Thank you for joining us, Dr. Tsimpoglou.
Could you share a few words, from your perspective
as the Director General of the National Library of Greece,
about this unique period in the history of the Library
– a period of transformation
that came as a result of the donation
from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation?
Thank you for the honor and opportunity
to share my experience.
It is a truly historic moment
and a rare phenomenon.
It only happens every 100 years
that a library of this magnitude
changes location.
This is a historic time,
not only because of the relocation
– an enormous task in itself –
but because there is also
the effort to restructure,
transform,
even rebirth if you wish,
the National Library of Greece.
After many years of neglect,
the Library is making a concerted effort
to regroup and strategize for the future.
We owe it to the National Library of Greece,
and the National Library of Greece
owes it to society
– to the Greek community
and to the global community.
We are the custodians
of a deeply rich culture,
the Hellenic culture,
which spans millennia,
beyond the boundaries of the modern Greek state.
Indeed, the Library is moving
into a new era.
I like to say that
we are making a transition through space,
from one place to another,
and through time,
as we modernize the Library
and redefine the way it functions
and the services it offers.
What does the National Library of Greece
plan to offer to researchers and visitors,
from Greece and abroad, at its new premises?
What tools will they have at their disposal,
and what should they know before their visit?
In the new building,
the National Library will truly
realize its potential.
All of the changes at the Library
are thanks to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation,
which generously donated 700 million Euros
to the Greek State
for the creation of
the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.
The complex includes the park
and surrounding area,
the National Opera,
and the National Library of Greece.
I cannot imagine that the Library
would have ever moved,
without this donation.
At the new location,
the services will be completely different.
After the 1950s,
the number of reading positions at the National Library
was limited to
78 seats only.
Now, the National Library will have a capacity
for up to 1,000 readers.
For many years we have not been able
to protect or display the Library's treasures
that still hold historical, literary,
aesthetic, and even economic interest.
At the new site,
we now have four vaults:
for manuscripts, archives,
incunabula and old books, and special collections.
There are also quiet study spaces
and collaborative spaces.
The Library will offer a multitude
of electronic resources,
including databases and electronic journals,
to which the Library
did not subscribe previously.
Through donations,
the state budget,
and inter-institutional collaborations
we can provide
a wide range of activities.
We have acquired our first e-books,
and shortly we will be highlighting
our electronic journals
accessible through the Hellenic Academic Libraries Link.
I have had a small part in the HEAL-Link
since 1997,
and now we are seeing the results of the efforts
made by the participating academic libraries.
The National Library of Greece is a member of the HEAL-Link
and has access to all major scholarly publishers
and their electronic journals.
Through the Stavros Niarchos Foundation donation
of 5 million Euros, aside from the building,
the Library will offer a multitude of resources.
The Library collection focuses mainly on resources
that cover Hellenic culture and its abiding impact.
Researchers and visitors, from Greece and abroad,
will have study spaces and up-to-date resources,
both electronic and in print.
We have not been able to buy books
for 20 years,
and now we are renewing our collection
of foreign language publications.
We are cataloging this material intensively,
and will try to complete the project
by December 2017
so that the records can be accessed
remotely from around the world.
Before visiting,
researchers can reserve items in advance,
and the materials will be available upon their arrival.
In addition to providing access to resources
and study space,
we will also offer information literacy instruction.
In the new building there will be
a lending section of the library.
Can you tell us about this?
How will this new section work for members of the academic and research communities?
Researchers who are registered members of the National Library
may make use of the lending section.
The lending library is a distinct collection
within the National Library
and the content is available for borrowing
as at a public library.
Registered researchers
may make use of the lending section,
but they cannot borrow any item
that belongs to the non-circulating collection,
as is the case in all libraries.
It is uncommon for a national library
to integrate a lending section.
There are only 2 or 3 libraries
around the world that do this,
but there is an interest in expanding this practice.
At a recent meeting of the Conference of European National Librarians,
I learned that some central European countries,
such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Lithuania,
have created a development strategy
or are integrating such activities.
