An interaction with Editor, American Libraries

As Lincoln Corner Karachi Coordinator, I had a welcome meeting with Mr. Leonard Kniffel, Editor ALA American Libraries Magazine. To welcome Mr. Kniffel to Karachi, and discussed different issues and scenarios in Pakistani Libraries and Librarians, I was accompanied by Chief Librarian, Institute of Business Administration IBA Library, Director Sindh, Pakistan Library Automation Group and AIRC Director.

Mr. Muhammad Guffran, Ex-AIRC personnel & chief librarian, IBA Karachi briefed Mr. Kniffel how academic libraries are student focused and working with innovation in library services.

Mr. Nooruddin Marchant, Director for Sindh, Pakistan Library Automation Group PAKLAG, shared how individuals are working to promote technology in libraries.

Ms. Shazia ali, AIRC Director, told Mr. Kniffel how she has prepared an interactive schedule of programs with different librarians & professionals.

On my end, I shared with Mr. Kniffel, about my initiatives at Lincoln Corner, and its marketing as a model American Library here in Karachi and how we remain successful to win the audience in our programs in this digital age.

A gateway to friendship

It was July 14, 2009 and I was visiting American Library Associations’ annual conference in Chicago, representing my country Pakistan on this international event as a state guest. As I was passing through different stalls at the convention center, a stall attracted me with its simplicity and calmness, which was hard to find anywhere else in this mega event and that was SCOMM stall.

I curiously watched what is going on at this stall, I saw two men just sitting in front of a small electronic device like digital notepads. I then surprise to find that this unique machine is known as UBIDUO and the stall was set up to market this product.

On my turn, I started my communication through this machine with one of the rep., our chat was displayed on both ends and we started our discussion, you would not believe it, this machine enabled me to understand a person with disability and performed as a GATEWAY, without learning any special sign language.

Well, to communicate with any person with disability, it is important that you must learn the way to interact with him/her through a special language, and although there is a significant difference within these special languages designed for each continent, they have their own special signs to convey the message to the communicators. But this UBIxxx turned as a major breakthrough to this limitation, a face to face communicator which enable us to use standard English as a medium of communication between the person with disability and the rest of the world, the only thing he/she has to do is, just become familiar with the keyboard, and there it goes.

Well back to my story, I had an ultimate communication experience as promised with a very healthy conversation with plans to market this product here in Pakistan besides knowing these guys well. They became my friends and you can see how happy we all are, in this picture.

And that all was just because of this incredible UBIDUO, a gateway to friendship