Lori DedeyanAsbarez Interview with Lori Dedeyan, Director of the International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists
BY NANE AVAGYAN
Translated by Aleen Arslanian
The International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists, which was founded and operates with the mission of preserving and publicizing Armenian cultural heritage, is guided by the slogan “To Know Wisdom and Get Information.” The organization was launched with the aim of providing a space for scholars and researchers working with Armenian resources to network and discuss their research, ask questions, and help one another find potential solutions to problems.
“Our cultural heritage is fragile and is not guaranteed to last forever, given the continuing genocide against Armenians in recent years,” Lori Dedeyan, Director of the IAALA, said in an interview with Asbarez, where she discussed the significance of the organization’s work and why it is essential to support it.
Nane Avagyan: How, and with what aim, was the International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists established?
Lori Dedeyan: We’re a relatively young organization, and a lot of the work around the beginning of the organization came from the work done around changing the Library of Congress subject headings from “Armenian Massacres” to “Armenian Genocide.” That was finally accomplished in 2020. The Library of Congress maintains an authoritative list of subjects that libraries globally use. Several members of our founding board were involved in that effort, and that was a very big success for Armenian information professionals.
After that was accomplished, our founding members had this vision. There are a lot of libraries and archives that have Armenian materials, however, there needs to be a way for all the people who are studying these materials to have conversations with each other and, specifically, to share resources and advocate for people who are working with these collections. The first executive board was convened in 2021, to establish the organization, so that it could be a platform where people could communicate, create resources, and do advocacy for matters that are relevant to the preservation of Armenian culture as it’s held in libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions. That was the motivating factor for creating this organization.
It’s very important, because of the Armenian experience, our history, and our experience with having a lot of borders drawn over us, being a cosmopolitan community with a lot of history in different parts of the diaspora. The experience that lot of the information professionals have had is that larger institutions don’t know where to put us. In some places, we are put in the Eastern European sort of umbrella, and other places where put in the Middle Eastern umbrella. What usually happens, because of that, is that put into this bucket where Armenian resources are maybe not necessarily stewarded by people who have the specific expertise in the Armenian language, history, or culture.
So, in that way, it’s a reflection of the Armenian experience. We don’t have a solid place in academia in terms of cultural heritage. A lot of the work that has been done to safeguard our heritage has been done by very dedicated individuals who make that space for us, who make that space for the preservation of our materials, who do the advocacy. The IAALA was meant to be a way to bring all of those people together, and not necessarily just Armenian information professionals. It’s everyone who is dealing with Armenian cultural heritage collection.
N.A.: Can you name a few of the organization’s significant achievements?
L.D.: We are in a growth phase right now, where we’re actively recruiting members. Our new board is great, and we’re trying to grow our programs, so we’ve done a lot of outreach programming in the past—we bring guest speakers to talk on subjects related to Armenian cultural heritage, and those have been very successful. Several of our members are also located in Armenia, so we’ve been doing a bit of training for Armenian librarians, as well. We have several different committees that have various projects for the year.
Some of the work that I’m really interested in and excited about is the work that we are doing in a few of our newest committees. One of them is our Documentation Committee, which is focused on translating library and archives guidelines, documents into Armenian for the use of librarians in Armenia. That’s a big project we’re going to be working on.
We also have an Endangered Archives Committee. We survey locations of endangered archival materials in Armenia or the diaspora, and, once we map those locations, the next stage of our project is going to be to connect some of those collections with institutions that are capable of stewarding them. Endangered archives are collections that are not really cared for currently by any established archival institution or collections, or that are held by archival institutions or organizations that are under-resourced or need help caring for their collections. This committee came out of the fact that there’s a lot of really important documentary materials in different locations in Armenia and elsewhere that are being left to disintegrate or are not properly cared for. There is this urgent need to locate these materials and connect them with institutions or with resources that can help take care of them in a sort of archivally appropriate way. We also have an active Cataloging Committee, where people can take their questions, and librarians and archivists can take their questions about their cataloging work.
One of our biggest goals is to create a platform for people to talk to each other. We have a forum and a newsletter, and as more and more people become engaged, that will be more and more important.
N.A.: What are some significant achievements of the IAALA?
L.D.: Our main discovery is that people approach us for membership. We have the opportunity to speak to a lot of librarians and archivists working in different institutions, and they’re all looking for guidance. That has been the biggest justification of our mission. We connect people to one another, in terms of resources, but there’s a need to bring everyone together to create a set of centralized resources, which is one of our projects moving forward.
We’re also in the process of redesigning our website. One of the first projects that we’re going to pilot for the website is our documentation translation. We’d like to create an online portal where people can find resources specifically geared to working with Armenian materials. That could include guidelines, different standards that libraries and archives use when they’re working with their materials, like cataloging and standards. We also need a consistent vocabulary in English and Armenian for describing library and archives terms.
There’s been a lot of amazing work done here and there by individuals. Now it needs to be brought together, so that, the same way that people say, “If we’re cataloging books, we go to the Library of Congress for their resources.” We need something similar for Armenian resources. That’s what we’re hoping to do, and that’s where our projects are geared right now. We want to provide resources, to create networking opportunities for different librarians, archivists, museum professionals, and to do education. That’s what we’ve been doing a lot of in the past with our Zoom lectures and series, which have been successful.
N.A.: Does the organization work in partnership with any international libraries or archivists?
L.D.: The National Library of Armenia conference is coming up in October, and we are going to present at a conference there. We’re going to have a presence there to make ourselves more well-known in Armenia directly. We’re hoping to connect with more librarians in Armenia. About half of our board and membership currently live or work in Armenia.
