Baiba Moļņika Education Programme Director Latvian National Commission for UNESCO 17.10.2011

1. STORYTELLING LIBRARIES activities and main challenges towards the active involvement of local communities Baiba Moļņika EducationProgrammeDirector Latvian National Commission for UNESCO 17.10.2011

2. THE ROLE OF LIBRARIES TODAY • Institutionofknowledge • Community centres for local people (to meet, learn news, develop skills) • Brings together different generations, social levels and explore old traditions and to merge them with nowadays gospels. • Dynamicpartnerforgovernmentalandnon-governmentalorganizations

3. Theinniativeof UNESCO LNC “STORYTELLING LIBRARIES” • Founded in year 2009 • Network consist of 19 libraries around the Latvia (Regional libraries, children libraries, foreign libraries, school libraries etc.) • AIM: To vitalize the tradition of storytelling as an important part of Latvian intangible cultural heritage and as an important part of contemporary work in the daily lives of the libraries as means to consolidating and bringing together local communities

4. MAIN FIELDS OF ACTIVITIES • Storytelling events • World@yourlibrary • Making a linkbetween UNESCO andlocalcommunity

5. STORYTELLING EVENTS More than 250 eventssincebeginningofyear 2010 favorite books hobbiespetstalants travel adventureslocalhistoryholidayshumor-stories Once upon a time traditions

6. WORLD@YOUR LIBRARY • Intheyear 2010 Latvian National Commission for UNESCOin cooperation with The Library Association of Latvia has launched the campaign “World @you library” • With this campaign Latvia for the first time joins the world • campaign @ your library,

7. 2010WORLD@YOUR LIBRARY Aim: To promote the value of libraries in modern society, to acquire its resources and unlimited opportunities 30 libraries from Latvia Canada Venezuela Latvia Australia IcelandDenmark Egypt Azerbaijan Georgia China Africa

8. 2010WORLD@YOUR LIBRARY • Organized story telling, reading, painting, quiz afternoons • Enabled discourse between libraries and people in selected states and cultures, watch animation films of other countries. • Organized other activities, which motivated children and young adults to find out something about the culture of different nations by using library resources.

9. World @ Your Library 2011 ”UNESCO World heritage” • to promote Latvian libraries as a modern information resource • to invite children and young people to learn about other countries and cultures by reading books and maps band using all the resources available at the library • to promote understanding about the world heritage (based on UNESCO’s world heritage list)inthecontextofvaluesofcultureandnatureinLatviahttp://whc.unesco.org/en/list

10. Selected World Heritage: Rapa Nui National Park Chile • Facts about the object (site, distance from Latvia or hometown, history, relevance) • Stone sculptures in the shape of a philosopher’s head • Pictures • Travelers’ experience

11. Selected Local Heritage: Īvānu Velnakmens • Similarities (both heritage sites cannot be dated back to a certain period) • Differences (the park in Chile is made by men, but the stone is of natural origin) • Promote local heritage on the basis of world heritage • Experienceforlibraryvisitors • Travelers’ experience

12. Linking • To celebrateinternational UNESCO daysandyears • To informlocalpeopleabout UNESCO aimsand UNESCO LNC mainactivitiesinLatvia • Developing a cros-sectorialplatform ( e.g. educationandculture)

13. Challenges • Internationalcooperation • Livinglibrary • Homepagewww.stastubibliotekas.com

14. More information:www.unesco.lv baiba@unesco.lv