From 27 July to 7 August, there was held the international cycling tour through the Baltic countries that was participated by librarians and library lovers, among them was Anastasia Zharskaya, a worker of the National Library of Belarus.
"A library like a bicycle. If it doesn’t not move forward, it will fall down," Yekaterina Shklyar (participant)
Cycling for libraries is aimed to provide an informal environment for professional communication and to attract public attention to library issues. Its main organizers are the Finnish librarians, headed by Jukka Penanenom and Massa Oyalom, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Education in Finland.
Among the hundred librarians from 20 countries involved in the cycling tour there were also representatives of Belarus: Anastasia Zharskaya from the National Library of Belarus and Marina Vazhnik from the Belarusian Agricultural Library named after I.S. Lupinovich.
The 11-day bicycle ride was from Vilnius to Tallinn through cities and villages, castles and manor houses, fields and forests, national parks and, of course, through libraries. During this "the longest professional library activities in the world", the participants passed more than 600 km, visited about 20 various libraries and a number of cultural, historical and natural monuments. And they also attended various seminars, cultural events, informal meetings and discussions that passed under the sign of librarianship and information technology.
During this tour the cyclists understood the importance of this event to the public. In the cities and towns of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia they were welcomed by the mayors and vice mayors, representatives of the library community and well-known cultural figures. Journalists of the largest local newspapers and TV channels constantly conducted interviews. Even Jeanette Jaunzeme-Grende, the Minister of Culture of Latvia, supported cyclists by joining to cycling in Riga.
The official site of the event
Detailed notes on the library cycling tour
Video reports on Cycling for Libraries 2012 on the website of the Finnish library TV channel
Photos of Anastasia Zharskaya and Andrei Leutin and Panu Entresse.
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