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Famous librarian makes a donation to the national library
Yerkir/Arm
June 17, 2005
By Armine Ghazarian
`This country does not need commiseration. Rather, it needs action,
diligent work and unification' President of the American Carnegie
Foundation, ex-director of New York Public Library and famous sponsor
of various library support programs Vardan Grigorian said during his
visit to the National Library in 2002.
And he backed his works with actions. Grigorian has started a
cooperation project with the National Library donating 10,000 dollars
to Armenia's number 1 library. With this unique donation a copy center
was opened in the National Library which is now called Vernatun.
Today the Vernatun Center hosts various events, exhibitions, book
presentations and meetings with writers and intellectuals. The
presentation of the American Armenian historian Vardan Grigorian's
book titled `On the Way Home: My Life and Time' was also held at
Vernatun Center.
`This book is the Odyssey of a great individual and a great
patriot. It is full of descriptions of many historical events. We are
planning to translate it into Armenian,' director of the National
Library David Sargsian said at the presentation ceremony. The
historian's colleagues and friends spoke about his work and life.
Grigorian was born in Tebriz. He studied in Iran and Lebanon. In
1956-58 he studied at the department of history and social sciences at
Stanford University. In 1964 he received his PhD from Stanford
University. He has lectured in several universities, including
University of Pennsylvania where he was teaching history of South
Asia. Later he became rector of the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1981-89 Grigorian was the director of the world's third largest
library, New York Public Library. Then he was the rector of Brown
University for 7 years.
Since 1997 he is the XII president of the Carnegie Foundation. In 1998
Grigorian was awarded a national medal for social sciences
research. In 2004 president George Bush awarded Grigorian with the
highest civil award ` Liberty Presidential Medal. Grigorian is the
author of `The Birth of Modern Afghanistan: Reform Policies and
Modernization', `Islam: a Non-Monolith Mosaic' and other books.
Having worked in the library system for many years Grigorian perfectly
understands the indispensable function of books and sees his mission
as serving the books and libraries. `We as librarians have a great
mission to spread the word and not to allow anyone to control, oppress
or manage human will and democratic institutions,' Grigorian says.
Grigorian addressed the Armenian businessmen on the occasion of his
donation to the National Library, `Let's not be `honorable beggars' as
Abisoghom Agha taking pictures with the donations we are making and
announcing everywhere that we have donated one dollar to our
country. Let's be reasonable, let's unite and concentrate our
efforts¦'
Yerkir/Arm
June 17, 2005
By Armine Ghazarian
`This country does not need commiseration. Rather, it needs action,
diligent work and unification' President of the American Carnegie
Foundation, ex-director of New York Public Library and famous sponsor
of various library support programs Vardan Grigorian said during his
visit to the National Library in 2002.
And he backed his works with actions. Grigorian has started a
cooperation project with the National Library donating 10,000 dollars
to Armenia's number 1 library. With this unique donation a copy center
was opened in the National Library which is now called Vernatun.
Today the Vernatun Center hosts various events, exhibitions, book
presentations and meetings with writers and intellectuals. The
presentation of the American Armenian historian Vardan Grigorian's
book titled `On the Way Home: My Life and Time' was also held at
Vernatun Center.
`This book is the Odyssey of a great individual and a great
patriot. It is full of descriptions of many historical events. We are
planning to translate it into Armenian,' director of the National
Library David Sargsian said at the presentation ceremony. The
historian's colleagues and friends spoke about his work and life.
Grigorian was born in Tebriz. He studied in Iran and Lebanon. In
1956-58 he studied at the department of history and social sciences at
Stanford University. In 1964 he received his PhD from Stanford
University. He has lectured in several universities, including
University of Pennsylvania where he was teaching history of South
Asia. Later he became rector of the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1981-89 Grigorian was the director of the world's third largest
library, New York Public Library. Then he was the rector of Brown
University for 7 years.
Since 1997 he is the XII president of the Carnegie Foundation. In 1998
Grigorian was awarded a national medal for social sciences
research. In 2004 president George Bush awarded Grigorian with the
highest civil award ` Liberty Presidential Medal. Grigorian is the
author of `The Birth of Modern Afghanistan: Reform Policies and
Modernization', `Islam: a Non-Monolith Mosaic' and other books.
Having worked in the library system for many years Grigorian perfectly
understands the indispensable function of books and sees his mission
as serving the books and libraries. `We as librarians have a great
mission to spread the word and not to allow anyone to control, oppress
or manage human will and democratic institutions,' Grigorian says.
Grigorian addressed the Armenian businessmen on the occasion of his
donation to the National Library, `Let's not be `honorable beggars' as
Abisoghom Agha taking pictures with the donations we are making and
announcing everywhere that we have donated one dollar to our
country. Let's be reasonable, let's unite and concentrate our
efforts¦'