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47th Conference in Cairo 2026 – First Joint MELA/MELCom International Conference

The Middle East Librarians Association (MELA) and MELCom International held a joint conference in 2026. The event took take place over three days — Sunday 25 January to Tuesday 27 January 2026 — at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Click here to read more.

The theme of the conference was

Reflecting on Our Past, Charting Our Future: Middle East Librarianship in Transition

Proposals were accepted for papers addressing one or more of the
following themes:

  • Historical perspectives on Middle East librarianship
  • Evolution of collection development practices
  • Digital humanities and Middle Eastern studies
  • Preservation of rare materials and manuscripts
  • Challenges in cataloguing and metadata for multilingual collections
  • Impact of political events on collecting and access
  • Collaborative initiatives across institutions and borders
  • Emerging technologies and their application in Middle Eastern
    collections
  • Training the next generation of Middle East librarians
  • Community engagement and outreach

Submission Guidelines

  • Abstracts between 250–300 words.
  • Submissions accepted in English, Arabic, or French.
  • Presentations (in English, Arabic, or French) up to 20 minutes in
    length, followed by 10 minutes for discussion.
  • Proposals for full panels (3–4 papers) welcome.

Conference website: AUC MElibraries
https://aucevents-melibraries.vfairs.com/
Deadline for submissions: 26 September 2025

Organizing committee:

  • Dale Correa, MELA Vice President/Program Chair 2024-2025, The University of Texas at Austin
  • Andreas Drechsler, MELCom International President, Universität Bamberg
  • Walid Ghali, Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
  • William Kopycki, MELA Secretary-Treasurer, Library of Congress, Nairobi Overseas Office
  • Mark Muehlhaeusler, Local Convenor, The American University in Cairo
  • Wassilena Sekulova, MELCom International Secretary, Oxford University
  • Rustin Zarkar, Library of Congress, Cairo Overseas Office