Amna Othman Al Omare Director of the AUK Library

American University of Kuwait Appoints Amna Othman Al Omare Director of the University Library

Salmiya, Kuwait, April 28, 2008: Following an extensive international search, Dr. Nizar Hamzeh, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, has announced the appointment of Miss Amna Othman Al Omare, Interim Library Director since January 2008, to the post of Director of the University Library at the American University of Kuwait (AUK), effective immediately. Al Omare, a member of the AUK family since September 2004, has emerged as the most talented and qualified candidate. She has a distinguished career in higher education, having come to AUK after more than a decade at Kuwait University, where she taught English from 1986 to 1991, became Assistant Librarian in 1991, and then headed its non-Arabic Cataloging Division from 1997 to 2004. Widely respected in her field, she is a member of the Arabian Gulf Chapter of the Special Library Association and served on its Strategic Planning Committee in 1999.

She has traveled extensively to develop her professional skills, and has participated in library conferences here in Kuwait, in the United States, in the UAE, and Bahrain. She is a 1986 graduate of Kuwait University, where she majored in Art and English Literature.

Amna began her work at AUK at the same time our university opened, serving first as Collection Development Librarian and, since January 2008, as Interim Library Director. She has been a guiding force in the Library's development, working closely with faculty members to build resources necessary to their teaching, and with students to provide reference and research support. She is also leading a process of collections evaluation that ensures the strategic growth of Library resources in tandem with the evolution of AUK's curriculum. The Library is at the core of our academic and many of our administrative processes at AUK, and Amna has participated in building it into the dynamic learning environment that we all enjoy.

John James, Associate Librarian Emeritus of Dartmouth College, served on the search committee and was involved in interviewing all of the candidates. "I had the opportunity to work with Amna when she visited Dartmouth and to spend four days with her in Kuwait," he said. "In the Library, I observed a comfortable environment conducive to learning and filled with students busy studying individually and in groups. It was clear that the Library is a place where students want to be." James said he had also spoken with faculty members who were enthusiastic about how her work supports their teaching and research efforts.

"This is a key role at AUK," said Dale Eickelman, the Relationship Coordinator for the Dartmouth/AUK Program. "Amna has displayed exceptional leadership in building the AUK Library into a center of academic excellence. Her expertise, combined with her collaborative approach and her commitment to the university, have made the Library a vibrant center of learning at AUK."
 

Amna Othman Al Omare