On Thursday, March 13 there will be a panel discussion at the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall on the projects related to the cultural reconstruction of Iraq. As part of the Library's Exploration and Adventure series, Charles Kolb of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will talk about the goals, challenges, and success of Recovering Iraq's Past, the NEH's recently ended initiative to preserve, protect, and document Iraq's cultural heritage in the face of looting and destruction. Ann Okerson, Simon Samoeil, and Elizabeth Beaudin of the Yale University Library will also describe Iraq ReCollection, the Yale's Library's two-year, grant-funded effort to digitize some 100,000 pages of Iraqi humanities journals. Though a 2005 US Department of Education Title VI grant, the Library is also developing A Middle Eastern Electronic Library (AMEEL), a Web-based portal for the study of the Middle East, including its history, culture, development, and contemporary face.

Charles Kolb, National Endowment for the Humanities
Ann Okerson, Simon Samoeil, Elizabeth Beaudin, Yale University Library
Thursday, March 13, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, 128 Wall St.
Free and open to the public.

For information on the NEH's Iraqi projects visit: http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20040408.html

For information on Iraq ReCollection visit: http://www.yale.edu/opa/v34.n20/story4.html

For information on AMEEL visit: http://www.library.yale.edu/ameel/