Information Association of Kuwait) for a lecture on intellectual property, copyright and the internet by Helmi Noman. Helmi is a US Embassy employee in Abu Dhabi and I convinced the Embassy here to bring him up to speak to LIAK. Helmi knows his stuff, is dynamic and engaging, and is fluent in English and Arabic. The audience was small, as LIAK did PR way too late, but… the presentation was first-rate and it allowed me to get to know some of the LIAK people better. Always good to make more in-country connections.

Tonight we’ll have dinner at Shoma’s with her and her folks. Ruma and Anil will celebrate 50 years of marriage soon – they are nice people and good company. T is off to show Sita Higi the Sears store this morning and then to tea with Kym Suffi this afternoon at the English Room at the Sheraton – all so very proper. Tomorrow evening dinner with Ralph and others at Mughal Mahal – ah, this is the tough life.

Yesterday we learned that our Dean for Admissions and Registration is leaving AUK. He (along with his wife who runs our Student Success Center) is heading off to Qatar (where they are doing great things in education). This is yet another defection: our finance executive director leaves in August, we have had no academic dean for a year+ now, no admissions director since last August, and then this one. In addition, several faculty is leaving and most people I know are job-hunting. AUK could very soon be at a critical juncture in its life very soon…

22 April 2007 – Sunday

There are themes in these messages – food, food food and “the travails of AUK.”

Last night T got into her hostess mode and we had Sita & John, Larry & Barbara and Elaine & Bill Wadden over for dinner. John is a US foreign service employee and Bill is dean of continuing education at GUST (the Gulf University for Science and Technology). It appears GUST suffers from the same challenges as AUK – not always good to know that, I’m guessing.

On Friday, T had George & Zoe in for lunch, along with Ralph. George & Zoe are departing AUK at the end of this semester, so T wanted a chance to say goodbye. The good part of working overseas – meeting so many new and wonderful people and the travel. The bad part – saying goodbye so regularly… What, you can’t have it all – harrummphh!!

23 April 2007 – Monday

In to work very early, as I dropped T off at the airport this morning. The apartment seemed way too quiet upon return.

We took a walk over to the tailor’s last night – took them half an hour to turn around a sewing request by T – service service service! We then sauntered over to the local gold souk where T had seen a bracelet she liked that afternoon. Being the incredibly clever guy that I am, I suggested she look at it again – yes, Mother’s Day is fast approaching – and we got it for her. Yes!!

Well, FOH friends, time to send this off. Here’s hoping you are all well. The ‘warm’ season has begun in Kuwait – 90s F during the day and each morning the patio is at 80F – no problem keeping that complexion glowing!

Best to you all!

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11 April 2007 – Wednesday

It is the last day of Spring Break week here at AUK. The campus is very quiet, as one might expect. Amna and Hana are here at work with me as we do odds ‘n ends to keep busy. Reham is taking the week off to be with her children, both of whom are quite young.

Amna and Hana had a great trip to the ACRL Conference in Baltimore, after which they spent a couple of days at Dartmouth College. This trip opened their eyes to the size and scope of librarianship in the USA – it has broadened their outlook on this profession in all the right ways. One always hopes that colleagues benefit somewhat by your presence on the job, and at the very least I know that supporting this type of travel and growth has been beneficial in both the short and long-term for these two fine librarians.

I just came back from doing the Library’s budget presentation for next fiscal year. I’ve been doing budgets for forever, so this one no different than any others. I do find it interesting how little people know about how a library actually runs, which I suspect is not to our credit as librarians. It does look like we’ll add another staff member next year to work the evening schedule. This will go a long way to providing better student support, and I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to find a local hire that has the right skill set and, more importantly, the right attitude (as in likes to work).

As noted previously, Terrie & I along with Kurt & Abby spent 5 days in Oman. What a great trip! The Omani people are so gracious and hospitable – Kurt has taken to calling it the world’s standard for hospitality. Isam, our host, was fantastic at keeping us happy and busy. We stayed at his family’s home in Seeb, just beyond the airport – it is a very lovely home, groomed grounds and a nice swimming pool to boot – hard duty, not!! He also loaned us a very nice van to get around in, and yours truly didn’t get us lost at all. Our itinerary included dinner at his family’s home (twice), a boat trip down the coast, a wadi bash into the interior near Nakhl (which was very vertical and a new place for me & Terrie), a tour of the interior including Nizwa and Jabrin fort and Misfah (like walking though the pages of National Geographic). We also toured around the capitol area and just had to shop at the Muttrah souk, always a must for an Oman visit. Isam had several of his work colleagues help us, and our thanks go to Yaser, Mohamed and Abdulkarim – all nice young men and now new friends as well.

The semester cranks back up on Saturday, with just a month and a half left for classes. I imagine we’ll start getting very busy soon, as papers will need to be written, databases searches conducted, works cited, pages proofread – all part of the job. The academic year does have its own rhythm.

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2 April 2007 – Monday

It is just after 11 a.m. at work. I am alone. Reham has just left for the Gulf Chapter of SLA’s annual conference in Bahrain. Amna and Hana are in the USA. We were able to send them to the ACRL/Baltimore conference and now they will spend a few days at Dartmouth College, gleaning from their library colleagues there what information they can. So, I am all alone with student assistants – it’s good to do this once in a while (he said optimistically).

I have great respect for my library colleagues – they are workers who try hard and while each one of us has different skills, we do seem to complement one another. Some of the saner moments while I am here at AUK occur in the library, working with these fine people. It is a pleasure when I can help them broaden their backgrounds by attending conferences and workshops. This will be perhaps one of the few legacies I leave behind – not bad…

It is the week before Spring Break, so there are lots of students in the library using computers, databases, etc. We spend a lot of time helping them with citing sources. To this end, we show them a cool tool called < http://www.citationmachine.net > - good for anyone citing a paper using MLA, APA or Chicago style manuals. This is the “Google generation” and this source is easy for them to get used to… Yes, we teach them “to fish” but we need to feed them along the way…

As noted in previous diary editions, we plan to bug out this Wednesday for Oman again – can’t wait. It is striking as to how different each Gulf country is – each has its own deserved reputation. To me, Oman is the gem in this region – this opinion shared by many who have been in the Gulf for a while.

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