Librarians from Iran

I was excited to get this email message last week:

We are a group of librarians working at the central library of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. In searching for a valuable book to be translated as a helpful resource for the students and experts of library and information science, we found your book “The Learning Commons, Seven Simple Steps to Transform Your Library.” With this regard, we really appreciate if we receive your permission for translation of this book into Persian.

It made me think about how small the world has become at first. And then, as I began doing a smidge of research about Shahid Beheshti University Library (formerly the National University of Iran), I found that while I assume that most libraries around the world are facing similar struggles and issues- the librarians in Iran have additional concerns: human rights. http://www.rahana.org/en/?p=4031

Also, while I thought that this picture could be any library’s reference collection, I noticed that in the background the women are wearing the burka.