Kochani, 3 October 2023 (MIA) — North Macedonia and Kosovo are the only two European countries that have not made national level library data available to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions for its Library Map of the World, MIA's Kochani correspondent reports.

This prompted the Library Association of Macedonia to begin collecting library data across the country as part of its state-funded project to improve national library standards.

According to association president Jana Mihajlovska, their goal is to collect library data from all public libraries and make it available to the IFLA Library Map of the World.

"Unfortunately, our country and Kosovo are the only ones that have not provided any data on what kind of libraries we have and what we have at our disposal in terms of space, number of books, and other resources," Mihajlovska said.

"It is a big undertaking, but it will help us be visible in the world," she added.

To this aim, association representatives met Tuesday in Kochani with representatives of municipal, school and other libraries from the eastern part of North Macedonia.

The working session was one of the last in the series of regional meetings held by the Library Association of Macedonia to present the project to libraries nationwide.

Data is being collected from all municipal libraries, school libraries, factory libraries, and all other libraries in the country.

During the working meetings, participants discuss how to collect the data, which will then be analyzed. The Library Association of Macedonia will also run a workshop for librarians regarding the challenges they face.

The meetings with library representatives will wrap up in the next couple of weeks. The workshop is scheduled for late October.

The project "How to Improve Library Work Conditions and Library Standards" is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture. mr/