A brilliant approach to the cooperation of European national libraries!

In 2023, the National Library of the Czech Republic and the National Library of Armenia signed a mutual Memorandum of Understanding. From the very beginning, it was not just a declarative statement, but a sign of willingness to cooperate actively. In 2023, the management of the National Library of Armenia spent a week in Prague, which included an opening ceremony of the exhibition promoting the cultural identity of Armenia. The year 2024 was dedicated to the online training sessions focused especially on the long-term preservation of the library collections. And this year?

It was a great pleasure for the National Library of the Czech Republic to accept the invitation of Anna Chulyan, Director General of the National Library of Armenia, and visit her library. This event was not just a regular official visit, but an event with a full specialised program and significant professional impact. During the two days of meetings and workshops, Michaela Bežová, Tomáš Foltýn, Zuzana Bolerazká, and Jana Fridrichová presented to colleagues from many Armenian culture heritage institutions the areas of digitiastion and e-content management, strategic visions of Czech librarianship, research and development projects, and HR challenges.

However, the greatest happiness for both sides were not the professional lectures themselves, but the open discussion among all the participants, during which a large number of interesting issues were addressed. Tomáš Foltýn is glad that they were able to learn so much and at the same time to share their long-term experiences with their Armenian colleagues.

They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the General Director of the National Library of Armenia Anna Chulyan for the warm atmosphere during the sessions, all the unique moments of the absolute professional symbiosis, and the accompanying program, she and her team prepared for them. Armenia and Yerevan amazed them with their warm hospitality and beauty. All participants of the event were absolutely fantastic.

This proves, that cultural diplomacy supported by the expert activities and a first-class professional program makes a lot of sense. The National Library of Armenia, with the leadership of Anna Chulyan, is profiling itself as a top national institution with outstanding international importance. It is a great honour for them to work with them and they are looking forward to the next steps of their cooperation in 2026. The Czech National Library greatly appreciates their intensive mutual cooperation.