2007 Press Releases

LIBRARY WEEK 2007

PAO LARRY CORWIN
National and University Library, Pristina, Kosovo, April 16, 2007

Dr. Bashota, Honored Guests, my friends from the libraries. 

Thank you for that welcome.  This is my third Kosovo Library Week.  When I first arrived here I took over several library projects that had been started by my predecessors, and visited this building many times.  But it was really during my first library week many months after my arrival that I was made to feel a part of the library community of Kosovo, and that I began to understand how I needed to be engaged here.  And I remember that well, and am very happy to be here in front of you again.

All of you in this room are here today because you are committed to Kosovo’s library systems – to restoring the facilities and collections, upgrading them and making them accessible to the citizens of Kosovo.  I know I don’t have to tell you of the importance of libraries.  But of course, that is why I am here:

The American author, Carl Sagan, a scientist and astronomer who understood how to make the cold facts of science catch fire in the public imagination, once said:  “The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were -- with the best teachers -- drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species.”

Of course, many people have voiced their opinions of libraries, and the fun thing about the Internet age is how easy it is to find them.  The wonderful Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges said “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” 

Speaking of  Paradise (I think after three years I can say this), for those of you who have seen it, I have always thought that Dr. Bashota’s office in this extraordinary building was about the nicest one in Kosovo, and if I were to come back here after my tour in Kosovo is over, it could only be to run this library so I can sit in that office.

Another great writer, the American poet, essayist and all around thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson compared libraries with harems.  …(But I don’t think I am going to touch that one.)

Actually, as everyone here knows, the modern library has changed a lot since any of those quotes were first written.  A part of your job has been to re-educate yourselves to understand what the function of a library is to be in a modern, democratic, diverse and wired society. 

There is more information out there, and it is more easily available to more people than any of those great thinkers could possibly have imagined.  And this democratization of access has made it much more important to be a careful consumer or provider of information.  Anyone can start a website and write anything.  Contrary to recent fears, increased access has made the professional skills offered in libraries more important, not less important, to keeping the public well read.

The materials provided by libraries – whether electronic subscriptions or print materials – while representing different points of view, are carefully vetted for quality.  Libraries are not just information providers, they are information consolidators, offering the kind of quality control, and professional guidance, that help the public to access the right information. 

As Kosovo begins its transition into a modern state, and the concerns of Kosovars expand outward, the issues and problems of the larger world will need to be understood by Kosovo’s leaders and future leaders.  Libraries are key to building a democratic society lead by an informed, educated citizenry.

Libraries are also critical to economic development, the next biggest challenge facing you.  Business leaders will look to public libraries for information about rules and regulations, for market info and demographic data, and for other facts needed to successfully compete locally and globally.  For these reasons, libraries are in the forefront of the democratic revolution in information, and will be important for Kosovo’s transformation. 

And there are still challenges ahead to develop the libraries that are needed, most of them having to do with resources, but also with priorities.  I have spoken publicly, as have many others here, about the need for investment in the public libraries, in Pristina and in other municipalities. 

For one example, that I have used before, but it just gets more poignant:  when I first got here, one of the most amazing things – one of the things that really spoke to me – was the huge line of students waiting patiently to get into this library every day, waiting for a seat, for access to books, for help with their research.  I thought that that was an incredible statement – a statement about the dedication of the students to their studies, their desire for knowledge, and their wish to, as I quoted Carl Sagan, be inspired to “make [their] own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species” – and about the work we had in front of us to make that all possible.

Well, unfortunately it still is an incredible statement.  We have come a long way since then – Dr. Bashota and I had a chance to talk about what has been accomplished in front of the media last week.  But unfortunately, the line of students is still there, and we have not solved the problem of the lack of facilities and resources so that those who want to study can do so when they need to.

We all know that Kosovo has many more problems than it has the resources to solve.  But Library Week always shows anyone who cares to see it, that the Kosovo library community has the vision and the determination to create the centers of information and culture that Kosovo needs. 

I would like to finish with a further quote from Dr. Sagan, the scientist who gave generations of Americans a lot to think about.  The full text of the lines with which I began these remarks, ends with the following comment:  “I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture, and our concern for the future, can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.” 

With that, I would like to congratulate the organizers of Library Week for what looks like a terrific program, and to thank you all for being here – and especially to welcome those who managed to come in from outside of Pristina.  As always, it is a pleasure to be here for this event.  Thank you.