A round table on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of our Library was held on Tuesday, 5th October 2021.Two sessions were held on the event. In the first session, there was presented the monograph “Naša priča” [nasha preecha] (our story) that was published on the occasion of the anniversary in April this year. The reviewers of the book, PhD Zdravko Vukčević[Zdravko Vuktchevich] and Novica Đurić [Norvitsa Juritch] as well as the author MA Zoran Poleksić [Zorran Poleksich] talked about it.
In the second session, there was a talk about the Library’s work so far and accomplished results, current trendsand guidelines of its future development. MA Bosiljka Cicmil[Bossilka Tsitsmeel], the Central UniversityLibraryManager talked about the sources of information in librarianship, and Director of our institution, MA Božidar Bobo Denda [Bozhidar Borbor Dairnda]talked about “Republic library for accessible formats in Montenegro – 15 years later: accomplished results, future guidelines of development and planned objectives”. Among other things, in his presentations, he pointed out the following:
“The Library’s book fund nowadays is comprised of more than 23,500 inventory units, and current number of users is 758. Overall number of users from the beginning of the Library’s work is over 800.
In that period, users were lent over 130 thousand of publications to use. In these 15 years, the Library has published over 1100 audio publications and about 150 in braille. Library has published 120 issues of magazine “Glas” (Voice) and 20 issues of the magazine“Tačke kulture” [tutchkeh cooltooreh] (cultural points). There were held 300 most diverse single cultural programmes with the participation of over 1200 participants, and those programmes were attended by a total of 9 thousand visitors.
The Library has markedits appearanceson 11 fairs and won 3 fair awards, as well as an award by the Council of Europe for the project and the most beautiful story about cultural heritage.
Along with the librarian activities and those related to transposing publications into accessible formats, either independently or in collaboration with the Culture Centre “Homer”, the Library launched a whole range of interesting and useful services for its users and overall culture audience:magazines, radio, films, exhibitions, concerts, public fora, literary programmes, literary and othercompetitions.
Even today, 15 years distant from its beginning, Library wants to change itself for the better. It wants to adapt and harmonise with the needs of its users and in line with the best and most advanced international standards. Practice in the region and wider international planindicates the necessity of these changes. It is necessary to appreciate these novelties in a normative way.First of all, it is necessary to meet the needs of all users because the time has shown that, along with the persons with the visual impairments, there are persons with dyslexia, as well as other persons with print disabilities. After all, these changes are advocated by the Marrakesh Treaty. These changes go hand in hand with changes related to the institutional status. Such changes have happened in Scandinavian countries long time ago, and a few years ago, in Croatia, too, where the Law on Library Activity established that institutions of this type have a status of libraries for accessible formats. Therefore, these are not special libraries any more nor are their users some “special users” that are different from other book lovers.
Along with the construction of the Library’s own working space that will be arranged with the purpose in accordance with with the professional requirements and according to the highest international standardsin librarianship, job filling will be the biggest challenge and the most relevant priority whose achievement will provide possibility of bigger and more quality progress in further operation and work of the Library.
Montenegro State Lending Library for the Visually Impaired Personsshould, therefore, become a national library with the book fund in accessible formats whose usersshould be all persons referred to these formats for various reasons. That implies certain changes in the Law on Library Activity, as well as amendments to the Statuses and other Institution’s normative acts. That will create preconditions to formalise a possibility of significantly expanding the circle of its users because thereby,along with the present group (persons with visual impairments),that would enable several more categories of Montenegro citizens to use Library services. In that way, the circle of a few thousands of users would expand to a few tens of thousandsof potential onesjust like, at the same time,some issues relevant for the library activity and cultural development of the society as a whole would be regulated in a more quality and comprehensive way.
Both from its beginning and nowadays, the Library fights both among media and in laymen audience to emphasise and verify its character, which is, first and above all, the status of a republic cultural institution. As a budget unit with public, state financingwithin cultural institutions for library activity, whose book fund is an element of a movable cultural heritageof Montenegro,irrespective of certain specific features of its users,the Library neither has nor can it have any other character but the character of the cultural institutionin the full sense of these words.
No personal characteristics of its users, not even the very fact that they are persons with visual impairments, can primarily define itscharacter, title or status because, after all, the Library is not established in relation to the interaction towards thatcharacteristic, but for the correction of but one in a row of consequences that create that characteristic, and that is print disability.
Library activity, in the broadest sense, has become, in our time, a library-and-information one because, in addition to traditional library systems and services for its users, it develops information onesto the effect of improvement and full democratisation of approach to culture, education and knowledge in general. In that way, through establishment of contemporary, information, i.e. digital society and knowledge society, it attempts, in whole, to ensure the highest standard in providing services based on efficient and functional patterns of sophisticated ICT, whereby, from a methodological point of view,the needs of all users are met without distinction in the most rational way. Current library trends are, therefore, predominantly characterised by a processof digitisation of a complete book fund, as well as introduction of IT services. That means that, beside the obligation to ensure physical access to the material collections of information to its users,the 21st century libraries must also provide opportunity of access to digitised copies of these contents remotely, or virtually.
Precisely that circumstance represents a significant point of the social integration and cultural inclusiveness of this and other librarieswith collections in accessible formats because they fullykeep pace with timesgiven that, in them, even before other, standard libraries, virtually their complete scope, including not only the process of establishment and development of the library fund, but other programme activities and services, is based on the process of digitisation and development of information systems in general.“
