The General Library “Muhamed Kantardžić” in Breza is a unique place of social life, cultural, entertainment and educational extracurricular activities, especially for children and youth as a developing population. Young people aged 10-16 are not often able to participate in content appropriate to their age and subject of interest. Therefore, from this library, after research, they came to the conclusion that through the global phenomenon of Harry Potter, there could be an improvement in the educational and entertainment part of young people’s lives at the local level. For that reason, the “Harry Potter Week” was recently held in Breza, as part of the activities of the “Muhamed Kantardžić” General Library. It is a project related to the activities that the library has been implementing for 20 years within the Children’s Department.
Author: Đorđe Krajišnik
“We are really pleased that we finally managed to realize the idea of our librarian Ivona Cvjetković and turn it into an interesting and successful project. It was a privilege to share the joy and delight of our little ones who have been part of the wonderful Hogwarts world of magic for these five days. Memories of certainly the most magical five days will not fade for a long time, and there is no doubt that next year we will expand this event with even more activities and introduce Harry Potter fans from neighboring municipalities to this magic. The doors of the magic of our library remain wide open for all fans of the Harry Potter series”, said the director of the library Indira Lukačević.
Sensitize the local community
During the interview for Local Works, talking about how this library copes with the challenges of modernity, she said that this library, like other public libraries, is facing the challenges brought by the digital era and which they are trying to work on through various programs.
“With the advent of the Internet, the younger generations moved away from the library for a while, but after two or three years they returned to the traditional book. Following in the footsteps of new technologies, our readers leave the Library for a while, but after some time they return because nothing can bring them the peace of the library, the smell of the book and the feeling of relaxation as they read. Older users, who do not belong to the digital world, have remained faithful to the printed book. In the beginning, we perceived the Internet as a direct rival and ‘unfair’ competition. However, as time went on, we understood the Internet as a partner that opens up new possibilities, so we adapted some of our activities to such open possibilities and merged these two different media. The time of the pandemic showed how much the Internet and social networks enabled fans of cultural content to attend and participate in them. (Our cultural event Days of Božidar Božo Bunjevac were held online for three days).
What is very important is that the Internet did not ‘take’ users out of the library and that in the last ten years the library has between 700-800 active users per year. Last year, the library had 930 new users thanks to the free membership fee for students from Breza elementary schools, from I-V grade, which was financed by the Municipality of Breza (the Municipality of Breza has about 14,300 inhabitants). This is, of course, one of the ways to make books and reading more popular. It may be important to emphasize that most of the users of our services are students from Breza primary and secondary schools. Of course, they read the required literature, but there are also those who come for the pleasure of reading something that is not mandatory reading and because of the expansion of already acquired knowledge. However, this situation can in no way be satisfactory in relation to the importance and significance of reading, especially among our younger fellow citizens. For many years, we have been advocating a campaign to popularize the book and the culture of reading, for which it is necessary to sensitize the entire local community. However, the book always falls on one letter – the library”, explained the director of the General Library “Muhamed Kantardžić”.
Indira Lukačević emphasizes that libraries in our country, unfortunately, always work in crisis situations.
“Either it is the lack of space, professional staff or financial resources, so this pandemic also brought a period of adjustment. Like all institutions, our library has adapted its work to the new conditions dictated by the pandemic. From March 25 to May 15, the library did not work directly with users (The library worked all the time following and respecting the recommendation of the municipal crisis headquarters), but we contacted them by phone, social networks and email. Users had the opportunity to look for books that interested them, and we left the books in bags attached to the door without direct contact. From May 15, the library reopens its doors to users, in compliance with all epidemiological measures and recommendations of the Association of Libraries of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The time of the pandemic was very challenging for us and I think we have successfully responded to this challenge. Since we could not organize promotional activities in the library, we recommended pages to our users where they can follow virtual exhibitions, theater performances, where they can read books in PDF format for free. We have also published a competition for the most interesting photograph on the topic of ‘Reading during the time of pandemic’. On the occasion of April 23 – World Book Day, we showed a video of the promotion we had the previous year for the same date. During the pandemic, interest in books and reading certainly grew as people were locked in houses and had more time for these activities. Those passionate readers rented up to 10 books each. What we especially missed and miss are our little ones from the Educational Playroom, which stopped working in March 2020. Still, for their safety, we cannot continue working. The first promotional activity was the exhibition of portraits of the Kings and Queens of Bosnia, at the end of February 2021, of course with all the necessary measures. It was an easy introduction to our planned program activities”, Lukačević pointed out.
When asked how the local community perceives this library, and how much the activities it organizes attract the interest of the public, the director of the General Library “Muhamed Kantardžić” points out that this institution is a unique place of social life, cultural, entertainment and educational extracurricular activities for all residents.
“We can that our Library has grown into a multimedia one and that it is the generator and creator of the cultural life of Breza. The Municipality of Breza, as the Founder of our institution, has recognized the Library as a place of positive changes that contributes to the development of the local community and follows our work in that direction. We can say with certainty that with a lot of effort and enthusiasm in Breza, we have ‘brought up’ an audience that follows our every activity with great pleasure and eagerly awaits every new one. Of course, we are very proud of that, but we, as the only institution that organizes cultural life in our municipality, have created an obligation of permanent work, which makes a great obligation for a total of 4 employees and modest financial resources. We are especially happy that we managed to attract young people to the library through the work of the Children’s Department and Teen Corner. When it comes to the financial support of the Founders, i.e., the Municipality of Breza, it is not lacking, but it is not as much to cover all our needs. The founders of cultural institutions in Zenica – Doboj Canton are municipalities, and the funds for salaries and part of the material costs are financed by the relevant ministry, so that this dualism sometimes creates a problem in the work of these institutions.
The library has become a respectable and unavoidable place on the cultural map of the municipality. It is a meeting place for all generations, and as we like to say, it is the living room of the city. The library did not have such an important place in the cultural public of Breza, simply because before the war Breza had a really rich cultural life whose bearers were different cultural associations and organizations. We know what happened after the war and the transition, that everything that was worthwhile, unfortunately, disappeared forever. That is why the library, in this post-war period, in the absence of other bearers of cultural events, first of all, with great enthusiasm, grew into the cultural center of the city”, adds the director of the General Library “Muhamed Kantardžić”.
Understanding the role of the book
According to the director, the library is aware of and understands the role of books and reading culture in the development of both the individual and the local community.
“One of the basic tasks of a library is to encourage reading in the community in which it operates. Our library does not have an adopted reading strategy for a certain period. The programs are adopted on an annual basis, because as I have already mentioned, our local community is not ready for that step.”
In the end, we asked our interviewee how much the involvement of the library itself can contribute to the atmosphere in the local environment and different views on the future in this country.
“Unfortunately, the library cannot do much on its own. Without a clear strategy at the local level, we cannot talk about restoring the significance and importance of the book. What our library does is certainly beyond our capabilities and only thanks to our enthusiasm, good ideas, love of books, the library and the city we achieve these results. Without strong synergy and connection of all subjects in our Breza, we will not have a better situation when it comes to books and reading for a long time. Only teamwork can contribute to a more educated, capable and developed society. Until then, the privilege of reading will remain a less important activity”, concluded the local director of the General Library “Muhamed Kantardžić” from Breza in an interview for Local Works.
