Spotlight Series: Specialized Libraries and Information Center Dr. Mohammad Bakleh, Chief Librarian, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA)

1. Library sustainable competitive advantage
How we help our organizations to survive during crisis?
Mohammad Zuheir Bakleh, PhD
Information Management Officer
Knowledge Management Team leader
UN ESCWA
bakleh@un.org
SPOTLIGHT ON LIBRARIES SERIES: Specialized Libraries & Information Center, 12 May 2022

2. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
◦ ESCWA was established in 1973 to
stimulate economic activity in member
countries, strengthen cooperation
between them, and promote
development.
◦ Committed to the 2030 Agenda,
ESCWA’s produces innovative
knowledge, fosters regional consensus
and delivers transformational policy
advice.
ESCWA acts as:
◦ The voice of the region: bringing people
together for coordination, consensus-building
and advocacy.
◦ The think tank of the region: supporting quality
data collection and analysis through innovative
research for forward-looking, evidence-based
policymaking
◦ The adviser to the region: providing capacity-
building and technical advisory services, and
informing strategies and policies to strengthen
national development efforts
◦ The provider of support for the 2030 Agenda
in the region: guiding member States in their
efforts to implement the SDGs.
ESCWA

3. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
◦ Founded in 1974
◦ Moved with ESCWA: Beirut, Amman, Iraq, Amman, Beirut
◦ Users: staff, consultants, contractors, researchers in Lebanon and the region
◦ Specialized collection: social and economic focus (in En and Ar) to support ESCWA
work program
◦ ESCWA documents, UN documents
◦ Partnerships and memberships:
◦ Lebanese Library Consortia
◦ UN Library and Information knowledge network (UNLINKS)
◦ ANDD: Academic Network for Development Dialogue, with Qatar University
ESCWA Library

4. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
Challenges
• Always we have to show and prove our
added value to the organization,
• Maintaining our physical presence,
• Maintaining our resources: staff, budget..
• Usage of e-resources,
• User seeking behaviour,
• Competition (not only the Internet),
• Skills development,
• Keep communities connected during crisis.

5. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
Opportunities
• Research support and service delivery:
• Digital services:
• Reference services,
• access to resources,
• DDS, .
• research guides,
• Proactive services: SDI, research profiles
• Training: users and staff

6. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
Opportunities
• Knowledge Management:
• Knowledge repositories and outreach: ODS, UNDL, ESCWA
repository will be launched in July 2022, digitization,
information portals, organizational websites, EBSCO, Arab
Women Organization, e-Marefa
• Knowledge sharing activities: Insight series sessions, online
regional/global activities
• Records management
• Open science/access
• Revisit how we use our physical space
• E-learning program
• Data Management

7. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
Image from: University of Southern California Santa Cruz (http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/datamanagement/)
• Text or Word documents, spreadsheets
• Laboratory notebooks, field notebooks, diaries
• Questionnaires, transcripts, codebooks
• Audiotapes, videotapes
• Photographs, films
• Test responses
• Slides, artifacts, specimens, samples
• Collection of digital objects acquired and generated during
the process of research
• Data files
• Database contents including video, audio, text, images
• Models, algorithms, scripts
• Contents of an application such as input, output, log files
for analysis software, simulation software, schemas
• Methodologies and workflows
• Standard operating procedures and protocols

8. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
◦ Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA)
https://rdmla.github.io/
Useful resources

9. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
◦ 2020: “Towards Global Open Science: Core Enabler of the UN 2030 Agenda”
https://www.openaire.eu/open-science-for-un2030-agenda
◦ 2021: In Praise of the “Great Open Conversation of Science” https://www.un.org/en/library/OS21
UN Open Science annual conference https://www.un.org/en/library/OS

10. © Copyright ESCWA. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation in all its property may be used or reproduced in any form without written permission
◦SDG learn: https://www.unsdglearn.org
◦Arab SDG learn: https://arabsdgs.unescwa.org/
◦ESCWA learning website: http://learn.unescwa.org
Useful learning sites

11. Thank You
Mohammad Zuheir Bakleh, PhD
Information Management Officer
Knowledge Management Team leader
UN ESCWA
bakleh@un.org