Comments on: Multiculturalism alive and well in Austria

By: KyKy

KyKy — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 09:24:12 +0000

Thanks for this post. I really enjoy your point of view on libraries. Since I came to Sydney, I haven’t had any chance to visit any low-tech libraries that is filled with artifacts found in local attics. On my part, I am fascinated with Sydney’s museums because they are full of wonderful objects from across the globe. They are all bearers of meaning in the culture. Who could not fail to be inspired by such a treasure trove?

By: Nguyen Thien Duyen Ngo

Nguyen Thien Duyen Ngo — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 05:59:06 +0000

With me, a library is a special place. I love to enjoy the book and the atmosphere there. I also prefer the paper book rather than the technology. It is interesting to know about the Viennese library, which is very impressive and inspiring about how it promotes the multi-cultural world to the community. Moreover, the library like this can play an important role in supporting people from linguistically diverse society to learn and maintain their own cultures.

By: Rochelle

Rochelle — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 11:01:10 +0000

This is an interesting article for me to rethink about the use of the library once again. They say, library is where the sea of knowledge lies, you are able to search for ‘anything’. Other than finding resources with a ‘click’ via the internet, library would be the next best alternative for one to search the article physically. I used to be a librarian in high school in Singapore, and we would have to categorize the books according to the genre respectively. Through this experience, I have realised that the best way to learn about the culture or even to learn a new skill is to experience it yourself physically. The national library is the gateway to multiculturalism, especially for Singapore for books which displays Mandarin (simplified and traditional), Bahasa Malay, Tamil, along with other languages like Japanese, French and etc. The National Library in Singapore consist of two 16-storey blocks with three basements; it is not only used for classes, seminars, conferences but also a place for the learners to do their research. The sections are categorized as such: public library; reference library; drama centres; business science and technology collections; the arts and social sciences collections; Chinese, Malay and Tamil collection; donors’ collections, Asian children’s collection; Singapore and Southeast Asian collection; rare materials collection.

By: tting

tting — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 12:26:32 +0000

Cultural and linguistic diversity is the common heritage of mankind and should be cherished and preserved for the benefit of all mankind. They are a source of communication, innovation, creativity and peaceful coexistence between peoples. Various types of libraries should reflect, support and promote cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote intercultural dialogue and positive citizenship. For example, Australia is a country with a combination of different cultures. The library needs to pay special attention to the multicultural groups in the region, including indigenous people, immigrant groups, people with mixed cultural backgrounds, transnational and diaspora individuals, asylum seekers, refugees, temporary residents, migrant workers, and minorities.

By: Xinyue Ji

Xinyue Ji — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 03:17:43 +0000

This essay provides the significant part of the languages’ diversity in an official library. Various materials of different languages exists in the public library, as a result, it becomes democratic and diversified. Moreover, because of the materials containing various languages’ materials, the judgement of media is not the only way of spreading. So we can conclude that providing a public area for language and cultural diversity is important.

By: Anas

Anas — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 05:16:02 +0000

The Department of the National Library in Amman, Jordan, is Amman’s main public library and the government’s center for processing its documents for archival purposes (Hazine, 2017). Preserving, protecting collections and sharing of information by allowing public access allow not only the current population to access but also for the future generation to appreciate the importance of the library and the materials available. It is only in 1994 that the Jordanian government realise the significance of such an institution and established the Department of the National Library. All these sound good in the media but when I googled ‘public libraries in Jordan’ just to see what’s available, I came across an expat forum – http://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=54638. I found it interesting that a few people in the expat community, living and working in Jordan, have not seen a public library. I then, start to question how accessible is the library to the public? I must confess, I, myself have not been to any public libraries in Amman. The fact that the sign on the National Library in Amman is in Arabic, does not seem to be multicultural friendly. Having read this article, I have made a mental note to visit the National Library in Amman. From my own observation, visiting public libraries is not part of our culture especially growing up. Libraries are usually reserved as part of a school activity or of a university student’s lives. Living in Australia made me realise how the culture here is so different and I admit, I hope the future generation in Jordan will utilise the library as part of their family’s activities. This type of grassroots approach, I am sure will change the mindset of how important a library is.

By: Anas

Anas — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 04:52:00 +0000

In reply to Thet. I am sorry to hear about the linguistic conflict in your country, Thet. It is sad when politics get in the way of education especially when education can drastically change their future. Yes, a valid question indeed about the public library as a safe haven for multiculturalism where ideologies, beliefs, religion, politics would have to 'check out'.

