The National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina plans to symbolically close its doors on August 25, the date when the library was set on fire in the Town Hall building. The reason is the financial situation.
The library employees, as they said, have not received their salary for four months. Due to the same problem, they temporarily suspended work in April, but continued after the promise of the KS Government.
As they say in today’s announcement, it turned out that those promises were false and that the National Library was rejected by all levels of government.
“Unfortunately, we have been pushed to the brink and are forced to close our doors because 42 families of NUBBH employees cannot survive like this. For example, until autumn we need to survive on around two hundred marks for a hot meal. How? Should we buy a bucket of green paint, paint ourselves green and live off photosynthesis?”, they asked.
They add that they will symbolically close their doors on August 25.
“That is the day in 1992 when books were burned, the day when the library in the City Hall building was set on fire. “Let the gentlemen who organize the reception in the City Hall building on the day of the burning of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina ask themselves if they finished what was started on that unfortunate day,” they said.
In addition, they sent a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Presidency of BiH Denis Bećirović, the Minister of Civil Affairs of BiH Dubravka Bošnjak, the Prime Minister of the Federation Nermin Nikšić, the Federal Minister of Education and Science Jasna Duraković, the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports Sanja Vlaisavljević, the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Nihad Uka , Cantonal Minister of Culture and Sports Kenan Magoda and Cantonal Minister of Higher Education, Science and Youth Adna Mesihović.
In a letter dated July 5, they informed the authorities that they do not have basic conditions for work and that they intend to close their doors on August 25.
As they were told, the problem for them is not only of a financial nature, but also that the competent authorities turn a deaf ear to the fate of this institution and that the state does not show adequate care.
They stated that this year the Cantonal Assembly adopted the Law on temporary co-financing of cultural and educational institutions founded by BiH. As they stated, it is a more or less acceptable solution for seven institutions of cultural importance for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Nevertheless, in practice, the NUBBiH has had absolutely no benefits from this law, until now. The Ministry of Science, Higher Education and Youth KS allocated 220,000 KM to NUBBH for the year 2024, which is approximately the same amount we received for 2023. year, so long before the adoption of this law. We emphasize that these funds are only sufficient for two monthly salaries of our employees. In addition, the current situation is complicated by the fact that the Federal Ministry of Education and Science has not yet issued a public call for co-financing programs and projects of institutions of science and culture of importance to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the funds provided by this ministry are significant, they are still neither sufficient nor permanent. “Unfortunately, the corresponding public invitation of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of FBiH was not announced, which is a significant support for our and other cultural institutions, although in a limited amount”, they stated.
They asked those to whom they forwarded the letter to respond urgently and concretely, but as they say, they have not received any response to date.
In the end, they said that they would do everything in their power to prevent closure and that they would contact representatives of international institutions.
What would closing the National Library mean?
As previously explained by the National Library, by closing this institution, not only resources for research and learning, but also key tools for the progress of our society would be lost.
Publishers would lose support for obtaining CIP, ISBN, ISSN, ISMN and DOI numbers for their books. The functioning of the Virtual Library and the COBISS Center would be threatened, the production of national bibliographies of BiH would be stopped.
E-CRIS.BH would cease to operate, while promotion to higher positions would be significantly more difficult, and the professional development of librarians would be impossible.
“But what is perhaps the most important of all is that by jeopardizing the NUBBiH, the national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Special Collections of the NUBBiH, which are treasures of our cultural heritage, our collective memory, and their loss would be irreparable” – stated the employees at the time. NUBBH.
Source: klix.ba
