Please mark your calendars for a very special Library Forum on Wednesday, April 9, 9:30 - 10:45 am. The event will take place in the Dean's Conference Room. Noemi Danao, Executive Director of the Monteverde Institute, Costa Rica will be here to talk to us about the challenges involved in running a small research library in an environment of extremely scarce resources, way out there on what I call the information fringe. Noemi is a very dynamic and engaging speaker, who does not have a library background, but who has become an extremely effective advocate for and administrator of the Monteverde Institute library, as she quickly recognized the importance of the Monteverde Institute's library as the gateway to information that will lead to greater understanding of issues affecting the Monteverde Zone .
Noemi will discuss some of the larger overarching issues that the small Monteverde Institute library faces, as it attempts to grapple with developing a web-based Library Catalog (purchasing an ILS), providing greater levels of access to local collections and knowledge through digitization, providing access to other materials through creation of partnerships, providing computers and Internet access -- all with extremely limited funds. The Monteverde Institute is a Costa Rican non-profit organization whose mission involves both serving the international student and research populations, and giving back to the local community.
Noemi Danao has been the Executive Director of the Monteverde Institute, in Monteverde,Costa Rica, since January 2006. Her connection to Latin America spans many years, including nine years living and working in Nicaragua with national and international NGOs. Of interest to us library folks - for three years Noemi worked as Managing Editor of Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society.
-From Laurie
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