[Zitat] Unkommentiert – 2011

“[…] I heard some politician say recently that closing libraries is no big deal, since the kids now have the Internet to do their reading and school work. It’s not the same thing. As any teacher who recalls the time when students still went to libraries and read books could tell him, study and reflection come more naturally to someone bent over a book. Seeing others, too, absorbed in their reading, holding up or pressing down on different-looking books, some intimidating in their appearance, others inviting, makes one a participant in one of the oldest and most noble human activities. Yes, reading books is a slow, time-consuming, and often tedious process. In comparison, surfing the Internet is a quick, distracting activity in which one searches for a specific subject, finds it, and then reads about it—often by skipping a great deal of material and absorbing only pertinent fragments. Books require patience, sustained attention to what is on the page, and frequent rest periods for reverie, so that the meaning of what we are reading settles in and makes its full impact. How many book lovers among the young has the Internet produced? Far fewer, I suspect, than the millions libraries have turned out over the last hundred years. Their slow disappearance is a tragedy, not just for those impoverished towns and cities, but for everyone everywhere terrified at the thought of a country without libraries.”

Charles Simic (Auszug aus “A Country Without Libraries“, erschienen am 18.05.2011 in “The New York Review of Books”)

Aus aktuellem Anlass: Ein Video zur "Library Ireland Week 2011"

“Smart people use smart libraries.”

www.libraryirelandweek.ie

Mit dem heutigen Tag beginnt die Bibliothekswoche 2011 in Irland. Das folgende Video gibt einen Vorgeschmack auf eine Woche, die sicherlich Freude macht und Spannung verspricht. In dieser Woche wird es hunderte von Veranstaltungen geben. Diese Bibliothekswoche wird vom irischen Bibliotheksverband gesponsert.  Das folgende Video wurde von etwa 10 verschiedenen Organisationen und Unternehmen gesponsert.

[Kurz] Die kostenfreie Zugänglichmachung aller öffentlichen Bibliotheken wird in China bis Ende des Jahres abgeschlossen sein

Wie die Zeitung “People’s Daily Online” nach einer Meldung des Kulturministeriums gestern vermeldete, wird China all seine Kulturzentren und öffentlichen Bibliotheken bis Ende des Jahres kostenfrei zugänglich machen. Es wird dann keine Gebühren mehr geben. Die staatlichen Kunstgalerien sollen noch vor dem Ende Jahres 2012 kostenfrei werden. Li Mu, der Autor des Artikels schrieb weiter hierzu Folgendes:

It is another significant move to promote the construction of a public cultural services system after 2008, when all museums and memorial halls were opened to the public for free, a senior official from the Ministry of Cultural said. This move is of great importance to improve the moral standard as well as the scientific and cultural quality of the people and to protect their basic rights. It is also vital for the people to share the fruits of cultural development, which will give a leg up to promote the social harmony and stability.”