GREETINGS FROM JERUSALEM!

I arrived in the Old City of Jerusalem, where I am staying for a month, at the Armenian Patriarchate's St. James Monastery. This is my 16th visit here since 1992. The main focus of my coming here has been the renovation and revitalization of the Calouste Gulbenkian Library (one of the most comprehensive Armenological information resource centers in the Diaspora, established 75 years ago). This is a project which has been very challenging, and I hope will form the centerpiece of my doctoral dissertation in information studies at UCLA.

An amazing part of all of this is that my colleagues and classmates at UCLA and elsewhere can keep in touch with me through cyber-communication. Who would have thought this possible before the age of technology?

Setting up this blog is going to give me the opportunity to experience first-hand that which I am going to share with the five teachers from Tajikistan, who will be coming to UCLA for a 3-week training in September. It will be interesting to share my new learnings with them and offer them encouragement in doing the same.