This week, the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability – Bethlehem University (PIBS-BU) concluded the integration of the Library of Congress classification system into the PIBS library. The PIBS library is one of the facilities available at the institute for people to come, enjoy, and benefit from. This opportunity is especially good for university students and researchers who are interested in this field of work, for there are many books on topics of biodiversity and sustainability. At the library, there are approximately 2,700 books, covering topics such as faunal and floral classification, conservation, genetics, herpetology, botany, statistics, history, politics and much more.

The integration of the Library of Congress classification system was facilitated by PIBS volunteers. Oisin, a volunteer from Ireland, who has been with institute for two months, has spent many days cataloguing the books, gathering the Library of Congress codes, and facilitating the process. There was also a group of seven volunteers from Experience Mission – USA, along with other PIBS volunteers (Masa, Tom, and Eimear), who helped Oisin with this project (see photos below).

The library and the Museum are open for public visits to benefit from the books and tour all the facilities (Natural History Museum, Ethnography Exhibit, Botanical Garden, Laboratories (molecular, taxonomy, cytogenetics, and herbarium), and Library). Volunteer opportunities are also available. You can fill the form in the following link: https://forms.gle/vur5NPJDhssbX6w49

For more information, please visit our website at https://www.palestinenature.org/ and view our 2022 annual report at: https://www.palestinenature.org/annual-reports/PIBS-Annual-Report-2022.pdf