In Egypt, Director Of Famed Library Of Alexandria Under Fire 06/11/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 42 Comments Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)The director of the legendary Library of Alexandria, lauded in Europe in recent weeks, has come under attack from the majority of his library staff and others demanding his departure over questions of unprofessional employee practices, alleged retaliation against workers for speaking freely, and for his affiliation with the outcast Mubarak regime. According to internet and Facebook reports and videos, peaceful protests and sit-ins demanding that Director Ismail Serageldin leave immediately have been taking place for over a week in Alexandria. So far, demonstrations involving an estimated 1,700 workers (out of a total of some 2,300, according to sources) appear to be relatively peaceful, attended by workers in business suits, among others. But reports say the library board of trustees met with Serageldin late this week and decided to back him, which has led to a possible escalation in activities. An invitation extended to workers to return to their posts from their “vacation” with forgiveness appeared to be rejected by the workers group, which now is showing even greater resolve to remove him from the library, sources said. The workers, who declare their strong avowal to the library as a global institution of higher values and excellence, say that Serageldin says all the right things publicly, but that internally he has overseen unfair treatment and a crackdown on free speech. “We – the Staff of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina – have resorted to open protests out of our firm belief in the message of the Library in raising the values of justice, equality and freedom of expression,” said a staff statement circulated online. “Driven with our firm belief in the BA as a center of excellence, we have trodden every legitimate channel including the BA Director and the Board of Trustees to realize our rightful demands that ensure the prosperity and progress of our esteemed institution.” The workers argue that the library’s personnel affairs regulations “are devoid of any professional standards for employee hiring, contracting, promotions or contract renewal.” Meanwhile, they said, “they are abundant with disciplinary measures and even contract non-renewal subject to the mere whims of their managers.” “Such terms have resulted in turn into the creation of a corrupt management network that is based not on talents or outstanding performance, but rather on personal interests,” they said. “This has crippled the potentials of the Library and limited its contributions to Enlightenment and restricted its activities to hosting conferences and cheap cultural propaganda.” An attempt by Intellectual Property Watch to obtain a comment from the library or the director received no reply. In mid-October, Serageldin was the keynote speaker at a World Intellectual Property Organization conference in Geneva entitled, Enabling Creativity in the Digital Environment: Copyright Documentation and Infrastructure. He spoke in favour of access to knowledge, among other things (IPW, WIPO, 19 October 2011). But saying the right things may not mesh with his actions back home. A key charge of the demonstrators, shown in signs on the library plaza, is that Serageldin should “practice what he preaches.” They also used slogans similar to those used during the protests against Mubarak, like “go away.” A group Facebook page said, “We are all Omar Hazek” after a library worker who was fired, they say, for writing an article criticising Serageldin’s policy in the library. This echoes the calls during the Mubarak protests of “We are all Khaled Said.” The library was long said to have direct ties to the Mubarak leadership, as a favourite project of his wife. It has in recent years been hailed as a bright spot in the region and globally (IPW, Access to Knowledge, 16 November 2009). Serageldin ignited anger in Alexandria when he was interviewed, video here, and apparently told an audience in the Netherlands that the demonstrators are associated with Muslim extremists, which the demonstrators vigorously call a lie. A written interview is here [pdf, in Dutch]. After the director’s speech in the Netherlands, a sharp opinion piece entitled, “The Fake Librarian,” was published in a Dutch newspaper charging that Serageldin lied in his remarks to the Dutch audience. The unofficial English translation of the opinion piece is here. Referring to his speech at a renowned Dutch institute on 30 October (where he apparently was likened to French philosopher Voltaire), the opinion piece said [in an unofficial translation]: “The librarian proved very eloquent. He argued the once cosmopolitan Alexandria could and should be an example for both Arabs and Europeans. He talked about numbing fears, the duty of intellectuals to present a mirror to their own society, and the necessary commitment to truth. But he lied in his Nexus speech about