Lily Amir-Arjomand
{{short description|Iranian-American librarian}}
Lily Amir-Arjomand (born Lily Jahan-Ara in 1938){{cite news |title=Iranian Women you Should Know: Lily Amir-Arjomand |url=https://iranwire.com/en/special-features/61354 |access-date=4 July 2022 |work=IranWire |date=September 17, 2015}} is a former leader of the Iranian Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults and the founder of the children's public library system in Iran.{{cite book |editor1-last=Jackson |editor1-first=Miles M. |title=International Handbook of Contemporary Developments in Librarianship |date=1981 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=9780313213724 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB_hAAAAMAAJ |access-date=4 July 2022}} During her tenure, the Institute developed hundreds of libraries and cultural centers throughout Iran.{{cite book |last1=Pellowski |first1=Anne |title=Made to Measure Children's Books in Developing Countries |date=1980 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=9789231017834 |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efG6AAAAIAAJ |access-date=4 July 2022}}
Biography
Amir-Arjomand was born in 1938 and studied at Razi High School in Tehran, where she attended classes with Farah Diba, who later became Queen of Iran. She completed a Bachelor's degree in French at University of Tehran. She completed her MLIS degree at Rutgers University, under the instruction of Mary Virginia Gaver.{{cite book |editor1-last=Harvey |editor1-first=John Frederick |title=Comparative & International Library Science |date=1977 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810810600 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hv66AAAAIAAJ |access-date=4 July 2022}} She then returned to Iran and married Hossein Ali Amir-Arjomand.
Amir-Arjomand initially proposed the development of a children's library to Queen Farah, who provided the land for its construction. By the late 1960s, Amir-Arjomand became the leader of what was then called the Organization for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixU33FaG_dgC&q=Lily+Amir-Arjomand&pg=PA838|title=Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979 : in Two Volumes|last=Milani|first=Abbas|date=2008|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=9780815609070|language=en|page=838}} Under her leadership, the library initiative built and maintained about 300 libraries and cultural centers in Iran, created mobile units to distribute books, and established a publishing house to create and translate children's books into Persian. Amir-Arjomand supported publishing Behrangi’s The Little Black Fish. Ms. Lily Amir-Arjomand has been awarded the 2023 Farhang Heritage Award.https://www.farhang.org/2023/announcing-the-2023-farhang-heritage-award-lily-amir-arjomand The international film magazine Sight and Sound recently named Ms. Amir-Arjomand as one of the 100 hidden Heroes of Cinema, namely for being one of the key architects of the New Iranian Cinema.{{nonspecific |date=April 2025}}
After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, she moved to the United States and became an American.{{cite news |title=Saks buyer 'astonished' at Indian design talent |work=Hindustan Times |agency=Indo-Asian News Service |date=April 6, 2006|via=ProQuest}} She began working at Saks Fifth Avenue in 1989, and moved to Dubai in 2004 and became the general merchandise manager for Style Avenue Middle East, the official licensee of Saks Fifth Avenue.{{cite news |last1=Monget |first1=Karyn |title=SIL THEMES: GLOBAL GROWTH, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT |work=Women's Wear Daily |date=February 12, 2007|via=Proquest}}
References
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External links
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- [https://asiasociety.org/video/tribute-legacy-and-vision-lily-amir-arjomand-and-kanoon A Tribute to the Legacy and Vision of Lily Amir Arjomand and Kanoon] (Asia Society, 2022)
- {{Cite news|url=https://www.gettyimages.no/detail/news-photo/arjomand-lily-amir-mrs-managing-director-institute-for-news-photo/161894565#/arjomand-lily-amir-mrs-managing-director-institute-for-intellectual-picture-id161894565|title=MAY 1 1974, MAY 2 1974; Arjomand, Lily Amir, Mrs. - Managing Director Institute for Intellectual Dev|work=Getty Images|access-date=2018-07-08|language=en-GB}}
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Category:University of Tehran alumni