In Memory of Gia Aivazian

Guest ContributorMarch 8, 2022Last Updated: March 8, 2022

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It is with great sadness that the International Association of Armenian Libraries and Archives (IAALA) community mourns Gia Aivazian’s passing. Gia Dziadzan Aivazian was born on December 22, 1934 in Kavala, Greece, the daughter of an Armenian Genocide survivor refugee family from Ottoman Turkey. Gia’s family moved to several countries in the Middle East, where she received some of her education. Eventually, Gia’s family settled in Los Angeles, California, where Gia continued her college education at UCLA and received a Candidate in Philosophy Degree in Near Eastern studies.

We would like to honor Gia as one of the first Armenian female librarians in the United States. She started her work as a librarian at UCLA Library in September 1967 and retired in June 2009 after a long and fruitful career. She had worked with other Armenian librarians to establish Armenian cataloging standards.

For years, she helped many students find materials for their research interests and helped UCLA Young Research Library curate one of the largest Armenian material repositories in the world. Since then, UCLA Library has become one of the most visited libraries for Armenian materials in the western United States.

Gia’s interest in academia took her to many corners of the world, where she lectured in conferences and published on a variety of Armenian topics. She was particularly active in the Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) and Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA). For her continuous support, Gia Ayvazian was awarded the “Hakob Meghapart” commemorative medal by the National Library of Armenia.

Gia loved her job. Her long career is a testament to that. She was dedicated to preserving Armenian books and collections and making these materials available to researchers from around the world.