the demonstrations taking place in front of his own library at this very moment.” “While he was pleasing the Dutch elite with his comforting thoughts, young Alexandrians and many of his own employees were protesting against the corruption that is present within the director’s board of the library,” it said. “For over a week these people have been gathering and organizing sit-ins against corruption, the old system, against the people who destroyed Egypt out of egocentricity and greed, and indeed against Dr. Serageldin himself.” The charges were said to include a demand for an investigation into the squandering of public funds and the theft of artefacts from the library. “The librarian, however, had a very different view on these unfolding events,” the piece said. “He told his Dutch audience that the protestors are radical Muslims who would like to see the closure of the library due to immoral practices like dance shows and open debates.” “Now where and when did we hear these kinds of things before? Exactly, in the Egypt led by dictator Mubarak,” it said. “Whenever something is not to the liking of the men in power, the Islamists are put forward.” “The revolution in Egypt is not over yet,” the piece concluded. “In fact, it has hardly begun.” The library staff statement signalled the depth of commitment to their cause. “We have been patient during the past decade as we were the property of a corrupt cruel regime rather than being the property of the Egyptian people and all mankind, this bitter fact was the result of our directors’ malicious efforts to polish the dirty face of the former Egyptian dictators.” “After the great Egyptian uprising, we are determined on building a modern free Egypt that is a true asset to her people and the whole human race.” Videos of the week’s protests are available here and here. A Twitter search on Serageldin, here, reveals many comments about him. Serageldin’s own Twitter page is here. Also, a Twitter hash #BibAlexLeaks has been developed for activities related to the director and library. [Note: Intellectual Property Watch has no stake in any issue raised in this story and takes no position on the issues under debate.] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch."In Egypt, Director Of Famed Library Of Alexandria Under Fire" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Marwa Sultan says 07/11/2011 at 12:13 am Thank you very much sir for your article, hope every one defending people without investigating their history well to read this article. Reply
Mona HARES says 07/11/2011 at 8:41 am I think Dr. Sarageldine is a well known international personality. Those irresponsibles who share to spread chaos in Egypt must be fired and replaced by others loving their country. Reply
Noha Omar says 07/11/2011 at 11:18 am The Board of Trustees has declared that it will form an independent committee to investigate grievances and look into staff demands – so who is ignoring staff demands? Reply
Noha Omar says 07/11/2011 at 11:23 am Let me just point out that the SINGLE DEMAND of protestors was to dismiss the director, and that this has been UNANIMOUSLY REJECTED by both the Egyptian Cabinet & the Library of Alexandria Board of Trustees! Reply
azza el kholy says 07/11/2011 at 11:43 am The article mentions that a certain employee was fired. Well, this information is incorrect! The Library of Alexandria functions by a contractual system, and the said employee had completed the term of his contract and he was not given a new contract (everyone reads the BA statutes before signing a contract & agrees to the clause that the Library can refrain from giving the employee a contract if it sees fit to do so) – so as you can see this is “misinformation” – no one was FIRED- especially this person you mention Reply
azza el kholy says 07/11/2011 at 11:50 am When the gentleman who published the article about Serageldin’s Nexus lecture claims that the director of the library says that there are Islamists in the demonstrations & says that that is not true – well, let him be informed that some of the BA staff are Salafis , one is even the spokesperson of El Nur Salafi Party in Alexandria! And does this not indicate that the director practices what he preaches? That is to say that he accepts differences of opinion and politics – let me ask them, has he ever taxed anyone for having a different ideology? Indeed, the presence of leftists and religious extremists among the staff in the BA is the biggest proof of that! Reply
Lamia Abdel Fattah says 07/11/2011 at 11:52 am The Board of Trustees (the only authority capable of appointing or dismissing the director) met after the protests and unanimously renewed the confidence in Dr. Serageldin as director of the Library, rejected the excesses of the demonstrators and called for the re- opening of the Library. A day earlier, the Egyptian Cabinet also unanimously renewed confidence in Dr. Serageldin as director! Can they all be wrong? Reply
