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The second annual Seminario de Bibliotecas Albirrojas served as a forum for discussion of recent progress, emphasized coordination between institutions, and implemented plans for sustainable development.

September 17th, 2009 | 4:00 - 7:00 pm
Biblioteca Nacional de Asunción

It’s important to have continuity and national participation in development projects. Several preservation projects have been completed in Asunción and employees have been engaged in advocating for their institutions. We increased the number of grant applications from 2008. More importantly, we introduced the process and shown how as part of a collaborative effort institutions will receive a greater number of grants and be able implement them more effectively. One of the greatest challenges in development work in Latin America is communicating with directors and employees the potential for improvement, fundraising, and how to create sustainable programming. The Seminar addressed these issues and promote better communication and teamwork between institutions, as well as establish a plan for continued development.

In addition, three practical themes were addressed by presenters during the seminar: strengthen professional communication; collection development through creativity and community resources; and automation, which includes creation of a union catalog, availability of documents on the Internet, and information literacy instruction.

Goals of the Seminario de Bibliotecas Albirrojas

• Stregthen professional associations particularly the Asociación de Bibliotecarios Graduados en Paraguay (ABIGRAP), APPG (Centro Cultural Paraguayo-Americano) and librarians and volunteers of the Peace Corps
• Analyze the role of collection development and discuss ways to enrich the collections according to the community needs
• Focus on cataloguing and the role of union catalogs and coordination
• Propose objectives for sustainable development, including how to raise funds and apply effectively for grants
• Highlight the role of libraries and archives in development

Invited Presentations

• Professional Communication: Membership, advocacy, and partnership
  Zayda Felipa Caballero y Emilce Sena Correa


• Collection Development: Creativity, shared resources, and used books
  Nicholas Newlin


• Automation: Accessibility, retrospective cataloguing, and software alternatives
  Liliana Plate

Just as libraries were becoming better known for their role in education and in the overall development of Paraguay, the first Seminario de Bibliotecas Albirrojas addressed professional communication, preservation, and disaster planning, and digitalization. Seminar attendees were invited to discuss issues of interest to their institutions and throughout Paraguay, as well as plan for future projects. While the first meeting was a chance to start a dialogue on improving libraries, the second meeting will serve as a forum for discussion of interim projects and continuing development.