Are Numerous Appeals for the Salvation of NUB BiH Reaching the Council of Ministers of BiH and Ruling Structures?

(Patria) - Numerous appeals have been sent in recent days to the authorities in BiH and to the Council of Ministers of BiH to resolve the status of the National and University Library of BiH, which is closed to the public.

The University of Sarajevo (UNSA) and the Student Parliament of UNSA have called on their employees and students to express their support for resolving the issue of the National and University Library (NUB) of BiH by symbolically leaving their workplaces and educational facilities on Monday, November 11, at 12:05 PM.

The Rector of UNSA, Prof. Dr. Tarik Zaimović, along with the vice-rectors, and the President of the Student Parliament, Imran Pašalić, will be present in front of the NUB BiH building, where they will make a symbolic gesture to contribute to the permanent resolution of the legal status of this key institution.

"We call on the members of the UNSA academic community to join this initiative, recognizing the importance and role of NUB in preserving the cultural and scientific heritage of BiH," stated UNSA.

Other libraries in BiH have also announced that they will suspend their work from 12:05 PM to 1:05 PM in solidarity with the employees of the National and University Library of BiH, who were forced to suspend their work because they have not been paid for months.

Everything that was promised to them by the Canton of Sarajevo and the Federation of BiH was insufficient or not fulfilled, and to this day, the Council of Ministers of BiH has not declared itself on the proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to grant the Government of FBiH the authority to appoint a management structure for a period of up to 12 months until a long-term solution for financing this institution of state importance is found.

The President of the Association of Publishers/Editors of BiH, Almir Šehalić, published an appeal and call for the salvation of NUBBiH.

"How many of you actually know that currently in BiH, not a single new journal/serial publication can be issued. That in the Federation of BiH, not a single book, monograph, scientific paper can currently be published, and soon probably not in the entire BiH. That students cannot get new books, that assistant professors cannot advance (all universities). You don't know that the Bosnian language is stifled by this, and indeed Croatian and Serbian as well. What you don't know is that in a few more days, this will also be impossible to rectify," stated Šehalić.

The member of the Presidency of BiH, Željko Komšić, also appealed to the authorities to resolve the issue of the survival of the National and University Library of BiH as soon as possible.

"The authorities are obliged to find a solution before we are forced to declare the death of literacy and the end of cultural and educational life here. Funds for financing the National and University Library certainly exist, just as a way to resolve the problems exists.

I call on all those who have adequate budget funds to get involved in resolving the aforementioned problem," stated Komšić.

NUB BiH has been without a director since September 6, who retired, and there is no management structure that could manage this institution.