magda abdel moneim hatata says 07/11/2011 at 2:59 pm I am truly amazed at this article! I had thought that your esteemed institution would only publish articles after verifying the information and refrain from taking sides. I also understand that you were given this information from one side of the argument, and I would like to offer you the other side, and hope that you will publish it. Let me start by saying that it is sad to see someone like Dr. Ismail Serageldin, the renowned scientist and greatly appreciated international figure, accused of all such things mentioned in the article.The Library of Alexandria has around 2300 employees,more than 900 do not agree to the slander of their director, and certainly refuse all these allegations. If you put a piece of paper on the Internet, that does not mean that it indicts anyone – accusations should be verified. Also, most of the accusations are now being investigated, so why are we jumping to conclusions before the authorities say their last word? The people protesting do not represent all the staff of the Library, and the person who sent you this information is one who has benefited greatly from being an employee in the BA, from all the connections of the BA (all made by Dr. Serageldin), from all the travel and learning opportunities he has made sure to provide his staff with (this person included). What is going on in the Library is just similar to what is going on in Egypt – protests everywhere, and this is normal in a post-revolution atmosphere. So I kindly ask you to verify your information before publishing anything about the Library – the administration will be very happy to answer, I am sure, only the past week everything was closed down because of the protests and also because of the Feast vacation. One last remark – in case you do not know – these peaceful demonstrations that you mention, have also taken the liberty to insult, slander and abuse the management of the Library; an attitude, I must admit, that has no relation to the ethics of employees in such a remarkable and prominent cultural institution. Reply
Jami Solli says 07/11/2011 at 3:19 pm I have visited the Library of Alexandria, and worked with its staff on several occasions over the past years. I have always been impressed by their professionalism, intelligence and willingness to go the extra mile to help others. This is true at all levels in the Library: from the drivers & the security personnel to the editing/publications & programs and professional staff. I have never met Dr. Serageldin personally, but the fact that he has assembled such a talented group of people speaks well of him as a visionary leader. That said, clearly all is not well in the Alexandria Library. A significant portion of this intelligent and dedicated staff are very unhappy. And, a true leader is one who recognizes this, and sets aside his/her self interest, and one who would do all in his/her power to allow the Library to function to its full potential; even if this means stepping down. Achtung: Stepping down does not mean abandoning the Library. Leaders like Steve Jobs and Dr. Muhammed Yunus have at times had to set aside their immediate positions for the good of Apple and Grameen Bank respectively. Never for a moment, however, did these leaders abandon their dreams. I hope that the Library of Alexandria emerges much stronger for this small ripple in its development. The path to greatness is never easy, nor was it ever straight and narrow. But it should not be a period on which you look back with remorse. Thus, please remember that life is short; so whatever decisions are made, please be kind to your fellow colleagues! Kind regards, Jami Solli Reply
Sahar Hamouda says 07/11/2011 at 4:14 pm The fame and achievements of the Library of Alexandria come from the vision and relentless efforts and hard work of its Director, and his staff who implemented his vision. No-one denies their role, but no-one can deny either that without his vision it wouldn’t be what it is today. Reply
Sahar Hamouda says 07/11/2011 at 4:20 pm Accusing the director of not speaking the truth about the presence of some people who do not belong to the BA staff is unfair- because the truth is that there were several political activists (among them extreme Islamists) who had joined the protestors, as the protestors themselves declared on their Facebook page! Reply
Ambassador Aly Maher says 07/11/2011 at 5:14 pm It seems to me that the easiest thing in the world is to accuse others of anything- anyone can say anything! Actually without supporting evidence any allegation can be refuted. All allegations of corruption against the Library are currently being investigated by the concerned authorities (since last March), and so far no improprieties have been declared. Let us then wait for the authorities’ concluding remarks and stop this public lynching! Reply
Ambassador Aly Maher says 07/11/2011 at 5:17 pm Serageldin is a man of integrity who has always spoken truth to power – his prominence comes from his value as a great scientist and humanitarian – not from any regime. I refuse any attempts to mar his excellent reputation or overlook his achievements! Reply
