Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the celebration of the 95th anniversary of the establishment of the National Library:

British writer Bernard Newman said that “No matter how perfect a book, it cannot represent thoroughly and in a satisfactory manner the picture of a country. This can be done maybe by a dozen books, but on one condition, they must be written by people who have seen the country from different and difficult angles.”

Taking the guide and bringing before us the image of the interior garden, the director of the library has framed at best this quote of the British writer, as an expression that finds its most optimal embodiment in a national library, and especially in our case, in our National library.

I want to congratulate the Director of the National Library, not because the occasion requires it, but because thanks to her vision of development and at the same time of the expansion of interest for the National Library, extending activity to all ages, and also, thanks to her persistence to carry on with a meaningful and long-term project for the National Library, despite the very inappropriate conditions due to financial austerity, we have found here an excellent partner to channel the support of our government, not only in the moral sense, but also in financial terms.

Changes occurred in these years and the transformation of the Albanian state have been of course reflected in major changes also to the National Library. But unfortunately, the most susceptible and tangible change to the National Library was its truncation that cut its body in two, because one part of the building continued to hold the activities of the Library, while the other part was used for commercial activities that had nothing to with the National Library, and have no connection with the mission and the great potential of this building.

Of course, in the meantime, from the model of Eastern European libraries on which the National Library developed in the years of communism, with extreme limitations of information and having available only certain categories of literature, it could benefit from the removal of restrictive barriers and diversification of full freedom of information for users.

But today it is imperative that the physical capacities of the National Library be complete and the two separated parts of its body reunited. We are fully engaged in this process, and will give back the National Library the part of its body amputated by the barbarism of the culture of transition. But not simply to make a physical union of spaces, but to develop a new project and to further transform these spaces, and implement the ambitious vision and program of the National Library and the Ministry of Culture for the National Library.

Since I have the honour to be before a qualified audience and before a silent group of interest who, I am convinced, has experienced with great pain the whole process of separation of the space of the National Library, and therefore the limitation of its vital functions, but also taking into account that all of you here are people connected with culture for one reason or another, – for instance, I see here the Head of the Supreme State Control who, given his office, seems to me to be far from culture, but I have noticed with pleasure that he is always present in this kind of activities, perhaps also because the Minister of Culture is here along with other people who are connected with culture through this library, – I want to emphasize the fact that we have paid attention to culture and supported it as never before. This, of course, in terms of institutions, and we have also increased as never before the budget that supports our vision and program for the development of cultural institutions.

Actually, I am very pleased that we have finally managed to address some deep and very discouraging wounds opened in all these years in the organization of our system of culture, by intervening to transform spaces in view of culture, to have finally a museum worthy of the highest modern standards, in order to expose one of the most valuable assets of our cultural heritage, the Marubi Dynasty. By intervening to regain aesthetic control, but also to restore the identity of the theatre building “Migjeni”, a valuable building for our cultural heritage; by intervening to transform and turn into an institution with full modern standards the theatre of Korca. Work in these institutions has begun, and transformations will be spectacular. In addition, a new museum is about to be completed, the Museum of icons in Korca, which will finally host a heritage left in the streets for all these years, fragmented in different spaces, without any kind of standard, criteria, or measure.

In addition, two major projects have been launched this year. The first one with an aim at transforming the Theatre of Opera and Ballet in an environment of European standards, and the other one is a very ambitious and innovative project for the construction of the new theatre, which needs only to be implemented.

We have ensured the necessary financing for all this, and of course we look forward to the completion of the new project, the transformation of spaces of this library, which has started with the support of the European delegation, and are willing to support financially the project in order to complete a mandatory process for the state, not only to integrate the spaces of the national library after 25 years, but also to transform these spaces into spaces where the old and  the new can be performed in a much better quality and give much more pleasure to those who visit or who use the National Library.

Until 2013, the National Library had only a tiny device donated by the Turkish agency TİKA. In 2014 we invested from the state budget 300 thousand euros equip the National Library with specialized device for the digitization of books, and thanks to the investment the amount of digitized in this library increased ten times in a year.

On the other hand, the Minister put her finger on the wound, noting that Albania has an inherited network of public libraries, which is relatively broad, but unfortunately it is an amortized network, just like the network of electricity supply, because nothing has been done in 25 years to keep going and to renew this network of libraries. But we are very confident that thanks to the administrative and territorial reform and the creation of large and very powerful municipalities, we can make significant changes.

Although the lack of space is felt everywhere, as it is felt in the National Library, as well as in other libraries of the Library Network in Albania – most of the libraries in Albania are working to organize collections on the basis of open funds. Our librarian institutions are relatively new, but as the library director noted, the Albanian librarian tradition is not so new. During the Middle-Ages, the three main languages of the continent were used in the courts of Albanian princes and earls, Latin, Greek and Slavonic. When the National Library of Albania was founded in 1920, it had 6 thousand volumes. The core was the Library Fund of the “Albanian Literary Commission” that was created, as the Director of the Library reminded us, in Shkoder in 1917, and at the end of the war, Albania had a collection of 15,000 volumes.

Today, the National Library of Albania counts several hundreds of thousands of volumes and is able to live with great ambitions.

For the sake of truth, the current activity of the National Library is an expression of institutional responsibility, but it must be said openly that it is more than that. It is an expression of the passion, will and perseverance of its leaders who have had the burden to keep alive this library after the 90s in terribly difficult circumstances.

I just want to assure everyone that we will do for the National Library what has not been done in 25 years taken together, with the conviction that this is an investment with a strategic importance for our country, for our society, and not just for the community of people who visit the National Library or use its big capital, because what is lived on a daily basis in the National Library radiates far beyond the circle of people who are directly linked with this activity.

During his research into the psychology of life, in the 19th century Schopenhauer wrote that if someone thinks he or she has reached the depth the spirit that abounds in a foreign language, this means that he or she has reached the inside of the nation speaking that language, because just as style relates to an individual, language is related to the mentality of a nation.

In this regard, I believe that connecting our style with the cultured and civilized individual, as well as with the richness of language implied as real knowledge in deeds, in history and in literature, in the mentality of a nation aware of its past and willing to emancipate, to embrace its future, is neither more nor less related, primarily, with the mission of the National Library.

To conclude, I could not resist the constant persuasion of my director of protocol, who said that I could not come today here in the National Library without donating something. After long resistance, I gave up and here is my modest gift. It is my most recent album of “doodles”, and I am giving it to the Director of the National Library, without claiming that it should be kept in the archives of the library, but let it remain on the desk of the director. Then the director decides eventually of whether keep it in the archives or take it home.

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The National Library of Albania, one of the important cultural state institutions, celebrated today the 95th anniversary of its founding.

Prime Minister Rama was present at the event, which was attended also by Minister of Culture, Mirela Kumbaro, leaders of this institution, academics, intellectuals, scholars, and people who have been contributing for years to the Library Fund.

In the 95th year of its establishment, the National Library of Albania has a fund of approximately 1.2 million books and other librarian units, with around 200 thousand units per year, over 6 thousand members, of 57% of whom are young. Its website has been visited by 125 countries, and its national database is being increasingly enriched.

Director of this institution Persida Asllani said that the National Library, which has been designed with a clear vision and high professionalism according to the French model, one of the most prestigious librarian models in the world, continues to be a central cultural, informational and scientific institution which collects, processes and preserves the written cultural heritage of the Albanian people.

Considering the National Library as one of the earliest state institutions in Albania, the Minister of Culture Mirela Kumbaro said that with the new reform of local government today’s challenge is the renewal and the revival of the network of libraries in Albania.