Books for all will be the focus of the National Library's president
The democratization of books and reading, following the example of what he did during his tenure at the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), will be one of the main focuses of the new president of the National Library (BN), professor Marco Lucchesi. Lucchesi's inauguration is scheduled for the next 24th, at the institution's headquarters, in Rio.
In an interview with Agência Brasil, Lucchesi said he was thrilled when he received the invitation from the Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, on December 30th, to take over BN, when he had been in Italy for a year. “The telephone made me so happy that I interrupted my sabbatical year and rushed back to Brazil, because this love for the National Library is unlimited and inhabits absolute gratuity, the will to serve the library and to resume the country's destinations in a more broad and inclusive”.
The president of BN wants to continue the mission of taking reading not only to prisoners, quilombolas, needy communities, indigenous villages, but to the entire Brazilian population. One of his last experiences at the head of the ABL was visiting riverside communities in the Amazon, after the Anavilhanas Archipelago, using the Navy's Ships of Hope, which carried medicine, doctors and examination instruments. “And I asked them to also bring books, because books are always a great medicine, but especially in times of a pandemic, when you have to work with a dream, with perspective”.
Employee support
Lucchesi also stated that he intends to listen to all employees of the institution, which he has been attending since he was 15 years old. He usually says that “as long as a president does not disturb the National Library, the BN will always go very well, because it is formed by mature, responsible, republican staff, who have dedicated their entire lives to the institution, the result of the interaction of many generations”. For the teacher, it is a beautiful technical work, which deserves all the applause, including the resistance at various times. The presence of great technicians and employees helped to preserve and expand the large collection.
Lucchesi also wants to talk to retired employees, whose participation he considers very important because it is a plurigenerational work, with different visions, but which have always accumulated. He expressed concern about the preservation of the collection “which belongs to Brazil and the Brazilian people, and also to planet Earth”. The objective is also to listen to all the proposals and face the challenges that are important.
One of these challenges is to work with the current demands of the book. The BN has the perspective of deposit, cataloging, storage, metadata production, conservation. With regard to preservation, in particular, they will be covered from physical books, in their various supports, to books born digitally. “Both physical and digital books are equally challenging”, he commented.
The internationalization of the National Library is another goal of Lucchesi. He intends to expand the institution's multiple relationships, the eighth of its kind in the world, not only in the western world, but also in the eastern one. He highlighted the fact that the Ministry of Culture was reborn, with the welcome and democratization by the new government. “This whole idea of reconstruction conveys an image that I think is very grateful. We Brazilians are all in the midst of many ruins, and we need to reorganize them, rebuild them."