ahmed.abdelwahed says 07/11/2011 at 6:42 pm I’m an employee and want to admit that every single word said by the writer is true specially “The workers, who declare their strong avowal to the library as a global institution of higher values and excellence, say that Serageldin says all the right things publicly, but that internally he has overseen unfair treatment and a crackdown on free speech.” As we have no represntitive at the last BOT meeting also next week we will be forced to get back work Reply
Sara says 07/11/2011 at 6:46 pm Thanks a lot for such an article.I’m so happy that truth is reaching outside .I’m so amazed at what some “Heads of sectors ” are stating above like “Magda Hatata , Aly Maher , Lamia abdelfattah …etc” it’s an honor for dr. Seragaldin to be the director not the vice versa !!The library of Alexandria is getting the donation because it is the library of Alexandria not because of “WHO” is the director . Regarding the board of trustees “We demonstrators” are calling for them to step down two since most of them are big fans of the x-president “Mubarak” and his wife “suzan” WE DO NOT trust them any more ! Reply
ossama friday says 07/11/2011 at 6:47 pm Sahar Hamouda No Islamic extremists and the politicians as claimed Anashtit You Enough Please tarnish the image of more than two thousand employees to a single person Reply
Hanan Mounir says 07/11/2011 at 6:49 pm Following the meeting of the Board of Trustees, the director sent all the staff a letter calling upon us to resume work on Thursday the 10th after the end of the feast vacation, promising to open channels with all staff to discuss their demands and find mutually acceptable solutions. He also stressed that he will personally forget all the excesses and abuses that were directed against him and that he will work on solving problems when a stable, calm atmosphere is maintained. What do you call this- Goodwill, yes? Reply
Sally Badran says 07/11/2011 at 7:05 pm Summing up Bib. Alex in one person and his visions is nothing but a proof for Serageldin’s failure as a director. He did not establish a strong well-structured institution but rather an entity that would be lost – supposedly – if he stepped down! The respectable commentators are members of the corrupt Serageldin Administeration and they cannot be objective on the matter. We have not heared from a single person of them during the demonstartions, not a single soul of them cared to show his/her face to come to terms with the protestors! They do not care about the BA as they are mostly absent from the Library, due to other professional engagements. Shame upon you, you are a true disgrace! Reply
Sara says 07/11/2011 at 7:13 pm @ Sahar Hamouda : This is a ridicules comment , the one related to “Radical Muslims” I’m Christian and I would say a call for all the educative “celebrities” to come and support our sit-in .So if you refer to the counselor “Alkhodery” as one of them I would say you are wrong before he is not and he didn’t even mention anything related to the elections or his believes add to this he visited us November 3rd while dr. Serag announced that “the protestors are radical Muslims ” November 30th in his lecture at Nexus !! Reply
Nader Anis says 07/11/2011 at 7:19 pm We are all highly indebted to your courageous pen as you stand with the BA Staff who have signed a written protest to impeach Dr. Serageldin – the Fake Librarian – and board of administration, totalling more than 1700 out of 2300 BA staff members. Are the majority of the Library staff Salafis or Muslim extremists?! If so, this would mean that the Library has failed its message and betrayed its cultural role as a center of dialogue and enlightenment, not even on a regional level but within its ranks as well. The managers who wrote attacking your well-balanced and professional report are incriminating themselves with their so-called testimonials. Reply
ossama friday says 07/11/2011 at 7:31 pm We staff the library who we are demonstrating peacefully, and was Haaratna we do not want to raise money but we want fair treatment and respect because he had signed us a great injustice throughout the past ten years and were separated our colleagues without any reasons and the loss of ten-year-old career for more than a hundred employees by preventing them from work and isolate them in an isolated apartment to the headquarters of the library continued for ten years with their salaries, and this waste of public money of the state and waste of human dignity I want to ask Dr. Ismail Serageldin, and personally I want to ask all managers who comment here to equally Dr Ismail (Was able to do so in the World Bank) Reply
