Allison Rogers Leaving UK Libraries National Advisory Board

Allison Rogers announced this week that “Sadly, I must resign from the UK Libraries National Advisory Board effective the end of this month.  In September I will be moving to Tanzania to work for a small grassroots wildlife conservation organization. I'm very excited about that but sorry that I will not be able to continue with the UK Libraries board. It has been a great experience--I've met some incredible people. UK's libraries should be held up as a model for every university. I was constantly impressed with the cutting edge work that is being done through them.

I will be doing fundraising and operations for a young organization called the Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP). RCP is based in southern Tanzania, just outside of Ruaha National Park, the second largest park in the country. The Ruaha Landscape (which includes the park and surrounding areas) is home to 10% of all the lions in Africa, one of only three populations of 200+ cheetahs in eastern Africa, and globally important populations of rare wild dogs, leopards, and spotted hyenas. Despite the area's ecological importance, very little research has been conducted and no one is helping locals protect themselves and their livestock from predators.

RCP does both, with its main goal being to help the locals learn to live with the presence of large carnivores and thus decrease the number of carnivores killed out of retaliation for livestock loss. RCP works primarily with the pastoralist Maasai and Barabaig tribes, the latter being extremely standoffish toward strangers. RCP has developed a good relationship with the Barabaig and is bringing the Lion Guardians programme, which has converted many Kenyan Maasai warriors from lion killers to lion protectors, to Tanzania's Barabaig. For more information, visit our website, www.ruahacarnivoreproject.com, and/or like us on Facebook!

Despite the fact that I will be living in the African bush, we get pretty good internet service. So I'll be able to check this email address. Please keep in touch!

Kwaheri! (Goodbye in Swahili.)”

We thank Allison for her service to the Board and her support of UK Libraries during the past several years.  We look forward to her rejoining our Board when she returns from Africa.  In the meantime, we wish her all the best!