Naseej Academy’s latest knowledge café, entitled "New and Creative Ways to Provide Financial Resources in Support of University Libraries", was held on Tuesday, October 2, 2018, at the Hotel Galleria by Elaf in Jeddah, from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m.
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.
At the end of the knowledge café activities, participants concluded that there are many additional or alternative sources that can be adopted by academic libraries, including but not limited to: Donations & gifts and gifts, Awqaf, establishment of a publishing and printing center, renting halls and equipment/ facilities owned by the library, allocating advertising space whether on library walls or LEDs, build a museum within the library premises and providing consultancy services…and other creative financial sources. Also, it is mentioned that; it is highly importance to revise the regulations and laws under which the Library operates especially those are aligned the university regulations.
Naseej Executive Vice President Abdullah Al-Tarifi spoke of the importance of the gathering: "The knowledge café is a valuable and fruitful interactive experience. All the participants were given an opportunity to gain experience and to share their knowledge. The café achieved its objective of attracting a high attendance, and of generating valuable discussion of the suggestions put forward by the guest speaker.”
For his part, Prof. Dr. Abdallah confirmed that Naseej Academy will continue to host such events and meetings to enable people in library and information field in the Arab world to share their knowledge and exchange their Ideas.
