2. Outline
➢ Role of science and education in supporting SDGs
➢ SDGs during and post COVID-19 pandemic and
infodemic
➢ Scientific cooperation among countries and different
communities
➢ Civic engagement in wider society

3. Although I am a Ph.D. holder with a solid background in biological sciences
and an academic faculty member, I decided to accept the position of the
Director of the Medical Library at AUB and to utilize all possible tools to
communicate information and science and become more influential in the
society.
I always work hard to support and launch initiatives that help build
sustainability for the future and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).

4. I will talk about how
everyone of us, be it a
researcher, student,
academician, librarian,
information professional
can contribute towards
building sustainable
development for the
future

5. • “Sustainable development is about caring for people beyond your family
and friends. And if you care about people, then sustainable development
naturally follows”.
• “And the SDGs offer a framework to support the growth of everyone and
to partner with other people around the world to promote that growth. It’s
really important that we help people discover the agency and resources that
they have to really get these goals done and improve the world”.

8. Supporting SDGs during and post the
COVID-19 Pandemic and Infodemic

9. • We all have a social responsibility towards ourselves, our
families, friends, countries and the whole world.
• In particular, there was an urgent need to empower people to
tell the difference between reliable information and misinformation.
• As an educator, a teacher, a researcher and now a librarian, I
believe I have a significant role in spreading and sharing credible
information and raising awareness about false news both in peace
and crisis.
• By ensuring access to high-quality research and information,
libraries enable researchers to develop evidence-based solutions
to support a better and more sustainable future for all.

10. 1."COVID-19 Awareness Sessions”
• Providing awareness
sessions in layman language
about COVID19 in universities,
schools, villages aiming to
reach everyone in the
community.
• These sessions are based on
a “Train the trainers”
workshop
• I am also part of the "LeMSIC
COVID-19 Online Awareness
Campaign"

11. 2. One Stop Shop Website
COVID-19 resource
center:
https://aub.edu.lb.libgui
des.com/COVID19

12. Total Views

13. Countries that accessed the guide
• France
• India
• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• Canada
• Netherlands
• Brazil
• Turkey
• Korea
• Italy
• United Arab
Emirates
• Austria
• Germany
• Spain
• Russia
• Japan
• China
• Philippines
• Saudi Arabia
• Mexico
• Nigeria
• Peru
• Singapore
• Indonesia
• Pakistan
• South Africa
• USA

14. Organizations/
sites that
shared the
guide
• International Network for Government Science Advice
(INGSA)
• Intrahealth International in the US
• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health
Sciences
• Indiana State University
• Research4life-Elsevier
• University of BASAL
• LibGuides Community
• Spatial chat
• LLA, AMICAL, HIFA, IFLA
• Several apps and social media handles

15. 15
3. E-learning Tools Trove
https://aub.edu.lb.libgui
des.com/e-learningtools

16. Total Views
16

17. 4. Opening the medical library since June 2020

18. 5. Helping hands
initiative

19. • What about our role in the scientific cooperation and collaboration
at the national, regional and international level to achieve several
SDGs?

21. - Maintaining a partnership with research and academic institutions at the
national and international levels to facilitate access and exchange information
and resources.
- Collaborating with local, regional and national civil society institutions,
governments and organizations from private sectors to offer community-
based programs and services that engage and empower citizens.
- Collaborating with the Center for Civic Engagement and Community Services to
provide services to marginalized communities
1. Cooperation and SDGs

22. 2. Cooperation and SDGs

23. • WHO-EMRO Project
• Primary Hyperparathyroidism Guidelines
• Misinformation project
3. Cooperation and SDGs

24. - The Arabic Collections Online Project
(ACO), a publicly available digital library of
public domain Arabic Language Content.
ACO aims to digitize, preserve, and
provide free open access to a wide
variety of Arabic language books in
different subjects. ACO contributing
partners are New York
University, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, T
he American University in Cairo and AUB.
- AUB libraries also partner with other
libraries and entities in the world to
work on special projects, e.g. Google
Arts and Culture, HathiTrust, Online
Access to Consolidated Information on
Serials (OACIS)
4. Cooperation and SDGs

