Photographer Robert Dawson will show slides from the Global Library Project—a long-term study of the relationship of libraries to communities throughout the world. His presentation will focus specifically on how libraries and NGOs in Europe and Eastern Europe are working directly with refugees and migrants to help ease their transition into a new environment. Dawson, and his wife Ellen Manchester, will share their experiences from several research trips that included a Fulbright Global Scholar Fellowship to work with libraries and refugees in Greece, Italy and Israel. The Fulbright project was inspired by earlier work they did in 2016 in France, Germany, and Ukraine where libraries were offering an impressive range of programs for refugees.

Michael Magnaye from International Rescue Committee will discuss the work of his organization especially working with Ukrainian refugees.

Related exhibit: The Global Library Project: A Photographic Project by Robert Dawson and Ellen Manchester, on view June 11 – November 13, 2022, Main Library, Jewett Gallery.

Banner image: Jungle Books Library, The Jungle refugee camp (since destroyed), Calais, France. Photograph by Robert Dawson.