It started on Monday (22) and continues until October 25, Unicamp's Book and Library Week. The event is held by the Unicamp Library System (SBU) and offers students, professors and university staff a series of activities that draw attention to the different functions that libraries can fulfill in a world where many forget their importance due to the ease of access to information via the internet.
The programming activities will be carried out at the Cesar Lattes Central Library (BCCL) and focus on five areas that currently represent the contributions that libraries can bring to their users: access to information through digital resources; the formation of readers; health and wellness; research and innovation; and arts and culture. Check out the full schedule and sign up for activities at page the event.
New library profile
The SBU currently has 29 libraries spread across the Campinas, Limeira and Piracicaba campuses, in addition to the technical colleges in Campinas (Cotuca) and Limeira (Cotil). There are more than 47 thousand active users of the system and approximately 2,07 million items in the collection, including books, physical and digital periodicals, e-books and other digital documents. In 2018, the SBU recorded a flow of more than 1,1 million people. Even with numbers that show the importance of libraries for the community served by Unicamp, the teams that manage these spaces report that it is necessary to rethink and diversify the services they offer.
According to the deputy director of the SBU, Oscar Eliel, the ease of accessing information over the internet makes it inevitable that the demand for traditional library services will decrease. "We are increasingly realizing, globally, but also here at Unicamp, we work to ensure that library spaces are occupied differently. The objectives have changed, users are increasingly looking for new library services, so they they end up physically distancing themselves, but when we look at digital databases, at technologies, they have been used more. So the library spaces need to be transformed", analyzes Oscar.
He explains that today one of the objectives of the SBU is to provide different services that contribute to the construction of knowledge, which does not necessarily depend on consulting books or periodicals available only in libraries. This is possible through the promotion of cultural activities, creation of shared work spaces and Fab Labs (manufacturing laboratories). Oscar comments that the proposal is to bring more people to libraries and for them to encourage and facilitate access to information, wherever they are. "Nowadays the library has a role in making people access information. As we have a series of databases, periodicals and digital content, it doesn't necessarily need to be physically in the library. But the fact that you bring people together of the library also makes it closer to the content it provides. There's no point in investing millions in digital content if the user doesn't access it", he explains.
Continuing in this direction, Oscar also announces that, soon, BCCL will have a maker space, a place where users can develop projects and propose creative and innovative solutions to various problems. The resources were obtained through a notice from the FID - State Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Interests, linked to the Government of São Paulo, and should be released in the next few days.
From the internet to books
Literature student at the Institute of Language Studies (IEL) at Unicamp, Mell Ferraz was responsible for opening the Week's activities with her experiences as a booktuber, producing content about literature on YouTube. Since 2012, she has published reviews and commented on topics related to the world of books on the channel Literature, which has more than 119 thousand subscribers.
The young woman believes that actions such as those promoted by Book and Library Week help people not only get to know libraries, but also know that they can count on these spaces in their daily lives. "Often the library is on a pedestal, people don't have this habit precisely because of the contact. The internet comes precisely to provide this contact, to facilitate this contact with the library, with spaces like this and to promote this. People have to know, knowing that this environment is possible for her too so that she can access it".
She also comments that she does not see the internet as a threat to books or the habit of reading. On the contrary: digital platforms can facilitate access to different information and encourage a culture of staying informed. "Today the internet is coming to contribute, I don't see it as something that will put an end to libraries, as happens with the discussion about whether digital books will put an end to physical books. I think the mechanism of bringing information from the internet into libraries It's very important, precisely because they are things that can complement each other", says the booktuber.
Check out the week's schedule.
