Maldives Library Association holds Annual General Assembly

(26 February 2017)  The first Annual General Assembly of MLA for 2017 was held on 7th February 2016 at the National Library, Training Institute. 24 people attended the meeting including members and non-members.

The main purpose of the meeting:

1. Sharing of the activities accomplished in 2016
2. Awarding appreciation letter for the people who contributed MLA in 2016
3. Drawing up of and endorsing event calendar for 2017
4. Election of members for the vacant posts in Council and Committees

The activities accomplished in 2016 are:

1. A visit to Lhaviyani atoll from 7^th to 9^th March. The trip’s purpose was :
   1. to visit libraries in the atoll to identify the current situation, challenges faced and how MLA could assist to develop the libraries
   2. to award a shield to Naifaru Library founder, Mr. Mohamed Nizar Ibrahim for the       continuous library service to the community on the occasion of the library’s 36^th anniversary
   3. to discuss conducting a Workshop in Library Development for librarians, teachers, parents, students and interested persons.
2. Computerization of 04 libraries under the MLA Koha Project
3. Installation of Dspace at Dhivehi Bahuge Academy, Research Library and assisting in      creating a digital collection.
4. Workshop on Island Library Development (WILD) training held at Lh. Naifaru for the atoll from 19^th to 21^st May.
5. Essential Skills in Library Science (ESLS) training held for new library staff from September to October.
6. Information Session on Informal Professional Development Session on 19^th November.
7. Library Consultancy Services to Maldives Islamic University Library (25^th July to 26^th October). In addition, Consultancy proposed to Islamic Library, Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Ameeniya School Library on 17^th August and 9^th November respectively.
8. Marked World Book Day in collaboration with Dhivehi Bahuge Academy and National Library on 23^rd April.
9. Three issues of the newsletter published in MLA blog.
10. Visited 04 libraries in Male’ to identify the challenges currently faced by library staff as well as management with the interest of developing libraries in their institutions.
11. Meeting with Minister of Education to address the needs required to develop school libraries and the challenges faced by library staff.
12. MLA recognized and proposed work of Lh. Naifaru Public Library’s founder Mr. Nizar’s name to National Award 2016 who received National Award for Special Achievement in serving the community for over 36 years.
13. MLA logo rebranded and endorsed in Council meeting which was proposed for approval to Ministry of Home Affairs
14. Delivered copy of Dewey Decimal Classification 15^th edition (latest abridged edition) to 37 libraries to support library classification.

The full announcement with photographs is here.