The results of the Republican competition “The Best Public Center of Legal Information”, held for the first time in 2018, have been summed up. The competition is intended to strengthen the role of public libraries in shaping the legal culture of citizens and to stimulate the creative initiative of employees of public centers of legal information in the framework of their professional activities.
The competition was organized and conducted by the National Center of Legal Information of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, the National Library of Belarus, the “Belarusian Republican Union of Lawyers” and “Belarusian Library Association” public associations.
The state public libraries of the system of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, on the basis of which public centers of legal information (PCLIs) were established and function, could take part in the competition.
The competition was held in 5 nominations:
- the best PCLI on the basis of the regional library,
- the best PCLI based on the central district (city) library,
- the best PCTI on the basis of the city (small town) library,
- the best PCTI on the basis of the children's library,
- the best PCLI in a rural locality.
To date, there are 603 PCLIs in the Republic of Belarus. 52 libraries of them took part in the competition: 4 regional, 4 central city, 26 central district, 6 children's, 4 small town and 8 rural libraries. According to the results of the jury meeting, 15 libraries won prizes.
In addition, the jury members introduced two additional nominations with awarding prizes: the nomination "Work with visually impaired users of legal information" and "Work on improving the legal competence of librarians".
According to the Regulations of the Competition, participants who took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will be awarded diplomas of the first, second and third degrees, respectively, as well as prizes and rewards.
The winners award ceremony will be held at the National Library of Belarus during the work of the International Congress “The Library as a Phenomenon of Culture” (October 18–19, 2018). Within the framework of the congress, a round table “Organization of activities of public centers of legal information: modern approaches and prospects” will be held, at which the winners of the competition will share the work experience of the PCLI of their libraries.