Just this past month, we met with a few librarians in England via Zoom. They often manage a more extensive portfolio, for example, all of the Middle East. They’ll need guidance in dealing with Armenian materials, specifically. We have had them email us, and we set up meetings and connect them with specialists in the area. Some are interested in membership, so we connect them with the work of our different committees in order to have those conversations. We get interesting questions. Someone will say, “We have a collection of Armenian periodicals, and we would like to know how to catalog and preserve them, but we need resources.” So we’ll say, “You can talk to this person who’s done this work.” What we’re working towards is to be able to say, “Yes, look at this resource that we can give you to use.” That’s what we’re working towards, because there are incredible Armenian collections all around the world and there have been several great projects surfacing and showcasing them. But, in terms of the standards the language, there needs to be more work done. That’s what we’re hoping to do.
N.A.: In the case of private collections, there is also the problem of their preservation. Can individuals contact you with this issue as well?
L.D.: I’m sure that through individual connections, maybe some work could be done. There’s a big network of Armenian scholars, but our advantage is that we are an organization dedicated just to this international work. Some of the people that we talked with, for example, they have. Like for example, one of the people that we talked to was from the British Library. He is going to be at the conference in October. So, there are those connections that have already been made. The advantage that we have is that we’re a professional organization. That’s the whole reason we exist basically. So they can come to us and say this is your stated purpose, so let’s talk and I want to connect and we can we help. Sometimes, it’s difficult to make the connections on your own; that’s why professional organizations can help them.
N.A.: There are large collections of Armenian Genocide materials around the world. What work do you do to coordinate and present these materials?
L.D.: I was thinking about this recently, not only the Armenian Genocide but the continuation of it. It’s been ongoing, unfortunately. In the past few years, more and more people have become aware that our heritage is endangered. It’s not something that’s always going to be there. We need to work actively to preserve and protect it, because we can’t take anything for granted. I’ve noticed that there’s been a strong interest in Armenian archives and libraries in the past few years, and I think that came from that realization — that our cultural heritage is fragile, and it’s not guaranteed that it’s going to stay there indefinitely, because of these things that are happening.
With the younger generation, too, because a lot of what they have seen is mostly post-Soviet era Armenia. Now that they’re seeing Armenia in crisis, again, it’s dawning on them. There’s a lot of this urgency and sadness. This interest is something that we want to cultivate, to encourage. We don’t want to keep this work purely academic. We want to engage everyone, from all generations, with all levels of experience, because it’s something that has to be a group effort.
The reason that we do these things is for the benefit of the community and the culture. The organization started with this very specific effort to change the official terminology around the Armenian Genocide. The members who participated in that were very successful in that sense. But it’s a constant struggle, it’s something that we always have to work towards and there’s still a lot of education that needs to be done.
Unfortunately, because of the legacy of the genocide, and the ongoing genocide, another unfortunate aspect is that, sometimes, the necessary resources, security, and time are not there for this work to be done. We need to really take advantage of the network of the diaspora, internationally, of people who can work in this effort and do a lot of resource sharing. It’s also a big focus for us.
N.A.: Who are your current members and what is the eligibility criteria for individuals interested in becoming members to partake in this extremely important work?
L.D.: Our members are international, mostly throughout the United States, Armenia, and Europe at this time. Our board is evenly split between people from the United States and Armenia, which is reflected in our general membership, as well. Several members of our board are part of different organizations, so they’re implicitly involved in that way. For example, we have people at UCLA, and the university has been a leader in some of our past projects. Our current Vice Director, Lori Alvandian, is the director of the library at the American University of Armenia. We also have members from the National Library of Armenia and from different academic institutions in the United States, and are officially affiliated with the Society for Armenian Studies.
For now, our members are primarily librarians, with some archivists and some scholars. I’m an archivist. I think I might be in the minority in the membership, but it’s primarily archivists and librarians. However, we’re really open to growing our membership to include other people as well. For example, with our documentation projects, we really need the help of scholars and linguists, so everyone who has the skill to contribute to this work would be welcome.
At this point, we’re not very restrictive, and it’s whoever has an interest in doing the work, whoever has an interest in archives and a vested interest in cultural heritage can join. We have our general membership and then the work of our different committees. Some of those are elected positions and some appointed, but in terms of being a member, we welcome everyone interested in investing in this work.
N.A.: How does the organization support itself financially? What support options are available for IAALA’s projects in this regard?
L.D.: We’re currently an affiliate of the Society for Armenian Studies. If you become a member, there’s a membership fee, and those are primarily our source of funds. However, as part of this expansion, we’re trying to get ourselves in a place where we can receive donations more easily and directly. We urge individuals to become a member if they can volunteer their time and resources.
N.A.: How did you join the International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists and what is your message to our readers?
L.D.: During my time at UC Berkeley and UCLA, I was deeply inspired by their extensive collections of Armenian materials. This experience ignited a passion in me to contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage, which is why I’m here today.
I would like to thank all of our members and everyone who has shown interest. We have a very dedicated membership, who are putting in a lot of time and effort, because it’s a work of passion for them. They see it as their calling.
I would encourage everyone who’s interested in cultural heritage to connect with us. By joining our mailing list, you’ll stay updated on our activities and initiatives. It’s a simple way to stay connected with our work, which is driven by our passion to preserve our cultural heritage.
You can learn more about the International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists, as well as donate to their efforts, online.