By Ahmet Abdulaziz……
The Özay Oral Library of the Eastern Mediterranean University is celebrating the 55th Library Week. The week is being observed in the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus between 25th and 31st March 2019. The official opening of the week took place at EMU Library Auditorium at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 25th March 2019.
According to the information released by the University ,
Mr. Osman Soykan, the acting Director of the library, in his speech made on the occasion, indicated that they will be organizing different activities to draw attention to the societal importance of books, knowledge, reading and libraries. Stating that libraries came into existence with the invention of writing and have grown steadily ever since, Soykan emphasized that knowledge is an important force in society. Mentioning the serious investment made to electronic library services by university management in recent years, Soykan went on to express that research activity and academic output have increased parallel to this investment. Soykan concluded by highlighting their goal of further improving the EMU library with a strong focus on information technologies.
In a speech of his own, EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Osam noted that Library Week is one of the events which they value the most and highlighted the importance of access to knowledge. Stating that it is a lot easier to access information today than it was before, Prof. Dr. Osam indicated that libraries are combining new functions with the old to provide incredible services. Expressing his pride in the sophistication of EMU’s database Prof. Dr. Osam noted that they chose the slogan “Virtue, Knowledge and Advancement” for EMU’s 40th year because of their belief people can make better contributions to the world when knowledge is transformed into virtue.
Following the opening addresses, at 10:30 a.m., a screening of the documentary entitled “Birds of Feather: Stories from a Conflict Zone” took place with Turkish, Greek and English sub-titles.
