Eastern Mediterranean University Özay Oral Library Acting Director Osman Soykan released a statement on the occasion of the 55th Library Week. Soykan’s statement reads as follows:
The Republic of Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will be observing the 55th Library Week between 25 and 31 March 2019 with a series of events. The last week of March has been marked as the “Library Week”, which was formalised by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Education in 1964 and their Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus counterpart in 1996. The aim of the week is to highlight the value of books and reading and stress the importance of libraries for communities.
The word "bibliothek", which means a library, is commonly used in the Western world and originates from ancient Greek. More specificly, the word "biblion" refers to books and ‘theke’ refers to the place where books are kept. ‘Kütüphane’ the word referring to a library in Turkish derives from Persian and Arabic origins. ‘Kütüb’ refers to books and ‘hane’ refers to a house, giving the word the meaning ‘the house of books’.
Libraries play an important role in inceasing societies’ knowledge and culture. In libraries, books and other types of information sources are selected, provided, preserved and presented to users in line with a specific order. During the present day, university libraries, through benefiting from internet technology, have not only become places where information is gathered and kept, but also took the form of information portals allowing researchers to meet with new sources of information. Rather than physically possessing information, university libraries concentrate on providing the users the chance to access information and the organization of information. In this sense, the cooperation between libraries has become an important issue. This new library policy can increase the access of academics and researchers to information without the limitations of place and time. As it is for othe libraries, the 55th Library Week is also a special period for EMU Özay Oral Library. Our library offers a wide array of services both to our students and academic staff as well as other researchers and public, thanks to its rich volume of printed and electronic information resources.
With the unique information services and rich collections it offers, our library serves as an indispensable means of our university's modern, innovative, and student-oriented educational approach. I wish all librarians and library lovers a happy Library Week and hope that our community has days filled with books and reading.
