NLM “Djurdje Crnojevic” is the national library of Montenegro. It is a treasury of written cultural heritage, preserving the material evidence of Montenegrin cultural reality, on the emergence and identity of the nation. It gathers and keeps written and electronic sources, enables their retrieval and cares for their preservation. By the publishing of the Montenegrin national bibliography, it promotes Montenegrin written cultural heritage and attends to the cultural needs of the population. Digital technologies and innovative audience development strategies open new lines of communication with its customers, contributing to the improvement and increased scope of services and the modernization of activities.
As the central state library, it is responsible for the development of library activity in Montenegro. With its knowledge and experience, it assists other libraries in their operation using networking and good practices of large libraries in the region, in Europe and worldwide.
Long-term project: in co-operation with the Institiute of Information Science, Maribor, Slovenia, NLM maintains and develops the national library system COBISS.ME (27 participating libraries)

Recent projects:
1.    EC funded project MANUBLAK (partner)
2.    UNESCO Participation Programme 2014-2015: Media and Information Literacy (MIL) – strategy and training (project leader)

Library development vision is: To serve knowledge, education, memory and literacy; To enable access to information as well as to professional, educational and cultural contents; To serve as a basis and driver for overall development, progress and strengthening of Montenegro; To serve the purposes of and foster research, learning, entertainment and creativity; To serve all citizens of Montenegro without any distinctions and limitations.

Project proposal:

Montenegro is a country with rich history and its society is in many ways still traditional, despite strong pressure of modern economy and penetration of modern practices. These characteristics are seen as advantageous because thanks to them a lot of traditional sites and cultural practices are still well preserved and alive.
New possibilities of geo-spatial platforms open space for new services of cultural insitutions, such as the mapping of sites and communities with interesting and important tangible and intangible cultural heritage potentials, linking them to relevant cultural institutions’ materials, and enhancing the contribution of citizens and visitors as a form of crowdsourcing.
The aim is to create a detailed cultural maps of chosen regions of partners’ countries. The maps would contain multiple information: geographical, on vegetation and animals, about settlements and inhabitants, as well as historical, folkloric and touristical. They are concieved as a double combination: they would be multimedial (text, picture, film, speach, music), and  created thanks to contributions from various stakholders: librarians, local history reesarchers, tourist officers, citizens and visitors/tourists.
The resulting platform and library service would improve capacities and skills of existing library users and involve new users. The creation of such a platform would offer important information for the development of other sectors and industries in partners’ countries: tourism, rural development, information society and ICT, creating new demands and a multiplier effect. It would strengthen the role of cultural heritage as a driving force for development of tourism industry and economic and social growth.

Activities:
1.    Creating an interactive mobile geo-spatial platform with content sharing possibilities (by chosen partner, in co-operation with the rest two)
2.    Mapping sites and communities (by all three partners)
3.    Training teams of librarians from chosen libraries for adding of content (by chosen partner, forming one team per country)
4.    Adding content (from library and private collections; short reportages/films; recorded conversations with inhabitants of mapped communities, musical and dancing units) (by all three partners)
5.    Promotion of the platform in co-operation with ministries for tourism and for rural development, and with tourist organisations; promotion at primary and secondary schools and co-operation with teachers in order to motivate youth to join in (by all three partners)
6.    Training of interested citizens for content contribution (by all three partners)
7.    Informing visitors/tourists about the service and providing them with concise guidelines on how to participate. (by all three partners)
8.    Monitoring and editing the content (by all three partners)
9.    Publicising results regularly (by all three partners)

The project is aimed at the widest possible audience (citizens and visitors), with specific accent on small and rural communities, and on women, children and youth in them.
NLM is looking for partnering cultural institutions with experience in either creation of similar platforms, or ICT training of librarians and general public. It is planned as a three-years project.

Contact:

Nacionalna biblioteka Crne Gore “Đurđe Crnojević”
Bulevar crnogorskih junaka br. 163
81250 Cetinje
Montenegro
T: +382 41 231-143
E: info@cnb.me W: http://www.cnb.me

Published: 22.12.2014