Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Have you ever thought about the importance of books in your life? Books are the way to self-knowledge and this path is very multi-faceted as it all depends on which book you pick up to read. While reading, you forget about what's going on around you and entirely immerse into a fascinating world full of bright colors and incredible adventures. You may forget about everything and position yourself as a hero, fall in love, hate someone, undertake noble deeds, feel and rejoice together with him or her.

Though modern technologies have considerably displaced books, they have retained their significance for many people. It is possible to collect a huge library in the house and to enjoy your favorite creations every spare minute. Some books are so exciting that they can be read anew countless times while enjoying and discovering more and more interesting details.

Certainly, in every home there are books which no one reads and they just take up space. In this case, you can do the right thing by handing these books over to the library or .. you can take part in the Open Shelf project!

Recently a new and extremely interesting project implemented with the support of the Azerbaijan Youth Foundation, Azerbaijan Students Network and the Global Shapers Community's Baku office, has been launched in Baku.

Under the project, small bookcases have been placed at different locations of the city. What is a public bookcase? It is a simple item used to store books in public places. Its purpose is to enable everyone to use a few books for free or to exchange them for other books. The idea of public bookcases emerged in Europe, notably, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The idea is actually very attractive, because this bookcase is open at any time of the day and in any weather. Taking a book requires no registration and documents and there are no restrictions on the use of books. Moreover, this will allow to conduct a voluntary "book exchange" among citizens, because today most people have many books which they would like to exchange for any other book.

While examining the content of the bookcase, you can be amazed at the variety of books. The purpose of the project is to attract the attention of youth to literature, to increase the interest of the new generation in reading books and to inform foreigners about Azerbaijan through books.

One of these bookcases has been installed at one of the most picturesque places of Icherisheher (Old City), the Archaeological Garden, which is near the monument to Azim Azimzade in the center of Baku. Selecting a location for the Open Shelf is not accidental: the atmosphere here is suitable for solitude and reading.

In addition, "walking" mobile libraries, with an extensive collection of thousands of books and electronic publications, have appeared in Azerbaijan. An electronic catalog of publications is available in three languages​​ and there are eight sections in the library. This project will run for a year and will cover 15 regions of Azerbaijan. Moreover, it is planned to increase the number of such libraries, which will provide services to book readers free of charge. The mobile libraries will operate based on the same principle as public bookcases: buses in certain places will transport books to the public. After a while, the books must be returned.

The design of the bus which has a mobile library is very bright and attracts a lot of children who take much interest in the library.

Despite the numerous changes, there is one important issue in this regard.

In 2001, Azerbaijan switched to the Latin alphabet. Until 1925 the official alphabet in Azerbaijan was Arabic, then from 1926 to 1939 it was Latin, from 1939 to 2001 it was the Cyrillic one, and in 2001 Azerbaijan began to use the Latin alphabet again.

Over the 70-year period the most significant progress has been made in the field of translation as the most important and iconic samples of world literature of all historical periods were translated into Azerbaijani. After gaining independence Azerbaijan chose an alphabet based on Latin script.

After the switching to the Latin alphabet, great samples of literary, scientific and other precious heritage, which had been translated and read for many decades, became virtually unavailable to new generations of readers.

In order to solve this problem, the Azerbaijani government deemed it necessary to take resolute steps in this direction. President Ilham Aliyev has issued a number of decrees on the translation of books from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet to meet the needs of local readers for the best of world literature. Under these orders the most important books were published in the Latin alphabet.

Currently there are 79 libraries in Baku. Among the major libraries are the Azerbaijan National Library named after M.F. Akhundov, Republican Children's Library named after F. Kocharli, Presidential Library, etc.

In order to improve and modernize the libraries, most of the books have also been converted into electronic format, so, people of the new generation can read books from any mobile devices in the convenience of their home.

One of the main libraries of Azerbaijan and popular large national libraries of the Caucasus, the world-famous Azerbaijan National Library named after Mirza Fatali Akhundov, which was opened in 1923, will celebrate its 90th anniversary in the coming days. Currently, there are 25 departments and 26 secions in the library. About 4.5 million publishing materials are stored there. In 2005, the library became a member of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL).

Festivities dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Azerbaijan National Library will be held in Baku on September 22-25. As part of the activities the 27th international meeting of CENL and the 15th meeting of the Library Assembly of Eurasia will be held in Baku, with the directors of more than 40 libraries participating. The event is expected to draw more than 65 participants from all over the world.

Visitors will also take part in the opening of the 3rd Baku International Book Fair to be held on September 23. National libraries of more than 15 countries will present their exhibits at the event. After the exhibition the books will be donated to the Azerbaijan National Library.

Moreover, Azerbaijan is drafting a new state program on the development of libraries. The project will cover the period 2014-2020 and its main purpose is the computerization of libraries.

"The main issue of the current program is the formation of library collections. And the main task of the new project will be the computerization of libraries," Culture and Tourism Ministry official Latifa Mammadova said.

The priorities of the project will be strengthening the logistics of the libraries, preservation, protection and presentation of the national and cultural resources to the readers, the expansion of international relations, as well as publication of modern literature about librarianship in the Azerbaijani language.