Multicultural Communities: Guidelines f or Library Services

Multicultural Communities: Guidelines f or Library Services

Multiculturalism and multilingualism should be recognized as living together in harmony, not onlybecause diversity characterizes most of the countries in the world but also the whole world is nowinterconnected through global communication in almost every context. It is also crucial to buildtolerance, empathy and understanding towards all diversity. Libraries which strive for developingservices based on multicultural approach will ensure that all people from different cultural communitieswill have free and equal access to various resources in both major language/s and their own language/s.These IFLA guidelines titled Multicultural Communities: Guidelines for Library Services which waspublished in 2009 as the third and latest version gives the message that all cultural, ethnic and linguisticminorities should be provided with library services in their preferred languages and reflecting their owncultures, without discrimination and on an equitable basis. Selected examples from internationalbest practices, recommendations and policies are given in that context. This document is thetranslation of the guidelines mentioned above..

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