Mohamed Ahmed says 07/11/2011 at 7:31 pm A thousand thanks for echoing our voices into international arenas, William! The Egyptian Cabinet – who is not officialy concerned with the BA – has renewed their trust in Serageldin without even contacting any of the 1700 protestors! Truely responsible, aren’t they?! The Board of Trustees has turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to all our legitimate demands and we do not even know who were the memebers who convened in Cairo away from the BA premises in Alexandria as their statement lacked any signatures or official seals! By the Way, the current Cabinet in Egypt does not enjoy any credibilty or popularity among the Egyptian People as it is mostly comprised of former-regime executives. Reply
Hala Essalmawi says 07/11/2011 at 7:32 pm Good to find most of the BA managements posted comments here. I see everyone has a right to defend his own interest and post. As for Dr. Serageldin he is an Egyptian intellectual and very good speaker and we all, as staff, appreciated him for the whole decade as our director general. As I tweeted yesterday “One should know when to let go, Sir” with all respect to you and your history, Let Go. I’m one of those who signed asking him kindly to Let go; I, with more than 1600 employees, and everything is documented, scanned and videoed and available all over the internet and delivered to the authority here. Nothing is secret on the digital age and those who can prove the contrary are most welcome to post what they have. Reply
nany says 07/11/2011 at 7:47 pm As we talk at this page we should be neutrality and honest with ourselves all employees respect the Prestigious scientific, literary of dr. Seragaldin. but u all know There are administrative regulations unfair to employees. And managers have absolute power to departments without any rules of their organization achieve justice and equality in rights and duties. Which is claimed by the staff of the Library of Alexandria for ten years without a response from dr. Seragaldin Reply
Heba Ahmed says 07/11/2011 at 7:52 pm This article is one of few articles that talks honestly about what really going on in Library of Alexandria right now. “Such terms have resulted in turn into the creation of a corrupt management network that is based not on talents or outstanding performance, but rather on personal interests,” they said. “This has crippled the potentials of the Library and limited its contributions to Enlightenment and restricted its activities to hosting conferences and cheap cultural propaganda.” that‘s why The workers were and will be protesting . Reply
BA Protester says 07/11/2011 at 8:23 pm First I would like to thank you for your article. Please do not be intimidated by the fierce attack of such BA directors as Aly Maher, Lamiaa Abdel Fattah, Magda Hatata and others. They are just terrified that the BA has found an international voice that has decided to stand with equal distance from all parties involved and not to fall victim of Serageldon’s false propaganda. Let us ask a few questions, shall we? 1. Was Serageldin or was he not selected and appointed by Suzan Mubarak? Did he or did he not boast of his strong personal relationship with her? Is this not considered a strong attachment with the former corrupt and dictatorial regime? 2. Did BA staff try negotiating with Serageldin? We have done nothing else for the past 8 months! Initially we wanted some amendment done to the BA internal regulations, to stop such actions as not renewing contracts due to personal vendettas (exactly what happened to Omar Hazek). Results? Nothing. Hence the escalation! 3. Do BA protesters have Islamists in their midst? Of course! We have Islamists, Secularists, Leftists, Liberals and young people of all faiths and colors. We are all united about one thing, though: Serageldin must go! 4. Will the protesters win their battle? Yes. We are bound to. Reply
ahmed.abdelwahed says 07/11/2011 at 8:26 pm I am totally agree with Hala ;”Dr. Serageldin he is an Egyptian intellectual and very good speaker and we all, as staff, appreciated him for the whole decade as our director general.” But when more than 1600 out of 2300 employee signed asking him kindly to go due to the feeling of unsafe ; it means that he can’t lead this place no more. I think it is the time for him to go with all our respect. Reply
Sara.H says 07/11/2011 at 9:22 pm First of all thank you for perfectly clarifying the situation of the majority of BA staff, and i would like to add few comments: – All those who support the BA director are only the Senior Managers and they don’t represent more than 5% of the BA staff, besides they are the ones with personal interests as mentioned above so they will fight to death in order for him to stay. -Our demands are not newly born, he’s been playing games with us since last February with no actual actions. So, how can we trust such a dictator and open a channel of communication with him!!!! – More than 1700 employees requested him to leave the library including Muslims and Christians because the policies and regulations of the BA do not protect the employee from being fired “or what so called contract termination for no reason” – All our demands are documented and all the cases of corruption had been reported to the DA but i think it’s going to take longer time as the old regime is still ruling the country. Reply
