The 11th International Congress themed “Library as a Cultural
Phenomenon” has started in Minsk, Belarus,
Azernews reports.
The event is timed to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of
the Republic of Belarus from the Nazi invaders.
Azerbaijan is represented at the congress by Deputy Director for
Scientific Work and Library and Information Service at the
Azerbaijan National Library Adiba Ismayilova.
Adiba Ismayilova made a report and presentation on the topic
“Propaganda of our national musical heritage in the digital
era”.
She spoke about the centuries-old path of development of
Azerbaijani music, which has deep roots, valuable rarities of the
national musical art stored in the archival fund of the National
Library, a unique sound recording fund, a golden fund of scores of
Azerbaijani composers, as well as projects to preserve and promote
our national musical heritage in the digital era.
The congress, organized by the Ministry of Culture of the
Republic of Belarus and the National Library of Belarus with the
support of the Belarusian Library Association and the Interstate
Fund of the CIS countries has brought together the heads and
representatives of national, state and other leading libraries, as
well as employees of libraries, publishing houses, archives and
museums, educational institutions, and research institutes of
Belarus.
Azerbaijan National Library is a treasure trove of knowledge for
bookworms.
With over 5 million books, manuscripts, and maps, the Azerbaijan
National Library is considered one of the largest libraries in the
Caucasus region. Since 1939, the library has borne the name of the
eminent playwright Mirza Fatali Akhundov.
The library has an extensive collection of literature in
Azerbaijani, Russian, English, and other languages. It has
collected and preserved national editions, works of Azerbaijani and
foreign authors about Azerbaijan published abroad.
The National Leader, Heydar Aliyev, visited the National Library
four times in 1995-1997 and donated nearly 300 books from his
personal library.
In 2004, the Mirza Fatali Akhundov Library was granted the
status of a national library by the decision of Azerbaijan’s
Cabinet of Ministers.
The building of the library is no less impressive. The library’s
faсade is decorated with the statues of eminent poets and writers
like Nizami Ganjavi, Mahsati Ganjavi, Uzeyir Hajibayli, Shota
Rustaveli, Alexander Pushkin and many others.
The scope of the library’s activities is constantly expanding.
In 2005, on the basis of legal copies received from publishing
houses and printing companies, the library published the yearbook
“Books of Azerbaijan” for 1990, 1991, 2000, and 2001.
Over the past years, the National Library has signed a
memorandum on bilateral mutual cooperation with about 80
libraries.
In 2021, the Culture Ministry and Mirza Fatali Akhundov Library
launched a joint campaign, “Let’s go to Garabagh with a book”, to
restore libraries in the Garabagh region.
A large number of books were donated to the Garabagh Book Fund
by a number of international organizations working in the field of
culture, Turkic-speaking countries, famous foreign and local
authors, publishers, and print houses.
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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr
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