Library-Multifunctional Institution Promoting Multiculturalism and Interculturalism in the Knowledge-based Society

摘要

Libraries contribute to the universal cultural values and fulfil an important role in preserving cultural heritage of nations. They belong to the memory institutions which preserve printed masterpieces and make them available to the general public in printed but also in digitalised form. First of all, in the multicultural and intercultural knowledge-based society libraries play an important role not only in the process of life-long education and formation of experts, but they become also an initiator of the dialogue about cultural and national identities. Moreover, the increase of needs on information content, modern information technologies and proper access to reliable information-all these issues urge libraries to come up with new creative activities and contribute actively to the well-being and prosperity of the local community. This encourages all the librarians to educate themselves continuously and fulfil challenging tasks. The paper analyses activities, aim of which is to transform the library into multicultural and intercultural space attractive for general public. The author presents recent results and underlines the importance of regional and national personalities who contribute to the rapprochement of cultures and mutual understanding of different nations. Various activities, projects and initiatives have changed library into a multifunctional centre where library users can meet and get to known people form other communities and nations. This can serve as an example of how libraries can change a stereotyped functioning and diversify their activities by creating conditions for the development of multiculturalism and interculturalism in the libraries.