Below is the official AUB announcement about Dr. Lokman Meho's stepping down:
Dear AUB Community,
I am writing to inform you that Dr. Lokman Meho has decided to step down as University Librarian effective September 30, 2021. Since his appointment to this position in 2009, Dr. Meho has been working with dedication and distinction to transform the libraries' services and build their function as a central partner to the research, teaching and learning mission of AUB.
Dr. Meho revamped the organizational structure of the University Libraries to enhance their effectiveness in line with international standards. He supported the library staff in seeking and securing funding for various projects and added new roles to the libraries to expand expertise and operations. Under his leadership, the library increased its book collections from 400 thousand to 2 million titles; subscriptions to databases from 80 to 350; access to periodicals from 47,000 to 140,000 titles; and it digitized more than 2 million Arabic pages and thousands of photographs, maps, reports, student magazines, postcards, and posters.
Dr. Meho established a gift program that attracted over 100,000 volumes in donations and expanded the University Libraries' visibility, collaboration, and access to resources by becoming members of the US College and Research Libraries Association, OCLC (World Catalog), and HathiTrust Digital Library Consortium. With the support of the Office of Advancement, he secured over 4 million USD in external and capital funds to repurpose space and renovate study rooms, computer labs, and e-classrooms.
In the last decade, the University Libraries enhanced communication with students and faculty, using various media channels; developed an outreach program through exhibits, orientations, and various collaborative activities with different academic units on campus; initiated the Annual Library Open Day; founded the student-textbook exchange program; and established an internship program for training students of library science. Dr. Meho has also developed a program for measuring indicators related to the impact of research. Through this program, he utilized bibliometrics to help in decision-making, analyzing institutional rankings, assessing scholarly publication venues, and benchmarking activities.
Effective October 1, 2021, Associate University Librarian for Research and Academic Collaboration Services Fatmeh Charafeddine will be serving as Interim Director of the University Libraries, leading administrative operations, overseeing the three branch libraries, and working closely with colleagues and senior library staff on ongoing projects and initiatives. I am grateful to Ms. Charafeddine for accepting to take on this responsibility until a search for a University Librarian is launched and concluded.
Please join me in thanking Lokman for his contributions and many years of dedicated service, and in wishing him every success in his future endeavors.
Kind regards,
Zaher Dawy
Provost