Greeting from the Spanish Minister of Culture

Welcome to the 4th Library and Information Congress of 2010 and to the wonderful city of Leipzig. To me it is an honour that you have selected Spain as guest country this time, as indubitably it will be a great opportunity to strengthen cooperation bonds between both countries and therefore we would like to thank you for your generous invitation.

The city of Leipzig is the ideal scenario for the celebration of the Congress due to its outstanding cultural history, from the early beginnings of printing and book fairs to the extensive library activity of nowadays.

The theme of the conference, Knowledge for the People! - Libraries in the 21st Century: International, Intercultural, Interactive, lays the stress on the role of library cooperation as a key element to join efforts. Libraries don´t work in an isolated way anymore, librarians must be interconnected among them and with their users. Social tools favour the creation of libraries without borders, expanding their walls and doors towards a global and multicultural society. Libraries play a key role in the understanding and communication among different cultures and cultural diversity opens new horizons in knowledge society.

On behalf of the Ministry of Culture of Spain, we encourage you to hold a fruitful debate, where ideas and experiences interchange contributes to reinforce the value of the library as common and open to all universe.

Ángeles González-Sinde, Minister of Culture.