2002-Creating Connections: Towards an Understanding of Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies.
The Committee on Diversity held its Annual Diversity Symposium at the 95th AALL Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. This year, the program entitled “Creating Connections: Towards an Understanding of Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies,” was held Saturday, July 20, 2002 from 1:00pm-4:00pm. The speaker, Dr. Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim Languages and Cultures at Harvard University, addressed the issue of understanding Islam and Muslim societies aimed at creating connections with other groups. Mr. Asani’s presentation was divided into three sections: Diversity and interpretation of Islam, Women in Islamic society, and the Quran, tolerance and pluralism. There were approximately 48 persons in attendance and the program was highly rated by all. Comments from the evaluation forms describe Dr. Asani as “an extremely well informed and knowledgeable speaker,” whose good interpretation of religious texts, cultural context and history earned him the respect of those in attendance. The video clips were very beneficial in illustrating the breadth of non-Arabic Islam. Dr. Asani can be highly recommended as a speaker at other AALL and library functions. Diversity issues continue to be a challenge. As a service industry how we deal with a diverse clientele depends on how willing we are to make efforts to be inclusive in all areas of our service. After the Symposium, the Committee held a sumptuous reception.
On behalf of the Committee, I thank last year's Diversity Committee Chair, Anne McDonald, and Jenny Kanji from LexisNexis who was instrumental in getting Dr. Asani, for organizing the Symposium and reception, and our corporate sponsors LexisNexis. Plans are now on the way for the 2003 Diversity Symposium to be held Saturday, July 12, 2003 at the Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.
Calmer Chattoo