Interview with AUK Library Director Gulan Ahmed
Gulan Ahmed is the Director of the Library of the American University of Kurdistan (AUK). She is an AUK veteran, having worked at the University since 2016. She recently took a hiatus from AUK for a fellowship experience, and immediately upon returning to campus she took on the exciting and important task of conceptualizing a redesign of the AUK Library based on libraries she visited in the United States. Content Writer Michael Collins noted Ms. Ahmed’s hard work and general contributions to the AUK community, and since April includes “National Library Week” (April 23-29 this year) he figured this month would be the perfect time to conduct an interview with this valuable AUK employee. The name “Gulan,” literally meaning “bunch of flowers,” is also often used to refer to “May” in Kurdish, and we are now close enough to that month that she can help usher it in for us all!
You have spent less time on the AUK campus than in past years because you were recently away for 3 months on a fellowship in Washington, DC. Could you give us more information about your fellowship, please?
Gulan Ahmed:
“I recently went to Washington, DC for an intensive fellowship sponsored by the United States Department of State. I worked with an organization advancing access to quality education, where I built lasting relationships and engaged in learning related to the National Girls Collaborative. I was the only participant from Iraq, and of the four themes under discussion I worked on ‘Open and Participatory Government.’”
I do not know if you had an opportunity in Washington, DC to tell anyone about Kurdish literature, but I would be interested in hearing about it. What do you think people should know about Kurdish literature?
Gulan Ahmed:
“Actually, I did have a chance to talk about Kurdish language and literature in Washington, DC, since I was a speaker for Machik Weekend Homecoming in the middle of November, held at the Eaton House. The event was centered on the power of language. I mentioned that Kurdish literature is raising its profile in the world and that there are many good Kurdish writers. One author I can recommend right now is Sherzad Hassan, who spent 15 years writing a novel whose title can be translated into English as ‘Last Night’s Appearance of Jesus’; this novel deals with many important issues in Kurdish society, like gender-based violence and migration.”
My personal choice for the greatest work of literature of all time is The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, because he simultaneously told an amazing story in verse and helped standardize a major language, Italian. What do you think is the greatest work of literature of all time and why?
Gulan Ahmed:
“I have my own taste in literature, and, according to my taste, the best work of literature is one I recently made available at the AUK Library. It is called The 40 Rules of Love, and it is by Elif Shafak. It is fiction, but it integrates some people who actually lived and events known to have happened. In the novel, the famous Sufi Muslim poet Rumi and his companion Shams Tabrizi formulate 40 rules on relationships with the divine and other human beings, explained and practiced over the course of 40 days. The characters in the novel grow by loving one another in a wholesome, Islamic way. I feel it gives a new perspective on Islam.”
I know librarians are divided on the issue of digitization, with some being strongly in favor of it and others being strongly against it. What are your own views on the digitization of library resources?
Gulan Ahmed:
“The access to any given library’s collection remains important, but how this access is achieved is changing. I believe that in a 21st-century library parts of the collection need to be digitized, so they can be accessed anywhere at any time. There still is a place for physical media, though, and libraries should be inviting places people can visit to read, to study, to access technology, and to connect and create with like-minded individuals.”
You are, as of the moment of this interview, planning a redesign of the physical space of the AUK Library. What is your image of the AUK Library of the future?
Gulan Ahmed:
“We want the AUK Library to be less a book warehouse and more a marketplace for ideas. The new trend of library collaborative spaces, where students can access resources while sitting, talking, and working together, has arrived. The new design should meet the demands of today’s university students, so they can equip themselves as much as possible for future success in the workplace and lifelong learning.”
There is still no time like the present, however. For your “Poetry at Work Day” event in January, I wrote two poems encouraging students to visit the AUK Library. I would like to hear from you directly on this matter now. Why should students visit the AUK Library today?
Gulan Ahmed:
“Great libraries build a sense of community, and they are full of powerful, life-changing ideas. Almost everything you might need for a better future and assurances of success has already been written, and the AUK Library can give you access to this information.”
You were chosen for the April interview partly because of “National Library Week,” April 23-29. There is a famous line from literature about April: “April is the cruelest month.” What does this line mean to you?
Gulan Ahmed:
“It is about being initially uncomfortable with change and learning to adapt to one’s surroundings. April, of course, comes around every year, bringing with it the spring season, and this need for people to overcome discomfort at change and come to terms with it is a periodic occurrence, just like the arrival of April itself. Without stepping out of one’s comfort zone, there will be no growth. April is cruel, but people turn out better for having to deal with its cruelty.”