Azza El Kholy says 07/11/2011 at 9:33 pm I am truly shocked at the unwarranted attack of some of our colleagues, the protesters – who have, I am afraid, demonstrated by example – how they conduct themselves! I believe that many of my colleagues (those they call the Senior Managers) have posted comments to answer allegations, or correct “misinformation” – we have not insulted anyone. The sad thing is that our colleagues seem not to accept the opposing opinion, or tolerate criticism, or provide correct information! Too bad! I personally do not know who Mr. El Daly is – and I find it rather distasteful that he should allow himself to calls us Senior Managers – myself included – “ a bunch of hypocrites and liars” – among other things – when he really does not know me, has no clue about my relationship with my staff or with others in the Library! What would you call this except “overstepping the limit” and sheer “slander” that I am afraid is totally unacceptable. And incidentally, I am not a full-timer at the BA, never was, and I am a university professor delegated to the Library officially by my institution (like all the other professors working for the Library), and Mr. Daly – I do not cash an astronomical salary if you care to know. Finally, I do not see how anyone can allow him/herself to say that they want to dismiss the Board of Trustees (please check the link to see who those people they want to oust are – renowned international and Egyptian figures & make your own judgment: http://www.bibalex.org/boardoftrustees/default_en.aspx ). Finally, no one will show us out the door, because no one except the Director – Dr. Ismail Serageldin – who appointed us has the power to do so. I stop here, and on behalf of my colleagues and myself, say that we will not be dragged into a thread of abuse that we neither approve of, nor are in the habit of engaging in as people who respect themselves, their profession and the esteemed institution they work for. We have made the comments we wanted to make concerning the article, and we find that using the space you have kindly provided for “objective” comments as an arena to act out is in very poor taste; quite unacceptable to us. Reply
Heba El-Rafey says 07/11/2011 at 10:15 pm The risk in any popular uprising, is the misconception that all popular claims are true and based on reason. Often such claims are made in the assumption that the building of any ‘modern and free’ country must undoubtedly involve the destruction of all that existed before. The ability to distinguish between the two becomes blurred in the aspiration of ‘cleansing’ regimes – even where cleansing is not needed. The glorification of an employee whose contract was not renewed (not fired as falsely reported here), and compared to someone who died at the hands of police brutality is disturbing. This is particularly true when we omit the fact that the said employee had many problems and issues with his managers before far before the revolution was even at Egypt’s doorstep. But then again, I imagine it easy and tempting to ride the current wave to ‘hero status’. The final problem lies in the media’s desire to find the headlines and comments that support and sell the scandal, corruption and slander that today’s modern day reader seeks for entertainment. – whether based on true investigative journalism or otherwise. What sells better than the exposure that all of Egypt’s institutions and organizations are corrupt – makes a good segue to the revolution that shook the world. Reply
Wegdan Hussein says 08/11/2011 at 1:52 am I followed sadly this managers-staff duel, which proves nothing but the failure of the current management to establish a system rather than a personality cult. The main concern of the managers was defending Dr Serageldin and his image showing no sympathy whatsoever of the dissatisfaction of 1700 staff members who signed a petition for his resignation. The managers can play the Islamophobia card and they can give long testimonies of how great and brilliant Dr Serageldin is. However, this will not eliminate the fact that the BA Personnel Affairs Regulations are devoid of any professional standards for employee hiring, contracting, promotions or contract renewal, nor that the Director has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the urging demands of reform over the last 8 months. You want proofs. I, as the head of the BA Staff Association, have attended every single meeting to negotiate these demands. I followed up every committee which recommendations were eventually disregarded. I beseeched Dr Serageldin on several occasions to set fair and clear criteria to avoid the imminent outbreak of provoked employees. These are all documented in written emails, proposals and memos. Dear managers, it is your turn now to prove otherwise or forever hold your peace. The article in hand is a professional piece of journalism, which attempts to report what is really happening in the Library of Alexandria. Reply
