The event was part of a series of knowledge cafés organized by Naseej Academy with the aim of providing an open, interactive space for dialogue and discussion. Knowledge cafés allow the audience to share their perspectives openly, and to exchange ideas on topics and issues that are of concern to workers in library and information centers.
The latest knowledge café was an opportunity to present a number of innovative ideas for providing the financial resources needed to support university libraries. The participants discussed the ideas presented, and assessed their practical application and potential effectiveness in addressing the economic pressures imposed on university libraries by the requirements of the National Transition Program 2020 and the vision of the Kingdom of 2030.
One of the success factors of the event was that; the main speaker was Prof. Dr. Hassan Awad M. Alsereihy, Professor of Information Science, Information Science Department, King Abdulaziz University. Dr. Alsereihy, an expert in the establishment and management of libraries and information centers, is also a member of the supervisory committee of Naseej Academy; a former president of the Arab Federation for Libraries and Information (AFLI), 2008–2013, and head of several regional conferences and organizing, scientific and peer-review committees. All of that added a momentum for the event, in addition to the engagement of Prof. Dr. Abdallah Hussein Metwally, Naseej Academy General Supervisor, in stimulating the discussion, exchanging and sharing of ideas, and facilitating the flow of dialogue among the groups, which reflected on the positive and effective participation shown by the audience along the cafe activities.
The knowledge café was attended by a number of deans of library affairs in Saudi universities and directors of academic libraries of several universities in Saudi Arabia, including: King Abdulaziz University, Effat University, University of Business and Technology, Umm Al Qura University, and Jeddah University, to name a few.