The lending section is primarily targeted at
a new audience for the National Library:
everyone from toddlers to teenagers,
young adults to seniors.
It will offer a new range
of electronic resources as well as
a collection of printed material
that will be updated according to the interests of the public.
There are also meeting facilities,
a radio station,
and studios for audio and video recording.
We have already purchased musical instruments
for use in the studios, so that people,
who do not have the means to do so otherwise,
can record musical productions for free.
In addition, we have a studio for video production
for student and professional projects.
There is also a maker's space with a 3D printer
for people who want to construct something.
We also host activities for all ages;
at a recent event, we brought out an old printing press machine,
so that people could print a booklet
and bind it in the old, traditional way.
Another target group will be undergraduate and graduate students.
In cooperation with local academic libraries,
we hope to attract them
to our information literacy programs.
In this information era we are currently at,
we will have access to information in multiple ways.
Whether through open access content,
or available on site.
Information literacy is whether the patron or researcher concerned
is equipped to be able to make use of information resources
– whether the researchers are aware of their information needs;
whether they are aware of the sources available to meet those needs;
whether they can assess them, process them, and use them.
We will teach information literacy skills to undergraduates,
but also to patrons of all ages, and especially to refugees.
Refugees from nearby communities are already
meeting in our spaces,
in order to connect with their fellow community members
and record their histories.
You have recently completed a business trip to the United States
and we are delighted that this has been done
through the cooperation with the Center and at the invitation of Gregory Nagy.
We are so grateful to Professor Gregory Nagy.
The trip was a great opportunity for the National Library.
The connection with Professor Nagy and the Center began two and half years ago,
at least for me personally,
regarding the Homeric manuscripts of the Library.
In fact, the team offered to bring the Liknon (cradle) scanner from Nafplio
to Athens to digitize the manuscripts.
The digitization will be done in cooperation with Harvard University.
However, we also wanted to establish another level of cooperation,
and that's what we have achieved.
During the trip to Widener Library at Harvard,
we had the opportunity to visit at least 10-12 departments
– different spaces for digitization, conservation, Greek studies, music, maps.
The experience was astonishing.
We saw where we are, we saw what we can do,
and then we made great connections with the experts there.
Two Harvard postdocs have already conducted a survey and initial assessment.
The recent trip, then, came as a natural consequence of this cooperation.
As a result of the discussions,
we are already planning to participate in
the First 1000 Years of Greek project.
I consider it an obligation of the National Library of Greece.
If the National Library of Greece is not involved
with its extensive collections in Ancient Greek,
then who is to take part?
We not only accepted the invitation
to explore possibilities for cooperation,
but we did so with great joy.
Another level of cooperation is the exchange of expertise
in areas such as conservation, palaeography, information technology;
we can and will cooperate and develop in many fields.
We know that Harvard and the Center for Hellenic Studies
have greatly supported open access;
at the National Library of Greece,
we are also trying to continue in this direction.
We also had the opportunity to visit the Boston Public Library,
and what we experienced there gave us ideas
for what to implement in our lending library section.
Then, we traveled to the University of Virginia,
where the librarians and faculty welcomed us
and expressed their willingness to help us.
A representative from the University of Virginia is here
at the Library today,
and we are starting our collaboration in earnest.
The last part of the trip was in Washington
where we visited all the major organizations,
including the National Archives of the United States,
and the Library of Congress, of course.
The under-representation of Greek publications and printed materials at the Library of Congress
was impressive.
Many books are published in Greece every year,
but the economic crisis has made it difficult for the Library of Congress
to acquire Greek materials.
Now that we have made contact,
and recognizing the gaps in our own collection of foreign-language books
–particularly titles in English that concern Greek culture–
we are collaborating with the Library of Congress through the Duplicate Materials Exchange Program (DMEP).
We have already sent the first 145 books,
and we are waiting to receive 145 in exchange.