By: Qianxin

Qianxin — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 11:09:24 +0000

Libraries can be the iconic buildings that represent one place’s culture. And the public library is a place which is convenient for citizens to gain knowledge. In Sydney, there are lots of public libraries that located in each district. Thus, people from different areas of Sydney can easily access this service. Also, as for me, the library plays an important role in my daily life especially in the library of Macquarie university because it provides plenty of academic articles and books that can benefit my study.

By: Cami

Cami — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 05:27:46 +0000

The Viennese Central Library sounds like a great library. As I was reading this article and particularly Thet’s blog, I started to think about the political policy and national feeling that allows for the creation of libraries that encourage multiculturalism and access to different cultures through literature. I grew up in an Australia where many libraries stock books from around the world, in other languages, validating non-mainstream cultures and languages and allowing people to engage with different cultures and ideologies.

However, the Australia that my dad migrated to many decades ago that frowned on the speaking of anything but English on the streets probably would have had a breakdown at the introduction of shelves, even whole sections of the library, brimming with non-English languages. It is great to see the acceptance and even welcoming of people from other lands and see that provisions are made for them to access literacy resources by the mainstream culture, especially since the cost of foreign language books can be quite prohibitive. I remember the first time that I found Dutch books in a library, I was so excited and felt like it opened up a new world and a new link between me and my father’s homeland.

On another note, I feel like the internet also is a wonderful tool of literacy for those who have access to it, because so many books in different languages can be accessed free of charge, so even where access to books in one’s native language is difficult in the country that one is living in, they can be supplemented by the world wide web library.

By: yym

yym — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 10:26:24 +0000

It is convinced that the domestic library is a nice place to assist people to adapt to a new environment, especially for migrants. I do think the library should not be replaced by e-books. At present time, people prefer to use the online resources instead of relying on the real books. However, the process of obtaining books is interesting sometimes. I have been to Epping library and the library will organize several activities to engaged people get involved into reading books. It is also a beneficial platform to make friends. Multilingual resources in public library may motivate local residents to use multiple languages for self-cultivation, which can be seen as a way to attract vivid multiculturalism in some countries where a single language dominates.

By: Tamanna

Tamanna — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 08:31:32 +0000

I think library is the most useful to learn and gather knowledge. During my bachelor degree, I could not get enough help from library. Because, my university library was small with only some limited books. There was public library in the city but that was far away from my place. And there was some restriction as well for non members. But when I came to Macquarie library I just became speechless. Here not only the text books from different disciplines are stored, but also books of different languages are kept which is motivating to learn another culture. And there is huge amount of collection of books which can help to know about other culture. For example, there are some books which language is English but the content is about Chinese.

By: Siyi Wu

Siyi Wu — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 06:39:24 +0000

Libraries can stand for a multi-culture of one country. In China, we do not have much migrants so that normal libraries rarely see the books with different languages. (Only English and Chinese). But state libraries can find some books with different languages because it is authoritative and national. When I came to Australia, I found that Individuals can find books with different language such as Chinese, Germany and so on in every library. It depends on the immigrant culture of Australia. Every library should have books for different language speakers.

By: Nana

Nana — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 00:46:10 +0000

Having books in different languages in public libraries is great for many reasons, if you are learning a language you may wish to find books in that language; In my case, that I want to practice English is quite easy to find books in English in Sydney, but sometimes I feel more comfortable reading in my mother language (Spanish). Also, occasionally I am interested on books in Portuguese and Italian because I like those two languages and I enjoy learning a bit of each from time to time. in terms of academic writing, multilingualism is really helpful, sometimes you find relevant information for your assignment in another language, so you read it and get the key points to support your work.

By: Nidhi Dhir

Nidhi Dhir — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 13:25:32 +0000

Since the dawn of civilisation libraries are integral part of preserving, transmitting and spreading culture. In multicultural countries. Libraries play vital role in bridging gap between emigrant’s culture and bringing scope to explore distinct culture. Unfortunately, in my country’s (India) education system provides less room to go beyond designed curriculum and to utilise library, but there are public libraries available which are useful to explore multiculturalism. I have visited one of the biggest libraries of Punjab state and I must say that visiting and finding books of different genre at that place increased my curiosity for reading and exploring different cultural literature.

By: AN

AN — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 01:34:05 +0000

In reply to Language on the Move. That's a great idea! Will do! :)

By: Language on the Move

Language on the Move — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 00:32:33 +0000

In reply to AN. Thanks, An! When you do, why not take some photos and write a report about it for Language on the Move? :-)