2015. The Public Library as a Political Category

What do we lose when we lose a library, A conference about the future challenges of libraries. 9 - 10 - 11 September, 2015

On August 25, 1914, the German army deliberately burned the university's library of Leuven along with 300,000 medieval books and manuscripts. On January 28, 2013, Islamist rebels set the library of Timbuktu with thousands ancient manuscripts on fire. Many books of this library were about Islam. On January 9, 2015, the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris shocked the world. It was seen as an assault on free speech. Thousands of people marched in Paris to defend democracy and freedom of expression. Meanwhile the Flemish Government discharges the municipalities of the obligation to organize libraries. In all the discussions during the last weeks, nearly no one established clearly the relation between the democratic right of free expression and the importance of libraries, both the large and the small, as sources of knowledge and opinions. One of the characteristics of totalitarian ideologies and regimes is the destruction of problematic information and limiting free speech through control of the written culture. In our changing world, we are convinced that we have full access to all information thanks to the Internet. But we often forget that this information is particularly superficial and at the same time easy to manipulate. Within this context, the meaning of a library, especially a national heritage library such as the Royal Library of Belgium, as a repository for intellectual and cultural heritage remains of exceptional importance. The aim of my contribution is to develop this idea by means of the rich collection of newspapers preserved in the Royal Library of Belgium. These newspapers are not meant to be kept and their future is threatened by acidification. To preserve them, they are systematically digitized. The importance of newspapers lies in the richness of information: political, ideological, economic, social, cultural, and so on. Newspapers not only provide information, but also offer a contemporaneous interpretation and comment upon events. And because of this they also outline the history of (or the absence of) freedom of speech. So, our archive of newspaper helps critical citizens to inform themselves about the contemporary history, just like literature, philosophical or historical books, and so on. What do we lose when we lose our libraries? We lose an instrument of democracy! A democracy needs cultural and intellectual education. Cultural education is focused on personal and social development, on raising awareness, on acquiring the competence and willingness to participate in social life. From a social point of view the importance of cultural education cannot be underestimated. Cultural education shapes our identity and makes us democratic beings. This being said, we must define libraries, as well as archives, as repositories of heritage and knowledge, as institutions which form the basis for a healthy democracy. So, I am convinced that in addition to scientific research one of the most important tasks for the educational activities of the KBR is in particular the enhancement of cultural competence that everyone needs to be able to participate as a critical citizen in public life.

The Library Quarterly, 2017

consistently put forward the research agenda of the library in the life of the user. A focus on libraries' publics is a useful variation: What, now, is the library in the life of its public(s)? In order to undertake this analysis, some practical definition of libraries' public(s) must be clarified, and how they might have changed in recent (neoliberal) times. With this background in place, an analysis of how publics now approach libraries is possible-and clarifies library responses within our current neoliberal environment. T he distinguished library and information science (LIS) scholar Wayne Wiegand (1999, 24) never tires of quoting his colleague Doug Zweizig's remark that LIS scholarship traditionally focused on "the user in the life of the library rather than the library in the life of the user." Wiegand has repeated this theme for some time in an attempt to influence the research agenda of the field: What role, if any, do libraries play in the lives of people? This article is a version of his attempt to refocus LIS research by addressing the concept of the public and reformulating the Wiegand/Zweizig theme: What, if anything, has changed in the nature of the public in its expectations of and interactions with libraries in a neoliberal age? In other words, rather than focus on individual users, this analysis looks at users in a particular aggregate-as a public or as publics. My previous work (2003, 2012) focused on the library as one of the remnants of the Habermasian public sphere being chipped away by internal processes that mimic neoliberalism: mindlessly imitating management practices and fads, accountability/social capital/return-on-investment analyses of the institution, outsourcing of core functions such as collections and management, and silly and faddish investments in technology (such as gaming) that erode core functions. I argue that we're changing what a library is and what it is for without much real thought or discussion. The LIS field has not helped (let alone led) in terms of thinking through neoliberal trends or providing a sensible alternative to them. This state of affairs then elicits a version of Wiegand's question: What is the library in the life of its public now? And what is the role of a library's public in these transformations? Has the public that interacts with the library changed, and if so, how? In order to attempt an

Bosniaca, 2018

The role and tasks of the library as an institution have considerably changed. Libraries are more and more regarded as powers that create and connect communities. The National Library of Estonia keeps that in mind when maintaining and establishing networks both as a humanities library as well as a social sciences and parliamentary library. Partnerships with libraries and memory institutions are especially important, as we are becoming a central service development institution for Estonian libraries. A great change has taken place in our way of thinking. The National Library of Estonia is no longer collection-centred, not only carrying out the mission to preserve cultural heritage, but is also human-centred, customer-centred. Our goals are to make collections available as much as possible, to address our users, and to provide an inspiring environment via the library space. The modern national library should indeed remind of a modern public library – the library of the whole nation. I...

Performance Research

2004

Library & Information Science Research, 2005

The events of September 11, 2001 were tragic on many levels: they affected almost all facets of society, including the library institution. In many ways, that date acted as a catalyst in the library community, calling into question traditional library values and ethical principles, as a result of the politically charged climate and the post 9/11 legislations. This article examines the legislative environment following 9/11 in the United States and Canada and reviews the reactions to these legislations by the library communities in these two countries. The findings point out to mixed reactions from the library communities in the two countries. The results are used to frame and discuss the broader role and responsibilities of libraries in a post 9/11 environment.

Conference: ICT and Library in Higher Education : An Indian Perspective, 2020

Libraries have existed for many years however in today’s digital world, wherever we've at our fingertips access to associate endless assortment of knowledge, a brand new customary of knowledge accomplishment has emerged. The libraries of the twenty first century offer a hospitable common area that encourages exploration, creation, and collaboration in societies between students, teachers, and a broader community. The study focuses on role of library and library professional in changing landscape of information societies and role of libraries in this changing moment. Also a short discussion about 21st century’s advanced library services with few challenges faced by libraries in this changing scenario.

Library Trends, 2014

College & Research Libraries

2021

This collection presents current themes in the field of modern libraries and their users, united under a common title: “Library and Society: Contemporary Challenges.” The texts have already been published in different Bulgarian sources. They are now published in English in this edition with minor changes. The included publications present the author’s interest in contemporary problems and challeng- es facing the library community. The lecture format is intentional, as it gives the opportunity for the edition to be used for work with an audience of students. The lectures are accompanied by presentations in English that are not part of this collection. The topics of the lectures are as follows: • Technology and the human factor in the formula for effective- ness of the modern library • The role of users in the preservation of cultural heritage • The attitude of libraries towards users determines the present and the future of the institution • The value of the library in the modern dim...

Strategic plans for libraries and the future development of staffing are based upon some vision of the near future of libraries. As with many aspects of modern life, the democratizing of knowledge brought about by the Internet has drastically changed the long held paradigm of libraries as key information providers. This paper attempts to re-frame the role of libraries from a user perspective and from a higher vantage point. Libraries should be viewed primarily as critical enablers for success in learning and research and not merely as information delivery systems. The roles of libraries can be re-framed in 5 key areas - encountering ideas, affirming and substantiating information, facilitating discovery and exploration, enabling deep learning and providing the right ambience for learning. It is hoped that a consideration of these reframed perspectives will help libraries to focus and implement new strategies to increase the value of libraries to users and stakeholders.