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Climate Change is at the Door: Preparing Your Collections

  • Thursday, September 11, 2014
  • 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold Library Reading Room, 1st Avenue and 47th Street New York, NY 10017
As posted on the METRO website:

Speakers: Maher Nasser, Alex Julca, Ramona Kohrs, & Elizabeth Nunan

Maher Nasser has over 27 years of work experience in the United Nations System during which he has worked in various capacities in Gaza, Jerusalem, Amman, Cairo, Vienna and New York. Prior to assuming his current post as Director of the Outreach Division in the Department of Public Information (DPI) in New York, Mr. Nasser was the Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Vienna and prior to that the Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Cairo. Before joining DPI, Mr. Nasser worked in various capacities with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in New York, Amman, Vienna, Jerusalem and Gaza. He also worked with the United Nations Drug Control Programme in Vienna (now UNODC) from 1992 to 1994.  Prior to joining the United Nations, he worked for two non-governmental organizations based in Jerusalem.


Alex Julca has a PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research and is currently Economic Affairs Officer at the Development Policy Analysis Division (DPAD). Having previously worked in the private and public sector in Lima-Peru, he taught at the City University of New York and worked as researcher at Columbia University. He has worked at the UN for the past fifteen years, ten of them for the Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD), making substantive contributions to the World Economic and Social Survey, a UN flagship publication, on issues associated with international migration, aging, finance, economic insecurity, climate change, international aid, and the green economy. He has published extensively and in peer review journals in the areas of international migration, remittances, 'natural' disasters and climate change.

For the past 6 years, Ramona Kohrs has been serving as Economic and Social Affairs Liaison at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library of the United Nations. During her nearly 25-year career Ramona has carried out a variety of functions, including cataloging, the provision of specialized reference and research services, developing and delivering training courses on UN documentation and UN statistical resources, taking care of the 50,000 linear feet of physical collections, managing circulation and ILL/Document Delivery services, coordinating several large-scale weeding projects, and developing collection development policy.  Ramona studied library science with a specialization in public library service at the Library School of Hamburg Polytechnic where she graduated with an MLS-equivalent degree in 1985.

Elizabeth Nunan is an Associate Conservator in the Natural Science Collections Conservation Lab at the American Museum of Natural History. In addition to conservation treatments, her responsibilities at the Museum include implementing activities related to disaster preparedness, emergency response and risk management for collections museum-wide. She is also Co-chair of Alliance for Response New York City, a local volunteer organization focused on connecting emergency responders with representatives of the cultural heritage community in order to strengthen mitigation and response capabilities of the NYC art community.

Description:

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will convene world leaders for a Climate Change Summit at UN Headquarters on September 23, 2014 with the goal of engaging leaders and driving climate action. In recognition of this event, METRO is collaborating with the UN Library and Alliance for Response NYC to address climate change and local preparedness in the library, archives and affiliated communities. 

This event will focus on Superstorm Sandy, a wake-up call for many organizations who were caught off-guard when wind and rain damaged their facilities and collections. Presenters include:

  • Ramona Kohrs, a UN Librarian; and
  • Beth Nunan, Co-chair at Alliance for Response NYC. 
  • Alex Julca, a UN expert on urban adaptation to climate change;

Ramona and Beth will each talk about the effects and responses to the storm at the UN and AFRNYC and Alex will address climate change adaptation strategies in urban areas. We'll also hear more about the Climate Change Summit, the UN Library's climate change LibGuide and finish up with a discussion of next steps for preparing our organizations for climate uncertainties in the future.

Who should attend?
Librarians, archivists and conservators, especially collection and facility managers at libraries, archives and museums, and those tasked with emergency preparedness.

Questions about registration or cancellation?  Visit METRO’s Registration Info page for policies and procedures. 

Organizer
This event is co-sponsored by METRO, the United Nations, and Alliance for Response NYC.

Register on the METRO website:

http://metro.org/events/527/

Questions? communications@nycarchivists.org

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