Society for Armenian Studies launches International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists

The following was written by the Society for Armenian Studies (SAS):

The Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) is pleased to announce the creation of the International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists (IAALA), a new organization operating under the umbrella of the SAS, with the goal to provide an international forum for information specialists working broadly with Armenian topics and materials. IAALA plans to host online events and create standing committees to address acquisitions, cataloging, research and reference, preservation and digitization issues. It also intends to be an advocate for the need of Armenian expertise in the libraries of public institutions throughout the world.

IAALA was born through discussions that followed the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States Congress, when Nora Avetyan of UCLA and Ani Boyadjian of the Los Angeles Public Library spearheaded a successful effort to change the official subject heading of the Library of Congress from “Armenian Massacres” to “Armenian Genocide.” Two other members of that committee, Levon Avdoyan (Library of Congress, retired) and Seda Aykanian Matevosian (Vahan and Anoush Chamlian Armenian School) joined Avetyan and Boyadjian in the efforts to realize an association of Armenian librarians and archivists. In conversation with the Executive Committee of the Society for Armenian Studies, they established IAALA under the aegis of SAS as an organization that would support librarians and archivists of Armenian material and to bridge the divide between the librarian and scholarly worlds.

You can read the full announcement at: https://bit.ly/3AD96bg.