The UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Policy for an Active Citizenship and Solidarity of University of Macedonia was invited by the Director of EBLIDA, Giuseppe Vitiello, to participate in the 30th EBLIDA Conference “Library Commitments towards a sustainable, democratic and equitable society” that took place in Athens at Goethe-Institute from 14th till 16th of June 2022, under the auspices of the City of Athens.
Based in The Hague, EBLIDA is an independent union of associations and institutions of libraries, documentation centers and archives in Europe, bringing together around 110 members – library associations and institutions – from 34 countries representing 65,000 public libraries in Europe.
EBLIDA celebrated its 30 years of existence, aiming at fostering the debate and inclusive dialogue between officials and citizens so that libraries may become meeting and learning places for citizens.
The Conference was welcomed by the Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, and the President of the General Council for Libraries at the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Tonia Arahova. The Deputy Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in Greece, Professor Angelos Syrigos was the keynote speaker who opened the Conference.
Associate Professor Despoina Anagnostopoulou, academic coordinator of the UNESCO Chair and Anastasia Psallida, PhD Candidate and research associate, presented the topic “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in European Union policies”. The presentation highlighted the Sustainable Development Goals SDG4 on Quality Education and SDG16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and was delivered at the first session of the EBLIDA International Conference, chaired by EBLIDA President Ton van Vlimmeren.
Iro (Argyroula) Tzorbatzaki, Librarian at the University of Macedonia Library and Vice-President of the Union of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists, made an important contribution to the Conference organization, while Anthi Baliou, Librarian at the University of Macedonia Library, also participated in the conference.
The Conference offered to participants the common programme EBLIDA – NAPLE – Public Libraries 2030 entitled “Libraries on the European Agenda – network and co-creation”.
For more information please consult: EBLIDA July/August Newsletter #EBLIDA2022 Conference results (Athens, 15-16 June 2022).
