USIS Holds Program on Library of Congress part of its Forum Series, the U.S. Information Service (USIS) in Islamabad, Pakistan, presented a program on March 5 on the Library of Congress.
James C. Armstrong, Library of Congress field director in Islamabad, was the featured speaker. In introductory remarks he briefed the audience on the collections, staff and services of the Library. He then screened the 30-minute video "Memory and Imagination - New Pathways to the Library of Congress," an award-winning film about the Library.
In the second part of the program, Mr. Armstrong described the overseas operations of the Library and gave a detailed explanation of the functions of the LC Islamabad office and the program in Pakistan. In the discussion session that followed, pertinent questions were posed on a variety of Library topics, including preservation, budgets, publication exchanges and products that the library could and could not provide to the institutions represented by members of the audience.
The 50 invited guests included librarians, documentalists, archivists, government officials and journalists.
This program highlighted the Library's role in acquisitions and preservation of research materials that are available to the international scholarly community. It gave everyone a clear understanding of the importance of the Library of Congress program in Pakistan.
Those USIS posts with Library of Congress field offices may wish to consider inviting the field director to conduct similar programs.