IFLA Report Finds Kosovo Libraries in Dire Straits

Staff -- Library Journal, 3/13/2000

"Library professionals in Kosovo face a major task to reconstruct library buildings and reestablish library services at all levels," is the general conclusion of a UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), a joint undertaking by UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). The operation was led by Frode Bakken, county librarian of Buskerud, Norway, and IFLA Deputy Director Carsten Frederiksen, February 25-March 7. Their report states that the "National and University Library and other special libraries [in Kosovo] are in decay, the preservation of cultural heritage in terms of printed materials endangered, and the national systems to record and disseminate documents are practically out of function."