Press Release from the Pedro

Press Release from the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National Library
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 09/14/2013

The Ministry of Culture, through the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National Library, had a remarkable participation in the three major international library events that took place in the global library sector, the XXIV General Assembly of the Association of American States for the Development of National Ibero-American libraries (ABINIA), the General Meeting of the ISBN International Agency, and the XLIII Annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean University, Research, and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL).

… the BNPHU was part of the discussions on special projects and programs related to the role of these institutions as custodians of the bibliographic heritage of their respective countries.

During the ABINIA Assembly, held in Panama from September 10 to 13, with the participation of 21 member countries, the BNPHU was part of the discussions on special projects and programs related to the role of these institutions as custodians of the bibliographic heritage of their respective countries.

In addition to the working sessions, two other activities were presented at the National Library of Panama, a conference for educators on the role of libraries, and the opening of an exhibition of documents that are part of the Panamanian bibliographic heritage.

At the General Meeting of the ISBN International Agency, strong emphasized was placed on the challenges for the administration of this code and other indicators, and on how they will be handled digitally.

Among the topics discussed were: Will a number be assigned to each different digital format?; Who will apply for the number (the editor, or whoever makes the distribution in the network, in the event that the editor is not the one making the distribution)?; How will the digitalized copies be identified from the printed editions which do not have an ISBN?

The meeting, held in New York on September 11th and 12th, enabled the Agency to define the guidelines and lines of action that ISBN agencies would follow for the identification of eBooks. Other topics addressed were: the new book identifiers, the strengths and challenges of the ISBN system, the new ISBN editors Directory (PIID), and the catalogs and information systems on books for sale.

The meeting, in which representatives of BISG, NISO and Booknet Canada also participated, included a special seminar with the participation of over 20 Ibero-American agencies and some new organizations in the system or in the AGM.

Last June, BNPHU also attended the XLIII Annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean University, Research, and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL), a permanent education event of the Caribbean, where the main theme revolved around the conference on Knowledge Territories: Exploring of Commons Environments for Learning, Research, Creativity, and Productivity in Libraries, Archives, and Museums in the Caribbean.

The Director of the BNPHU, Diómedes Núñez Polanco, was represented at these events by Greivis Cristina Asencio, of the ISBN-ISSN Dominican Agency; Sabrina Collado, responsible for the Newspaper archives, and Célida Álvarez, of the Pilot Network of Public Libraries, that the institution sponsors.

The following countries make up ABINIA: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The Association of National Ibero-American Libraries (ABINIA), founded in Mexico on December 14th, 1989, is an inter-regional forum that brings together 21 Ibero-American National Libraries.

BNPHU, today

Diómedes Núñez Polanco during a meeting at the BNPHU, with part of his team.

The Minister of Culture, Senator Piedad Córdova, and Diómedes Núñez Polanco

Sabrina Collado