When I was asking my classmates in the MLIS program a couple of months ago if they were attending the LLA annual conference, I was surprised they did not know what I was talking about. Not “the conference” but the “LLA”. The answers I got back then were “What is LLA?”, “What does it do?”…etc.
To me it was somehow shocking at first, but then, I realized that not only graduate people know nothing about the association but also librarians working in the field. This is due to many factors.
The Lebanese Library Association has been established in 1960. Its mission “is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and enhancement of the library and information sector to in turn provide quality services to the Lebanese community”.
The LLA board is elected every year by LLA members (around 250 members this year). This committee is responsible of the marketing, preparing programs, activities, workshops, conferences…etc.
Although they are only ten part time volunteers, they did a pretty good job last May, when they organized the first Lebanese Library Association annual conference. The latter attracted many local and international librarians in the Arab world: Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Palestine, Egypt… Speakers were Lebanese, Americans, Egyptians and Iranian sharing their experiences.
I think that the Lebanese Library Association is a good place to connect with others in the field and to be aware of what is happening around us. We need to realize its importance and to collaborate with it to achieve continuous development.
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