The United States Embassy Hosts Workshop for Librarians, Government official and non-governmental organizations in Swaziland

August 15, 2007

MBABANE – The Embassy of the United of American is hosting workshops at the Mountain Inn for librarians, government officials, Non- governmental Organizations nationwide between August 14- 15.  Charge’ d’ Affaires, Lynn Allison conducted the official opening of the workshop.

The U.S speaker and presenter is Professor Barbara J. Ford who is the Director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  The Mortenson Center focuses on leadership training of international library leaders from 80 countries. She was the past President of the American Librarian Association that has 65,000 members.  While she was President, she met with President Clinton and Vice President Gore as well as other leading politicians to advocate for libraries.

Professor Ford discussed topics on “Library Advocacy,” which delved into issues such as how to deal with the media; and “A Leaders Role and Function in Organizational Development” that centered on how to motivate staff to be effective on their jobs and how to encourage leadership potentials among staff members; and “21^st Century Library Management and Services Innovations and Development.”

These workshops enabled participants to interact, share ideas, and come up with strategies that will help them to develop their leadership skills as well as the library and information sector in Swaziland.