25. - We are also part of the “Interlibrary
Loan” service with different libraries in
the world.
- The library collaborates with other
university libraries locally and
internationally to exchange expertise
through:
• Consortiums: American International
Consortium of Academic
Libraries (AMICAL), Lebanese Academy
Library Consortium (LALC) and Lebanese
ILL Document Delivery Services (LIDS).
• Associations: Medical Library Association
(MLA), Lebanese Library Association (LLA)
and IFLA.
5. Cooperation and SDGs

26. 6. Healthcare Information For All (HIFA)
• I am proudly the first country
representative for Lebanon at
Healthcare Information For All (HIFA)
• We believe that Together we can stop
people dying due to lack of healthcare
information and that Health care
information is a right for everyone
anywhere
• WHO-HIFA project

27. 7. International Federation of Library Associations
and Institutions (IFLA)
I am also a member of the IFLA
Evidence for Global and
Disaster Health Special Interest
Group.

28. 8. International Network for Government Science Advice
(INGSA)
I was also chosen as INGSA policy-
making tracker rapporteur for
Lebanon.

29. 9. Arab World Association of Young Scientists
(ArabWAYS)
ArabWAYS incubates more than
18,000 young promising scientists
who are involved in addressing
transboundary problems in areas like
health, agriculture, education system,
shortages in natural resources and
others.
An initiative that influences scientific
cooperation between countries to
support the SDGs

30. What about our role in sustaining an open
society?

32. American University of Beirut-University Libraries
➢ AUB UL are leading different digitization initiatives in attempt to preserve National and
AUB cultural heritage, in addition to disseminate information and promote knowledge
by allowing access to AUB community, to scholars, to researchers and to the largest
possible audience.
➢ Books, Manuscripts, Photo collections, vertical files, and historic maps which are in danger
are common choices of digitization in AUB Libraries digital Lab.
1. Digitization

33. "Kitab al Qanoun fi Al Toubb"
(The Book of the Canon of Medicine)
by Abu Ali al-Shaykh al-Ra'is
Ibn Sina
with some of his works including logic and physics and theology
R O M E
The Medical Press
1593
English Arabic
This open access book (1593) is available in
our archive collection in both languages
English and Arabic.

34. Lebanese Medical Journal ‫المجلة‬
‫اللبنانية‬ ‫الطبية‬ (LMJ)
“The official fully open access, publish for
free, journal of the scientific committee of the
Lebanese Order of Physicians".
We have digitized the collection of LMJ covering
the years 1948-2019.

35. 2. Exhibit: Stories of Women from the Archives
Organized by FAS Dean's Office and UL on the occasion of the Coed Centennial and
featuring salient women collections.
Featuring several unique items displayed for the first time:
*A letter by the famous May Ziadeh supporting AUB's coeducation
* First AUB thesis on Moslem women status by an Indian student (MA 1909)
*Reem Acra first fashion show at AUB (BA 1982)
*Evelyn Bustrus diary
*19th century manuscripts copied by women scribes, and many more
Will be digitized and open to public online

36. 3. Open Access Advocacy and Training
UL participated in the open access week which is global event now entering its tenth
year.
It is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn
about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they've learned with
colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a
new norm in scholarship and research.

37. 4. Open Access Publishing is a publishing model whereby scholarly
journals, articles and books are published online with no or minimal restrictions on
access and reuse.
Below is an article I published as open access about Covid 19 with other colleagues:

38. 5. Open Educational Resources (OER)
Are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that
reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-
cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.

39. It’s all about the mindset

40. • Be humble-we know very little
• Be creative and innovative
• Be open to share and receive knowledge
• Importance of communication and discussion
• Focus on skills rather than information (increased connectivity,
transparency, investment, collaboration, openness, integrity and ethical
research practices, critical thinking, ..)
• We should work as learning facilitators, coaches and mentors rather than
teachers
• We should aim to build connections and alliances with each other
• Link science and society