LIBRARY SERVICES IN LATIN AMERICA: AN APPROACH TO MOBILIZE SOCIAL CAPITAL AS A SOURCE FOR DEVELOPMENT
The Colombian case Speakers:
Consuelo Gaitán Gaitán Director, National Library of Colombia Diego Merizalde Arboleda Coordinator, Project “Use and Approppiation of ICT in Public Libraries”
The first part of this presentation explores how current social problems of exclusion and inequality have called for a broader study of what development means in a society. That is, in considering the progress of a society as an integral process, it is important to include aspects such as culture in development programs, especially considering the strong potential of culture to bring people together. This first part of the presentation concludes arguing that the concept of social capital is very relevant to understand how when people and communities are united, societies have a better chance to develop. This framework is essential to understand the important role public libraries and library services play, particularly in Colombia, thanks to the strong potential of cultural institutions to generate cohesion and thereby contribute to the development of a nation.
The second part of the presentation starts by exploring how public libraries are the ideal scenario for cultural action, and how social capital is actually mobilized through library services. Then, it examines the experience of the National Library of Colombia and the National Network of Public Libraries, developing three innovative services through methodologies which foster new connections and relationships between people. For each service, the following elements are considered: i) methodological and pedagogical characteristics, ii) how technology is used, and iii) how each of these services contribute to the mobilization of social capital in communities, strengthening collective self-esteem, building values of respect of differences and empathy, and promoting social inclusion.
Photography and Memory in Public Libraries. This service invites libraries to develop community processes based on the recovery of local history through photographs. Through this methodology, people are invited to talk, share, remember, socialize; then they digitize pictures and write down stories. The dialog fostered through this service serves as a means to strengthen the collective self-esteem of communities. To strengthen this initiative, the National Library of Colombia made a partnership with historypin.org, to create an online platform to share the photographic contents and create a wider dialog around the topic of national identity.
Movie Clubs in public libraries. This service promotes conversations around cultural and social topics identified in movies. Through this dialog, attendees understand that every story deserves to be told, and the discussion strengthens values of tolerance and empathy. To enrich the methodology of this innovative service, the National Library formed a partnership with an online platform called cinescuela.org, which offers easy-to-use teaching guides for every movie in their catalog.
Self organized learning workshops in public libraries. This service uses a learning method based on “big questions” which are chosen and answered by the participants themselves, using different sources of information in the public library. Here, attendees dialog, debate, research and in the end, reach consensus in harmony, sharing different points of view regarding a common question. This methodology promotes collective knowledge building and serves as a means to foster social inclusion.
The case of the National Library of Colombia and the National Network of Public Libraries is of interest, as it presents an original approach to promote innovative library services. Such approach reflects the vision proposed from Colombia for library services in Latin America: further than developing methodologies to promote collective knowledge building and the use of technology, library services in the region must help mobilize social capital locally, as a means to generate cohesion and development.
Contact: Diego Merizalde Arboleda dmerizalde@bibliotecanacional.gov.co