Neveen says 08/11/2011 at 3:29 am @Azza ElKholy: Quoted: “the Library can refrain from giving the employee a contract if it sees fit to do so) – no one was FIRED- especially this person you mention” Nonsense! and you know it! If this is the case, how on earth would you explain him getting his job back after the uprising against Serageldine? @Hanan Mounir: Good will??? Where has this good will been 8 months ago, when all BA staff was called for endless meetings to solve our problems and nothing was solved! @Hala Essalmawi: CHAPEAU!! Reply
mohamed akl says 08/11/2011 at 4:54 am Now the problem is not the continuation or departure, The problem in dispute between the supporters and opponents colleagues, How they can work together in such as this disagreement I Think colleagues who refuse Dr. Ismail should say to him thanks not say leave, because this man leave his positive mark on all the BA staff and ask from all my colleagues who wanted departure to return of there request during the coming period to save the library from collapse and to preserve the stability that undertakes to solve all the problems of colleagues in order to continue the Procession and success Reply
ahmed.abdelwahed says 08/11/2011 at 5:26 am commenting on Dr. Azza El Kholy post “Finally, no one will show us out the door, because no one except the Director – Dr. Ismail Serageldin – who appointed us has the power to do so.” It reflects how the top manegment looks at the director as he is the only one who have the authority to fire the staff ” only the one who is againist. Reply
Amr Gamal el Hanafy says 08/11/2011 at 5:33 am I was a former member of the BA, and I was asked to present my resignation otherwise I would be fired. But let’s take it in another way. It is our country that we has to build, and to every building intention there exist a tool and a method which both contradicts with the idea of demolishing past achievements for the sake of establishing a clean foundation. Serajeldin or any other name does not deprive Egypt or the BA from it’s glorious achievements, hence, names should not be tackled in such accusation, better judge what was established than simply call for destruction. Finally, I guess that reasonable planning as well as target placement is the correct way of making a new change, not just claim for removal of current figures. Remember, removing the pillars of a temple will never leads to a clean floor… For myself, I see that I was maltreated in the BA, but this does not mean to take a negative corner and demand the removal of the pillars. Reply
Wegdan Hussein says 08/11/2011 at 10:08 am I am really amazed that people after the revolution are still talking about the absence of an alternative. This is the same card of the old regime to legitimize its continuance in power by claiming the absence of any substitute! It is so obvious that all the managers heartedly believe that if Dr Serageldin leaves the establishment will fall! This very belief indicates his failure as a manager to set up a system that outlives him! Any respectable establishment is underpinned by a number of regulations and a set of clear criteria which are not open for the personal whims of its management. A director is to add his vision, spirit and momentum. He is to prepare a second line of management that can lead the establishment in his absence. We all agree that he succeeded in the first as we acknowledge him as an international figure and thinker. However, I guess that the comment threats above are the best proof for his failure in the second. I wrote Dr Serageldin an email few days ago explaining why the staff insist on his resignation and I beseeched him to let the establishment which he witnessed its birth to go as it has come of age. I also wrote that the majority of the BA staff has been severely hurt and provoked by a sequence of unjust administrative decisions and the constant refusal of taking any reforming measures, that they lost their faith in him as a manager. I am afraid that the only remedy to redress the current situation is him to resign as his presence will do more damage to the establishment than his departure. Reply
Cherine Bayoumi says 08/11/2011 at 10:35 am Where is the Library going? “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Reply
Marwa Sultan says 12/11/2011 at 12:13 am I’m herewith making myself clear as I was misperceived by some you, I’m totally against any unfair practices made or will be made by our current management, those who thought or are thinking of injustice as normal acts are totally mistaken. One of our management fatal mistakes is that it ignores the presence of HUMAN FACTOR (specially for some mangers) which is always pushed by selfishness and deep down desire of being the one and only one who can play with people’s destinies and if this continues it will lead to a certain lose of our great bibliotheca. Please our dear managers put yourselves in the shoes of those simple people whose only concern is to be respected and treated as humans. Reply
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