In
the International Year of the Culture of peace - year 2000
- proclaimed by the United Nations and UNESCO, we propose
to involve young readers in the construction of peace through
the choice of texts that give an image of it, a witness
and a practical indication. As former General Director of
UNESCO Federico Mayor had stressed in the proclamation of
the Year, "peace is not the peace of silence",
of men and women who remain in silence but "is the
peace of liberty, of just laws, of equality, of solidarity".
A peace that is constructed, according to the original mandate
of UNESCO, through "education, science and culture"
and so also through reading.
Because
the book is an useful instrument to know the other, the
past and present, the common and the different problems,
to reflect and to dream, to discover elements of research
and to project the future, to build bridges toward international
cooperation and peace.
The
library, which is the custodian, through the centuries,
of the written or printed page, of manuscripts and rare
books, of essays or of the more recent publications that
bring the voice of far away people and countries, offers
to everyone the privilege of finding in the books new friends,
even when it is not possible to buy the text.
Why
the network of the UNESCO Associated Libraries?
In
this framework, the UNESCO Associated Libraries are ready
to welcome young readers and acknowledge the book as a precious
instrument to strengthen the meeting, not only cultural
but human, among civilisations and different countries.
Knowing
the enormous power of the media in contemporary reality
and in the world of the youth, considering all their positive
sides, the instruments offered by the new technologies will
be able to favour this process of reciprocal knowledge,
making it possible to link an ideal network of meetings,
in real time and above the physical boundaries.
But
can the book, the library and the new technologies live
together in the real life of the youth?
Yes,
if the library does not represent only a symbol of knowledge
for the youth, but it is a part of their lives, as a friendly
place where they can meet with the pleasure of discovery.
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