In short, we are both continuing a collaboration
with Harvard University and starting new collaborations
with an even wider range of institutions.
The official inauguration ceremony will take place
in the next few months,
yet you have already carried out some programs in the new building.
What events, programs, actions or exhibits will we see in the near future?
How will the National Library of Greece relate to other important institutions in the same complex?
The challenge is very interesting.
First, we have created a network of National Greek Libraries.
For the last three years, we have organized a summer campaign on reading and creativity
that connects approximately 150 libraries all over Greece;
last year we had approximately 3,500 activities
in which 70,000 children across Greece participated.
The reading rooms of the National Library
in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center are now open.
We also initiated a series of lectures that the Cultural Center
will host along with its Summer Nostos Festival June events.
The Library has already hosted meetings of
European programs on digital humanities,
including the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
President's Meeting, which has been hosted at both locations:
our new premises in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center,
and in the current building.
There has been continuous activity on the new premises
before our total relocation.
If you visit, you will see that the lending library reading rooms
are full of people
– like candidate students who are studying for the June exams.
The space is open until midnight;
we may even designate some reading rooms
to be open all night long.
As long as people want to read
we will facilitate their work.
There are some things that are not events,
but core functions of the Library,
such as maintaining the collective catalog of Greek libraries.
In my previous position at the University in Cyprus,
I had the honor to coordinate the collective catalog of Greek Academic Libraries.
This same catalog is now housed at the National Library.
Anyone can use the catalog to see whether
a book exists and where to find it in Greece.
Another project under development,
is the recording of the Greek web through web-harvesting or Internet archiving.
The National Library of each country is required to record, collect, organize,
and maintain what is produced in the country
and what is produced abroad relating to the country.
But what about digital publishing?
Everything that is not recorded is lost forever.
It's not like the books we find somewhere
after centuries because they are in material form.
Digital objects can disappear,
so each country records its digital history.
We began with a 20 years delay,
but last year we started capturing websites ending with dot.gr.
Now we are beginning the second round of archiving.
This function is very important for the preservation of modern expression;
the web archives will be an important tool to researchers in the years to come.
The National Library also has an initiative concerning
legal deposits for copyright.
Ideally, even in the case of printed material,
an electronic copy should be deposited
in order to avoid having to digitize the same material in the future.
These are some of the projects that have already begun.
The first phases of delivery will be towards the end of the year
and they will be fully functional then.
Do you have any plans for the old, historic building of the National Library of Greece,
which is part of the famous trilogy of buildings
in the center of Athens:
the National Library, the University, and the Academy of Athens?
The "Vallianeio" building is a National Library building,
and all of us –the Council, the President, myself,
the staff members– aim to revive this building.
After it is restored, we would like
to utilize the reading room and hold events.
Once the transfer to the Cultural Center is complete,
the restoration work of this building will begin.
Some elements of the bulding will remain the same.
The right wing is an archaeological monument in itself that must be preserved.
After the temperature, humidity and lighting conditions are stabilized,
it will have a dual function:
a vault with both the treasures of the National Library of the Archival copies
and a sightseeing to be visited.
Incidentally, the Library is opposite the bank of Greece,
which has one kind of gold;
here in the Library, we have another kind of gold.
Visitors will be able to see selected books on display in the vault area,
including historical books and documents.
The Reading Room will remain as it is.
It will provide access to the same electronic resources
that are available to the public at the Cultural Center.
We have already begun to digitize manuscripts
– at least 700 manuscripts have already been digitized
– and we will continue to digitizing aggressively as soon as we move to the new building.
There is already a digital collection with a small number of items,
some 1 million pages of newspapers accessible to the public.
We will continue to digitize these newspapers
for the researchers to access remotely.
We'd like to thank you for taking the time to talk with us.
The Center for Hellenic Studies is very pleased
to continue this collaboration with you.
Thank you again for the opportunity both for the trip
and for the long-term cooperation that we have developed
to truly support each other and work together
to disseminate the study of Greek culture.
Thank you very much indeed.
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