RESOUR> American Library Association Weighs in in the Iraq Museum and Library Disasters [ALA-WO:813] Iraqui Cultural Heritage Disaster

From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 10:00:00 -0500
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: "David P. Dillard" ?jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?
Sent: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 12:46:10 -0400 (EDT)

American Library Association Weighs in in the Iraq Museum and Library
Disasters [ALA-WO:813] Iraqui Cultural Heritage Disaster

This article from the American Library Association presents the position
about the museum and library disasters in Iraq from looting and fires.
In addition to this news release, there is a very informative article in
salon.com that requires a subscription or fee to be read, on this same issue.

The end of civilization
The sacking of Iraq's museums is like a "lobotomy" of an entire culture,
say art experts. And they warned the Pentagon repeatedly of this potential
catastrophe months before the war.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/17/antiquities/index_np.html

April 17, 2003  |  On Jan. 24 at the Pentagon, a small group of
accomplished archeologists and art curators met with Joseph Collins, who
reports directly to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and four
other Pentagon officials to talk about how the U.S. military could protect
Iraq's cultural and archeological sites from damage and destruction during
impending the war in that country. McGuire Gibson, a professor at the
Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, gave the officials a list
of 5,000 cultural and archeological sites. First on the list: the National
Museum of Iraq in Baghdad.

Gibson recalls he talked to the group about the importance of safeguarding
the museum from damage from bombs -- and from looting after the military
conflict ended. "I pointed to the museum's location on a map of Baghdad
and said: 'It's right here,'" he recalled in an interview. "I asked them
to make assurances that they'd make efforts to prevent looting and they
said they would. I thought we had assurances, but they didn't pan out."

----------------

Below is the press release from the American Library Association.


Sincerely,
David Dillard Research Librarian
david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ECP RingLeader
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 07:44:38 -0500
From: ALAWASH E-MAIL ?ALAWASH@xxxxxxxxxxx?
Reply-To: Discussion of Government Document Issues ?GOVDOC-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?
To: GOVDOC-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ALA-WO:813] Iraqui Cultural Heritage Disaster
Resent-Subject: [ALA-WO:813] Iraqui Cultural Heritage Disaster

ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 33
April 17, 2003

In This Issue: Iraqi Cultural Heritage Disaster

In an attack on the cultural history of Iraq, looters and arsonists
ransacked and gutted the National Library this week, transforming an the
nation's intellectual legacy into a wasteland of smoldering remains of
books and artifacts dating back thousands of years. In much of the
library, not a single recognizable book or manuscript could be seen
among the ash. Also destroyed was Iraq's principal Islamic library, home
to some of the world's most priceless early Qurans and other scholarly
material pertaining to the Islamic faith.
Except for wooden card catalog drawers and a carved-wood service
counter, which somehow escaped the flames, nothing was left in the
National Library's main wing except its charred walls and ceilings.
Built in 1977, the three-story National Library building housed all
books published in Iraq, including copies of all doctoral theses. It
preserved rare old books on Baghdad and the region, historically
important books on Arabic linguistics, and antique handwritten
manuscripts in Arabic that were gradually being transformed into printed
versions. The Library was known to also house manuscripts from the
Ottoman and Abbasid periods of Middle Eastern history.

  "The American Library Association deplores the catastrophic losses to
Iraq's cultural heritage that have already occurred with the destruction
of the National and Islamic Libraries, and ALA urges coalition forcers
to work with the Iraqi people to protect further damage to Libraries and
other cultural institutions in Iraq," said ALA President Maurice J.
(Mitch) Freedman. "ALA stands ready to work with our sister cultural
organization in Iraq, appropriate agencies, and the Iraqi people, and
calls upon the U.S. government to help re-build and restore these and
other Libraries in Iraq that have been looted and destroyed - helping to
return to the Iraqi people an important part of their cultural history
and legacy," he concluded.

Your Help Needed:
If you or someone you know is in contact with Iraqi librarians, please
let us know by contacting Michael Dowling, International Relations
(mdowling@xxxxxxx) or Rick Weingarten, ALA OITP
(rweingarten@xxxxxxxxxxx). We would like to communicate with
librarians in Iraq in order to find out more information about the
destruction of libraries and other cultural centers in the country.

******

ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the
American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to
copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or
redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits.

To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo
[your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@xxxxxxx or go to
http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon.  To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send
the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@xxxxxxxx ALAWON archives at
http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon.

ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403,
Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478
toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@xxxxxxxxxxx; Web site:
http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff.
Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman,
Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office
for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer
Hendrix, Carrie Russell, Claudette Tennant. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette
Murphy.

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RESOUR> American Library Association Weighs in in the Iraq Museum and Library Disasters [ALA-WO:813] Iraqui Cultural Heritage Disaster

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