We may have a bad day at work or way to many meetings, but most of us don't have to contend with bullets in the office. The British Library has been posting the diary of Saad Eskander, director of the Iraqi National Library and Archive (check out the English version of their web site).
In his latest entry from January, he writes that in December alone 4 staff have been assassinated, 2 kidnapped, 51 displaced from their homes, and 58 have received death threats. There are 464 people working for the INLA, 39 of them as guards.
The New York Times has an article on the library, entitled "Baghdad Day to Day: Librarians Journal."
Thanks to the Red Tape Blog for their original post on this topic.
Hi
ReplyDeleteWe have now posted Dr Eskander’s journal entries for 1-14 February to the British Library website. Dr Eskander’s diary entry for 8 February is particularly disturbing - a reminder to us of the dreadful situation our professional colleagues in Baghdad are experiencing as they do their jobs.
Best wishes
Andy Stephens, Secretary to the British Library Board